Daughters of Darkness

The lurid history of Elizabeth Bathory seems ready-made for cinematic exploitation artists looking to add a little class to their sex and violence.  And Daughters of Darkness (1971) pulls off the trick better than almost any other film before or since, picking up with the nocturnal activities of the Countess (Dephine Seyring) and her sexy secretary, Ilona (Andrea Rau), in the nearly abandoned seaside town of Ostend, Belgium, where a pair of newlyweds fall under their spell.  Director Harry Kumel's film is gorgeous from top to bottom, with a flair for the fantastic and a kinky sexual subtext that exemplifies Euro-horror at its finest.

Married for only three days after a whirlwind courtship, Stefan and Valerie are already struggling to sort out their relationship.  Stefan seems afraid of introducing her to his family and instead suggests they spend time at a nearly empty resort.  But the delay proves deadly when Countess Bathory and Ilona arrive, using a divide-and-conquer approach to seduce the couple and feed off them physically and emotionally.  

 

A vampire story with no fangs and little blood isn't that much of a novelty these days; the genre has proven itself to be remarkably flexible, after all.  But Daughter of Darkness has a completely different appeal, gleefully exploring the deviant behaviors of its living and undead characters to the point where Kumel's film is almost an exercise in supernatural psychology.  But it does so with a knowing wink and nod for the vampire clichés, cleverly incorporating traditional folklore with old Hollywood glamour.

 

Delphine Seyring, whose previous collaborations ranged from Alain Resnais to Francois Truffaut, delivers a deliciously over-the-top performance as Elizabeth Bathory, a fussy debutante who seems to be channeling Greta Garbo at her most baroque and beautiful.  Watching her bait and set the trap for Stefan and Valerie is witnessing a pure artist at work.  And Kumel matches her shot for shot with stunning camera compositions that take full advantage of the desolate landscapes and empty ballrooms, presaging Kubrick's work on The Shining.

 

Daughters of Darkness has had plenty of opportunities to catch folks' attention on home video before, but none can quite match Blue Underground's latest 4K UHD package, which also includes a standard Blu-ray and CD soundtrack.  The superlatives have been tossed around already, but rest assured, there has been no exaggeration.  The new transfer buries every previous edition six feet under and adds Dolby Vision HDR and a new Dolby Atmos audio mix.  New extras include an excellent commentary with author Kat Ellinger, theatrical trailers, alternate U.S. main titles and an impressive 3D lenticular slipcover.  All the previous special features have been ported over to complete the package.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembodied visions of his ex-lover who refuses to go quietly into the afterlife.  And
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annabelle West is named the sole beneficiary…that is, if she can be proved sane afte
Read more

Impulse

Image
William Shatner, for all his ego and arrogance, always seemed comfortable being the butt of a joke.  His career outside of the  Star Trek  franchise was a bumpy road of corny TV shows and enjoyable B-movie dreck.  But he never delivered anything less than 100% “Shatner!”  Like 1974’s  Impulse , a regional drive-in quickie directed by William Grefé ( Stanley, Mako: Jaws of Death ) that casts the once and future Captain Kirk as a psychologically troubled con man whose childhood trauma leads to a string of murdered women.  After dumping the body of his last victim in a Florida canal, Matt Stone (Shatner) is on the prowl for another financial windfall, this time using a phony investment scam to entice Ann (Jennifer Bishop) into a romantic relationship.  But when Ann’s daughter, Tina, is witness to the murder of his business associate (Harold “Chop Top” Sakata), Matt has to clean up his tracks and speed up his escape plan.  That includes silencing Tina…and whoever else gets in his way.   Ta
Read more