Daughters of Darkness (1971) – Film Review

Director: Harry Kümel
Cast: Delphine Seyrig, John Karlen, Danielle Ouimet
Certificate: 18

By Sarah Morgan

While Hammer Films were desperately trying to wring every last drop of blood out of its Dracula franchise, something more unusual was brewing on the other side of the English Channel.

Rather than relying on the red stuff to attract audiences, Belgian director Harry Kümel was adding surreal elements, modern-day glamour and eroticism to Daughters of Darkness, his take on the vampire legend. The result is a highly stylish and compelling movie that more than holds its own today.

Delphine Seyrig, the iconic French art house actress famed for her roles in such classics as Last Year at Marienbad, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Day of the Jackal and Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (which was voted the greatest film ever made in a Sight and Sound magazine poll), heads the cast as the mysterious Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory.

“Incredible sense of foreboding”

She’s staying in a near-empty Belgian seaside hotel with her put-upon companion Ilona when her attention is grabbed by the only other guests – Stefan and his new wife Valerie. The Countess is immediately drawn to the couple and begins to exert an influence over them. The marriage is already strained, due in part to Stefan and Valery’s very different backgrounds, but their new ‘friend’ doesn’t help matters by driving a wedge even further between them, resulting in violence and death.

It may sound like a fairly standard horror movie, but Kümel creates an incredible sense of foreboding throughout, and the unusual setting – a very bleak and largely deserted modern-day Ostend – adds to the atmosphere. Kümel also claims he dressed Seyrig’s controlling Countess in the colours of the Nazis (black, red and white) while making her look like Marlene Dietrich; in contrast her sidekick Ilona resembles Louise Brooks.

John Karlen, then best known for his regular role in US ‘vampire soap’ Dark Shadows, and Danielle Ouimet play Stefan and Valerie, whose marriage would no doubt have collapsed even without the Countess’s intervention.

“Unnerving”

The real Elizabeth Bathory is, of course, reputed to have bathed in the blood of virgins to keep herself looking young, and Hammer did indeed produce their own take on the legend, Countess Dracula, the same year. But their version lacks the subtle, artistic and unnerving elements of Kumel’s; his is really an art film rather than exploitation.

Special features include writer and film expert Kim Newman’s thoughts on the movie, its influences and similar titles, short films by Kümel and, best of all, an in-depth interview with the film-maker himself conducted by renowned critic Ann Billson.

Sarah Morgan( Writer )

Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.

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