Review of Daughters of Darkness (1971) by Steve J — 16 Apr 2014

Here we have an excellent example of an imperfect film being elevated chiefly by one GREAT performance, delivered by one of cinema's most justly revered female talents, Delphine Seyrig. Ms Seyrig heads an international cast in this low-budget work of Belgian horror-eroticism.

John Karlen (of Dark Shadows fame) and Daniele Ouimet (by then already a veteran of French-Canadian skin flicks) are a pair of mismatched newlyweds traveling on a night train through the Belgian countryside.

When their train is stopped by a derailment up ahead, they decide to stay in the small picturesque village of Ostend for a few days. They take a room in a decadent luxury hotel, empty because tourist season has yet to begin.

Their solace is interrupted with the arrival of a mysterious aristocratic woman calling herself Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Seyrig), with her 'assistant' Ilona (German model and soft-core queen Andrea Rau).

Immediately attracted to the female half of the pair, the elegant and devious Countess sets off a chain of events so that both Karlen and Rau are out of the picture, leaving the way clear for the Countess to seduce and conquer Ouimet.

While this isn't nearly as violent or sexually explicit as most films in the so-called 'lesbian vampire' subgenre that thrived in grindhouses and art houses alike in the 60s and 70s, it is definitely the best.

As stated before, most of this is because of the beautiful and charismatic Seyrig; director Harry Kümel conceived the film as an homage to the Marlene Dietrich-Josef von Sternberg films of the 1930s.

Casting Seyrig as his Dietrich was an ingenious move, and Seyrig proves adept at understanding the exact nature of the film and her role in it. She's aided greatly by the contributions of both Kümel and cinematographer Eduard van der Enden, who present us with a beautiful and sensuous, but empty and forbidding, world of subtly-decayed decadence.

The visuals are often brilliant: for example, the Countess's entrance into the film is nothing short of breathtaking. The supporting cast are mostly eclipsed by Seyrig, but Karlen turns in an interesting performance as the brutal, duplicitous husband, who's well in touch with his own sinister kinks and picks up on the Countess's game right away.

Ouimet is serviceable as the too-naïve young wife. Rau isn't much of an actress, but she fits in so well with the film's visual world that it's easy to see why she was cast. For a modern audience, there will be few surprises here and even fewer shocks, but this remains a fascinating exercise in cinematic elegance, proving that style sometimes CAN be substance.

Thank you, Delphine!!! This cult classic is worthwhile viewing both for fans of Eurohorror and lovers of art cinema. Give it a spin!