Thursday, December 3, 2020

Daughters of Darkness (1971)


 ☆ ☆ ☆

Daughters of Darkness (1971) – H. Kümel

Euro-horror that is less trash and more arthouse than most, with a dream-like visual sense and eerie soundtrack. A recently married couple visits a Belgian resort in the winter, finding themselves the only ones in the hotel until Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Delphine Seyrig) and her lesbian lover/assistant/slave turn up.  Of course, the Countess seems likely to be a vampire and a series of unexplained murders are currently in the news.  But the film is all cat-and-mouse with the Countess stalking the couple and the new wife discovering that her husband may be harbouring secrets (I’m not sure what to make about his strange call to his “mother” who appears to be a man in drag) including violent tendencies of his own. The movie moves slowly to its conclusion which seems inevitable until a sudden twist and epilogue.  Some haunting visuals adorn this finale.

  

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