Daughters Of Darkness — Daughters Of Darkness( Blu Ray)
Daughters Of Darkness stands as one of the more mysterious, haunting, and creepily classy Euro horror films of the 1970s. It's largely set in an out-of-season large seaside hotel, where a newlywed couple met a striking blond-haired countess and her female assistant, who may/ may not be vampires. The film blends low-key disquiet with a building feeling of dread, with touches of unsettling erotica, arty unease, and light splashes of troubling violence/ gore. Here from Radiance is a recent Blu-ray release- taking in a 4k scan, a new commentary track, and a good selection of new/ old extras- including an eighty-page book.
Daughters Of Darkness ( aka Les Lèvres Rouges, Blood on the Lips, Children of the Night) is a joint Belgian, French and West German production from the year 1971. It was directed/co-written by Antwerp-born Harry Kümel, who, between the early 50’s and early 2000s he had thirteen features to his name. These went from crossdressing tragic drama Monsieur Hawarden (1968), trippy haunted house horror Malpertuis (1971), and small town drama Paradise Lost (1978).
The one-hour and forty-minute film opens on a nighttime train, which is making its way through a snow-swept landscape. Inside one of its larger rooms, we find newlywed couple Sefan (John Karlen), who has a slightly more shabby Tom Cruise quality, and long blond-haired Valerie(Danielle Ouimet). After making love, the pair discuss telling his aristocratic mother about their recent marriage, though he keeps changing the subject- and this becomes a trend throughout the film.
The pair get off the train at the port of Ostend- making their way to the large seaside Thermae Palace Hotel. They check in, have been given the best room in the place, as they are the only guests, as it’s way out of season.
From the off, they don’t seem like your run-of-the-mill newweds- they both openly admit that they don’t love each other, and Sefan is very shifty about his mother, who resides in a large English country house.
Fairly soon after the couple have settled in & are eating supper, two new guests arrive- Countess Elizabeth Báthory (Delphine Seyrig) an elegantly dressed woman with tight curly blond hair, and her short dark-haired younger Ilona Harczy(Andrea Rau). The hotel's middle-aged clerk (Paul Esser) is rather taken aback by the countess, as she seems exactly the same age as the last time she checked into the hotel, when he was a teenage porter.
As things unfold, the newlyweds read about the local death of several women, where all of their blood has been taken. And both the countess and Ilona have their eyes on Valerie- but is it sexual lust, or blood lust- and are the pair vampires, or just homosexual swingers?.
The atmosphere throughout the film is high with dread, mystery, and unease. With an arty use of blood red fade-outs. Whether or whether they are vamps is kept alive throughout most of the film's runtime, which may be a tad frustrating for some, but you have to let yourself drift in the mystery of it all.
Cast-wise- Seyrig portrays a wonderful sense of elegant and strange mystery. Rau flits between being pale/ troubled, onto a fearful temptress.
Daughters Of Darkness is very much a film you have to sink into- letting the atmosphere and tone envelop you.
The region-free Blu Ray takes in a lovely & moody 4k scan- managing to balance the use of blood blocks of red, and more subtle colour/ shadow detail- this is brought over from the Blue Underground release of the film from a few years back. On the extras side, we get a good selection of new and archive extras.
On the new side, we get an audio commentary from film scholars/ film academics Virginie Sélavy and Lindsay Hallam. They begin by talking about when they first became aware of the film. They talk about how the director thought of it as a commercial film, which was made by chance & necessity. They discuss the couple's marriage in the winter, and other things that seem slightly off in the film from the start. They chat about the element of predator and prey in the picture. They comment on how it updates the gothic genre, and the films linking between the 70s and 30s. We get talk about the film's colour coding, and how it shifts with the picture's characters. We find out the director got the idea of the film after reading a magazine about Elizabeth Bathory. Later on, they talk about how vampirism is seen as an alternative to standard heterosexual relationships. They compare it to other vampire films of the time, and much more. This was a fine one-play track, as I didn’t learn much, but got interesting opinions/comments.
On the new side, we get the following: an interview with director Harry Kümel and critic Anne Billson(30.34).Interview with critic and author Kim Newman(27.49). Immoral Tales: Daughters of Darkness, Class, Cruelty, and the Cinematic Legacy of Bathory (a visual essay by Kat Ellinger, author of the monograph on the film(24.51).
On the archive side, things we have: 1989 interview with Delphine Seyrig in which the actor discusses her career(26.59). Shooting A Stunt(3.19). Shooting A Scene(10.16). Two short films by Harry Kümel- Anna The Maid( 4.58) & Aether(7.26).
The finished release comes with an eighty-page perfect-bound booklet featuring new writing by Suzanne Boleyn, Martyn Conterio, Joseph Dwyer, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Mairéad Roche. It’s limited to 2000 copies, presented in a rigid box and full-height Scanavo packaging with a removable OBI strip, leaving the packaging free of certificates and markings.
Daughters Of Darkness is most certainly one of the key/ important vampire films of the 1970s, as it wonderfully blends and blurs horror exploitation tropes, with moody arthouse elements. This Radiance release gives the film the release it truly deserves- with a great selection of new & archive extras, and the eighty-page book.