DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS

*****

Directed by Harry Kümel.

Starring Delphine Seyrig, John Karlen, Danielle Ouimet, Andrea Rau.

Horror, Belgium, 87 Minutes.

Reviewed as part of FrightFest 2025 - Uk Premiere of the 4K Restoration 

Young newlyweds Stefan and Valerie are honeymooning through Europe, staying at a Belgian hotel before making the trip across the sea to England to reveal their marriage to Stefan’s mother. Strangely reluctant to share any information about his parent, events take an even stranger turn when another pair of guests, the Countess Elisabeth Báthory and her young companion Ilona turn up in the middle of the night to stay. Recognised from decades before by the concierge, who claims she hasn’t aged a day, the seductive Countess sets her sights on the young couple and starts to play a dangerous game where they both fall under her seductive spell.

Nearly half a century old, Harry Kümel’s masterpiece still casts a spell over the viewer, much like the vampiric figure at the centre of the twisted love triangle here. Although always highly regarded, the film now feels like a true cult classic more than ever, with its now vintage atmosphere only increasing in style and elegance. From its haunting main location of an opulent deserted seafront hotel to the ahead of its time depiction of sexuality in various guises and displaying the murderous figure at the heart of matters as a seductive anti-heroine, DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS shines now more than ever as one of the true classics of the vampire genre, especially in this new 4K remaster.

There’s a certain irony now in seeing Delphine Seyrig here as the murderous Countess, with her platinum blonde hair and silver sequin dress in comparison to her now more celebrated role in Chantal Akerman’s JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUSSELS, regarded now as one of the best films  ever made, where she plays a struggling widowed mother. Always versatile, Seyring’s performance here is still influential in both looks and manner, creating a truly immortal cinematic vampire. The film is still wickedly entertaining on all fronts, from the twist of Stefan’s mother to the glorious imagery including the haunting shot of Elisabeth at the top of a hill raising her arms in her coat and resembling a bat in the distance.

Long unavailable in the UK, with this remaster, the film could, and should, find a whole new audience to fall under its spell, alongside the rest of us who became devotees so long ago.

Iain MacLeod