Introduction

Daughters of Darkness
Kat Ellinger

Print publication date: 2020

Print ISBN-13: 9781800348295
Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: January 2022
DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781800348295.001.0001

Introduction
Kat Ellinger

DOI:10.3828/liverpool/9781800348295.003.0001

Abstract and Keywords

This introductory chapter provides a brief summary of the 1971 film, Daughters of Darkness.
The film is a tale of desire, sadism, and vampirism and is like nothing else from its era. In the
years following its release, the film has come to be considered a cult classic. Part art film, part
Eurocult erotica, Daughters of Darkness straddles the divide between high and low cinema. The
chapter presents it as a beautiful anomaly, made during a period where lesbian vampire films
were in vogue, and in plentiful supply. Yet, it stands out because of its otherness, ironically, in a
genre populated with othered outsiders.

Keywords: Daughters of Darkness, vampirism, cult classic, art film, erotica, lesbian vampire films, otherness

Young newly-weds, Valerie (Danielle Ouimet) and Stefan (John Karlen), arrive by train in the
middle of the night, at the desolate, windswept coastal town of Ostend, Belgium. The beaches,
which are usually teeming with holidaymakers during tourist season, are all but deserted. It is a
similar story at the regal-looking hotel the couple pick to spend part of their honeymoon. It’s
only supposed to be a passing visit though, as Valerie is keen to travel on with her new husband,
to England, so she can meet her new mother-in-law, Lady Chiltern. Stefan isn’t so enthusiastic
and takes steps to delay their plans, insisting they extend their stay at the hotel and rest. He will
phone ahead instead, he tells her. His mother needs to get time for the news to sink in. This
turns out to be a lie. Stefan is up to no good, and ‘mother’ is not all that she seems. But then
nothing with Stefan is as it seems; he is a man with many dark secrets, some of which Valerie is
set to discover within those lonely echoing walls of an off-season hotel, where no one can hear
her screams, or the lash of her husband’s belt against her tender exposed skin.

On arrival, the couple find they are the only residents of the hotel. But they are soon joined by
the enigmatic Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Delphine Seyrig) and her mysterious assistant Ilona
(Andrea Rau): a meeting which proves fatal for a couple of members of the party. Bathory is so
taken with Valerie that interest soon tumbles into obsession. However, this is no ordinary
obsession, and Bathory is no ordinary woman. She is, as the hotel concierge suspects, having

Page 1 of 2
PRINTED FROM LIVERPOOL SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.liverpool.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Liverpool University
Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in LSO for personal use.
Subscriber: University of Edinburgh; date: 13 June 2022
Introduction

recognised her from forty years previously as a visitor to the hotel and seeing she hasn’t aged a
day, an ancient vampire, who has travelled across Europe for centuries, driven by her thirst for
blood and other libertine pursuits.

Harry Kümel’s tale of desire, sadism and vampirism is like nothing else from its era. In the years
following its release the film has come to be considered a cult classic. Part art film, part Eurocult
erotica, Daughters of Darkness straddles the divide between high and low. It is a beautiful
anomaly, made during a period where lesbian vampire films were in vogue, and in plentiful
supply. Yet, it stands out because of its otherness, ironically, in a genre populated with othered
outsiders.

(p.8) Chapter One of this book, ‘Brides of Dracula’, offers up a comprehensive production
history of the film, with exclusive interviews from director Harry Kümel and star Danielle
Ouimet, as well as a rundown on all the major cast members, the locations, the music and more.
Chapter Two, ‘Vampyros Lesbos’, turns to compare and contrast, as well as analyse, aspects of
the film against its peers and contemporaries within the wider playing field of lesbian vampire
cinema in general. Chapter Three probes into the history surrounding the real life serial killer
Countess Bathory, as well unveiling several filmic interpretations of her story, with a view to
establishing just where Daughters of Darkness fits into the overall body of work concerning the
infamous Blood Countess. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the sadist and class themes
inherent in Kümel’s film. Chapter Four contextualises Daughters of Darkness within a framework
of vampire, Gothic and decadent literature. An epilogue concludes the book by providing further
quotes from director Kümel, which illuminate the prospect of a contemporary sequel to his
original 1971 film, as well as a brief analysis on the lesbian vampires films that followed much
later on, into the 1980s and beyond.

A note on sources
Unless otherwise indicated, all quotes from Harry Kümel and Danielle Ouimet are from
interviews conducted by the author specifically for this book.

Access brought to you by:

Page 2 of 2
PRINTED FROM LIVERPOOL SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.liverpool.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Liverpool University
Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. An individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in LSO for personal use.
Subscriber: University of Edinburgh; date: 13 June 2022