Designing The Movies: DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) – 4K Restoration!

 

 

 

 

There are no fangs in Belgian director Harry Kümel’s psychosexual erotic thriller Daughters of Darkness (Les lèvres rouges, 1971), but plenty of blood and sequins. Stylish young newlyweds (Danielle Ouimet and John Karlen) on their way to England stop off at a grand but desolate seaside resort in the off-season. The arrival of Delphine Seyrig’s glamorous and strangely ageless countess Bathory (modelled on the one played by Marlene Dietrich is Shanghai Express) with goth assistant (Andrea Rau) in tow disrupts their idyll. She purports to be a descendant of 16th century Erzsebat Bathory, the notorious Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer—and in this hypnotic lesbian vampire classic, the insidious countess goes on to seduce audiences and hotel guests alike.  

 

Daughters of Darkness is visually and sonically seductive thanks to the stylized use of saturated colour, a wardrobe of European fashion labels (like Bernard Perris), and a mesmerizing score by François de Roubaix that In Fabric filmmaker Peter Strickland calls, “a work of mysterious Euro decadence.” 4K restoration presented with an introduction by series host Nathalie Atkinson.