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DVD Tuesday: Sexy Vampires in Daughter of Darkness!
Daughters of Darkness box art courtesy Blue Underground
I love vampire movies and I've devoted lots of time to tracking down fabled but hard-to-get titles in the undead canon. But Daughters of Darkness (1971) was one that caught me by surprise: I saw a promising poster, paid my money and sat down in the dark — three decades later I still remember what a weird surprise awaited me.
Cold, dark and sublimely creepy, it unfolds during the off-season at a deluxe seaside hotel in Belgium. The only guests are a pair of honeymooners, Valerie and Stefan (Danielle Ouimet, John Karlen), whose marriage seems to be off to a rocky start (why is he always on the phone to his mother?), the Countess Elisabeth Bathory (French actress Delphine Seyrig, star of the sublimely puzzling Last Year at Marienbad), and her personal assistant/traveling companion, Ilona (Andrea Rau). Dressed like a silent-movie star and yet given to such down-to-Earth amusements as knitting in the palatial sitting room, the platinum-blonde countess looks to be in her thirties… yet the concierge does a double take when she glides across the lobby. She resembles "a lady who must have changed a great deal" since he last saw her, several decades earlier. "My mother, perhaps?" she says mildly. Yeah, perhaps.
The countess lavishes attention on the young couple: They're "so sweet," "so perfect," "so good-looking" — good enough to eat, you can't help think, and perfect for what? Not each other, certainly. Stefan is mean to Valerie and she's more than a little frightened, especially when she sees the gleam in his eye after they stumble across a crime scene. A serial killer is murdering young women, and Stefan seemed oddly thrilled to catch a glimpse of the latest corpse. And there's worse to come.
Like Near Dark (1987), another of my favorites, this is a vampire movie with no fangs or cobwebby castles. Vampire buffs will recognize the countess' name, but her demeanor couldn't be less like that of the bloody countess: She's so gracious, so affectionate, so theatrically soft-spoken.
Belgian director Harry Kümel revels in the vast, ornate, near-empty resort, as well as the contrast between the troubled, thoroughly modern young couple in their bell-bottoms and suede boots, and the elegant countess and Ilona, with her Louise Brooks bob — they recall the suggestion that movies are ghostly because people who lived and died decades earlier drift through them in all their youthful perfection, never growing old or fading.
Daughters of Darkness privileges atmosphere over shocks — though it tosses off a couple of nifty twists — and it's not for all tastes. But I love it, especially its suggestion that the worst kind of vampire doesn't want your love — she wants your soul. "You must be nice to me," says the countess to Valerie with a chilling smile. "Soon you will love me as I love you now." Brrrrrrrrrrr!
Things to consider:
Daughters of Darkness is a coolly erotic vampire movie — name your favorite sexy vampires.
Can a horror movie truly be an art movie as well? Examples?
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Hear Maitland on the weekly podcast TV Guide Talk.
See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks on the Movie Talk vodcast.
Previously in DVD Tuesday:
The Crazies
Blade Runner
Zodiac
Manhunter
A Simple Plan
Taxi Driver
Renaissance
Blowup
Hot Fuzz
300
Ace in the Hole
Eyes Without a Face
Apocalypto
Citizen Kane
La Jetée
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Bob le Flambeur
Near Dark
Perfect Blue
Pan's Labyrinth
Les Girls
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The Queen
Expresso Bongo
I'm Not Scared
Shocking Grindhouse Double Bill! — Scanners and The Candy Snatchers
Don't Look Now
Re-Animator
Casino Royale
http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800073953#comments">Pi
The Prestige
13 Tzameti
The Departed
Suspiria
Kiss and Make Up
Kiss Me Deadly
The Long Good Friday
What Alice Found
The Devil's Backbone
The Descent
The Devil Wears Prada
Pandora's Box
The Thief and the Cobbler
Nashville
Panic in the Streets/Jack Palance Interview
The Pusher Trilogy
Scarface
Slither
Sunset Blvd.
In Cold Blood
Brick
Also: This week's new DVD releases
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Oct 15, 2007 4:47 PM
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I've never seen Daughters of Darkness - although it sounds like something I should see. Vampires are second only to Werewolves as my favorite monster. If they are sexy - well, that's even better.
In spite of the huge butt like hairdo or whatever it was on Gary Oldman in the 1992 version of Dracula, I found it to be a very sensual movie. Gary Oldman turning into a mist and rolling over the body of Winona Ryder was a great, sensual moment for me. There was also the women in the bed with Keanu Reeves - strangely erotic and never far from the inner most reaches of my mind when I see him in anything. I especially remember the one with no bottom and two tops - I guess it's good for something. 
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Oct 15, 2007 6:25 PM
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I know there are "better" erotic vampire movies, but I kind of liked Fright Night because it was both sexy and funny-first with Amanda Bearse and Chris Sarandon-then with Amy trying to give Charley a big wet one with that huge mouth full of teeth! Hysterical!
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Oct 15, 2007 6:46 PM
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I think vampires are both extremely erotic and extremely frightening by nature. There is something decadently erotic about the idea of a being who is free to do what he or she pleases and with whom. Not, like an attacker in the "real world" who breaks the rules, but one who actually follows the rules of the world they live in. The vampire imposes him or herself too but does so by being irresistible on all levels. That's part of what makes them so frightening. I definitely believe, though, that such things are better kept in books,films, etc. since only in fiction can it ever be confidentally or legitimately assumed that the "victim" secretly desires their fate.
Can't think of a particular vampire film that I find more erotic than another-at least not at the moment. But I find the genre itself a kinky turn-on. When I read about Countess Bathory I remember thinking not that what she actually did was erotic-I'm not into pain and blood-but that her ability to act on whatever indulgence came to mind at any time was. It wasn't the power but the freedom.
Now if you will excuse me, I believe both CinderAngelkc and I have appointments with our analysts. 
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Oct 16, 2007 3:00 AM
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I have three canidates for sexiest vampires:
Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger
(she brings her classic beauty to a character in a sad situation)
Lauren Hutton in Once Bitten
(OK, yeah, it's a comedy but I don't think she ever looked better in a movie... not that I remember anyway)
Mathilda May in Lifeforce
(me-freakin'-ow... the hands-down winner)
Honorable mention to Udo Kier in Andy Warhol's Dracula/Blood for Dracula
(what a look! so creeptastic http://tinyurl.com/2u3dv2)
Can a horror movie be an art movie? Why not? It probably depends on how we define "art movie".
I think of it as something carefully crafted from the writing to the directing to the cinematography. And sometimes they can range from sci-fi to comedy films with a horror bent. Examples:
Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (anarchy meets claustrephobia)
Murnau's Vampyr (dreamy)
Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (beautiful art direction and cinematography)
Romero's Night of the Living Dead (graphic realism)
All very different. But none of them conventional Hollywood fare.
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Oct 16, 2007 3:47 AM
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My apologies to Boris Karloff but I never thought that he was the least bit appealing, and as I had only seen his vampire movies and the old Nosferatu film on late-night television when I was a teenager, I did not think that vampires were at all sexy until I saw Frank Langella in Dracula. THEN I understood the attraction. He captured the dark, dangerous, and seductive characteristics that I have associated with and loved about vampire movies since then. Oh, yes, for the sexiest female vampire, my vote would be for Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger.
As for a horror film being an art movie, as Achyfakey said, "why not?" Would you classify The Others as a horror film, art film, both or neither? When I watched it, I was curled up in my seat - the situation wasn't helped as I was the ONLY person in the theater. It had an excellent script, great direction, and very good performances. That movie had a wide release but was playing in the local independent film theaters.
Side note: I just love this time of year because TCM and AMC plays the old horror movies and I just sit back with a bowl of popcorn and shiver in the dark.![]<img border=](http://community.tvguide.com/images/emoticons/devil.gif) ">
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Oct 16, 2007 8:33 AM
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Correction to my previous post: I referred to Boris Karloff but I meant to say Bela Lugosi!
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Oct 16, 2007 8:50 AM
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BlueeyedSara: I know it's heresy, but I'm with you on Lugosi. Never found him sexy. One of the many revelations for me of seeing the Spanish-language version of Dracula that was shot simultaneously with the more familiar Tod Browning version was how much sexier Carlos Villarias is.
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Oct 16, 2007 10:51 AM
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I love Daughters of Darkness so much I actually nabbed a copy of Kumel's other art-horror item Malpertuis. Eh, stick with DoD.
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Oct 16, 2007 2:33 PM
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I don't recall the actress's name, but the vampire in "Fright Night 2" was pretty hot.... and so was the guy's girlfriend.
And I agree with choice of the vampire in "Lifeforce," if only cause she was naked for like 20 minutes.... I was a teen when I saw it at the theater and it definitely caught my interest... LOL!
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Oct 16, 2007 3:59 PM
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Isn't it hard to judge what is sexy or frightening from another generation or time in our time now? We have become desensitized to small frights and have seen some horrific things on film. Could we ever go back to a Bela Lugosi? When I see his stuff now it's comical - but was it back when it was produced and shown in theatres? I doubt it. I grew up in the era of Hammer studios using Christopher Lee as Dracula. I never found him particularly sexy either and it was Frank Langella which IMO brought the male vampire as sexy to the Count. I still find Gary Oldman sexier. I have to agree with Ackey on Lauren Hutton - she was sensual and attractive in Once Bitten - love that movie!
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Oct 16, 2007 6:18 PM
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Disregarding the acting, story, and faithfulness to the book
(I thought that the book was MUCH better-so I'm a little bias)
and just going by the cinematography, costumes, sets, etc.,
I would consider Interview with the Vampire an "art" flick.
I could watch it for the visuals alone!
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Oct 16, 2007 7:45 PM
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Mr. F, I was surprised at how much I liked Interview with the Vampire considering, you know, Tom Cruise being in it and all.
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Oct 16, 2007 8:22 PM
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Well, achy, that was during his pre-
"Jump the......Couch" Period!!
Cindy-welcome back from the Land of the Gremlins!
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Oct 16, 2007 9:17 PM
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Furley - It's an uneasy peace. They are lurking, stalking me - am I paranoid??
I read all the Vampire Chronicles. I like Tom Cruise more than I thought I would - he still was 20 years too old to be Lestat. I really objected to Antonio Banderes as Armand much more. Armand is 14 or 15 years old. It isn't like Vampires should be a love interest or anything - they are the undead after all.
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Oct 17, 2007 12:14 AM
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