Daughters of Darkness (2 Stars)

Last month I watched five films about Countess Elisabeth Bathory, all of which claimed to be true stories. Now I'm watching one more film about her, but it makes no claims to be true. The Countess arrives at a hotel in Ostend, Belgium, in 1971, accompanied by her lover Ilona. The hotel concierge is shocked to see her, because she stayed in the hotel once before, 40 years ago, when he was only a young man at the beginning of his career. She made such an impression on him that he could never forget her, and she hasn't aged at all in this time.

It's late November, and the only other guests in the hotel are a newly wed couple, Stefan and Valerie. They married two days ago in Switzerland without telling their parents. There's a mystery about Stefan which is disappointingly never explained. He comes from a wealthy family, and he doesn't want to tell his mother that he's married. Since he only speaks about his mother we get the impression that his father is dead. When he finally speaks to his mother on the phone we find out that his mother is a man.

There are newspaper reports about a series of murders in nearby Bruges. Young women have been found drained of their blood. Stefan insists on travelling to Bruges, and they arrive just in time to see the police drag another body out of a canal. Stefan is so excited that he pushes his way through the crowd to get a closer look, and he knocks Valerie onto the ground when she tries to stop him.

Back at the hotel, Stefan shows violent tendencies. He beats Valerie with a belt for no apparent reason. He seems to get pleasure from it, but Valerie doesn't. She leaves the hotel in the morning to return to Switzerland.

She doesn't get far. The Countess stops her. She tells Valerie that a little beating every now and then is no reason to break up a perfectly happy marriage, however bad the welts are.

Stefan and Elisabeth have a lot in common. They're both aroused by talking about torture. When Elisabeth tells him her name he recounts the stories that he's heard about the cruelty of Countess Bathory in the 17th Century. When he describes how the Countess used to kill virgins and drain their blood Elisabeth can't keep her hands off him, scratching his neck and pinching his nipples while she begs him to continue. She doesn't even care that Valerie is sitting opposite. Stefan also seems to have forgotten his wife's presence. He's panting with excitement while he talks about the torture.

Yes, the Countess is a vampire. It's kept secret until late in the film, but I'm sure everyone would guess it as soon as she appears in the hotel. The biting is very subtle. We never see it happening, just the blood afterwards.

I've read that this film is highly rated among fans of horror films. I don't understand why. There isn't much horror in it. The vampiric action is hardly shown. The film relies on a sensual style and occasional nudity, but if I wanted that I'd watch one of Jean Rollin's films.

I've also read that the director Harry Kümel, who's now 78 years old, intends to make a sequel to the film next year. After 48 years? What's he thinking? Worse still, the sequel will be called "Mothers of Darkness". That sounds like a joke. What's the next step after that? "Grandmothers of Darkness"? All I can say is, if a sequel or sequels are made I hope Joe Bob Briggs will make a commentary track for the Blu-ray discs.