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7
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9 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
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Newlyweds
Stephan (John Karlen) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet) travel by
train to the Belgian resort town of Ostend. It is winter, the
off season for the tourist trade, so they are the only guests
in the opulent hotel they check into for their honeymoon. They're
the very picture of a happy couple and seem to have only one
worry —
Valerie is concerned that Stephan's wealthy, aristocratic mother
will disapprove of her. Stephan also seems worried about this
and goes out of his way to avoid communicating the news of his
marriage home. He tells his nervous new wife that mother already
hates her and hasn't even met her yet. The duo's hotel holiday
is interrupted by the sunset arrival of the Countess Bathory
(Delphine Seyrig) and her traveling companion Ilona (Andrea
Rau). The Countess is stunningly beautiful, very mysterious
and seems to just be one of the idle European aristocracy but
Pierre (Paul Esser), the hotel concierge, realizes that he remembers
seeing her on an earlier stay at the hotel 30 years before.
And this is puzzling because she looks the same now as she did
those long years ago...
The Countess immediately takes note of Stephan
and Valerie and seems to have a peculiar interest in them. Next
day the newlyweds take a short trip to the nearby town of Bruges.
There Stephan's obsession with death is shown when they witness
the removal of the bloodless body of a recent murder victim
from the scene of the crime. Valerie begins to have some fears
about her husband and is stunned by the strange look in his
eyes as he stares at the corpse along with his violent reaction
to her distaste. Returning to the hotel they are greeted by
the Countess; she convinces them to join her for drinks and
conversation. During their talk it becomes evident (to the audience,
if not to Stephan) that she may be the real Elizabeth Bathory
of bloody legend and just might be dangerous. The conversation's
interruption by a retired policeman with an interest in the
lady only adds to the questions as he brings up the subject
of vampires and seems to suspect that the Countess had something
to do with the death in Bruges. Soon it becomes apparent that
Bathory has her sights set on Valerie and when she's afforded
the opportunity to gain the heartbroken girl's confidence after
a brutal beating from Stephan, she makes the most of it. Sending
Ilona to seduce Stephan, the Countess puts in motion the cycle
that will doom the couple and end in blood for all of them.
Daughters
of Darkness
is an amazingly beautiful film and one of the best examples
of non-conventional vampire cinema. It refuses at almost every
turn to follow the normal conventions of horror movies and because
of this it becomes more impressive on repeat viewings. It flouts
the typical vampire trappings that horror fans might expect
and is the better for it. There are no canine fangs, no shape
shifting creatures, no coffins hidden for daytime slumber or
even any apparent fear of holy symbols. The Countess seems to
have spent the last 400 years drifting around Europe, carefully
choosing her victims and maintaining as low a profile as possible.
(Sounds like a brilliant modus operandi for an intelligent creature
of the night.) But as smart and clever as this movie is, it's
often criticized as slow and devoid of any real scares. I think
these views are sadly narrow and clearly miss the point. Director
Harry Kümel set out to make a very different kind of vampire
film, and by setting it in contemporary times and avoiding the
clichés of the genre he's able to play with the expectations
of his audience and move beyond them at the same time. The most
surprising element of Daughters
of Darkness
is that the most hateful and feared character is not the vampire.
Certainly the villain of the story is not the Countess
(who is portrayed as always smiling) but Stephan, who is obsessed
with death and has a cruel, violent streak. Behind his brooding
eyes hides a devastating secret that makes him loathe himself
so much that any relationship with his wife is doomed from the
start. Indeed, it's when Stephan is forced to confront the reality
of his relationship to "Mother" that things begin
to fall apart. It's at this point that he commits the terrible
beating of Valerie that causes the domino effect of all the
horrific actions in the latter part of the story. Without his
tragic character flaws the Countess might have had to move on
without a new companion and Valerie might have been spared her
blood-tinged kiss. To this end both Seyrig and Karlen give very
good performances that make the film stronger than it otherwise
might have been. In fact Seyrig is so good that I think that
without her in the vampire role the movie would surely have
failed. This is an endlessly fascinating gem of a film that,
like a well-cut diamond, reveals new beauty and character when
viewed from various angles and in different lights.
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Blue
Underground has done an incredible job in re-releasing this movie
on DVD. The earlier Anchor Bay disc was passable but shared the
visual problems of several other early AB DVDs: looking as if
we were watching the image through gauze. As a matter of fact,
AB's Daughters
of Darkness
is one of the very few DVDs I've sold off out of disappointment
because of the poor image quality. But that is no longer a concern
given the much improved look of BU's effort. The film still seems
a little worn and grainy at times, with some print damage flaring
up occasionally, but overall it looks great and the mono soundtrack
is crystal clear. In all likelihood this is the best Daughters
will ever look/sound on home video.
Of course, as we've come to expect from Blue Underground discs
there is a wealth of extras. To start, there are two audio commentaries
— one
with director Harry Kümel and the second with male lead John Karlen.
The Karlen track was recorded several years ago and was originally
included on the Roan laser disc. Film historian David Del Valle
joins the veteran actor and they have a very fun conversation
about the film and the circumstances around its production. Karlen
is quite funny, self-effacing and obviously loves the movie. He
is very blunt and at several points tells stories that could possibly
embarrass his onscreen associates, including why he and the director
were not on speaking terms by the end of the shoot. This track
is a lot of fun and a good way to learn a little about the film.
To discover even more about Daughters
of Darkness
you can listen to the newly recorded track with Kümel, moderated
by David Gregory. This is a very meaty session that covers quite
a lot of ground about the circumstances of production. Kümel is
a very verbose man and it's good that someone was there to keep
him focused; otherwise I think things might have drifted too much.
The director talks about the film's red, black and white color
scheme, his problems with the director of photography, and explains
why each actor was from a different country. I found several things
about which I disagree with Kümel as he went on, but I really
love his quote: "Films are not reality... Films are dreams"
— a
statement that perfectly sums up this movie. The other big extra
is a recent 8-minute interview with co-star Andrea Rau. She reminisces
about the film's many nude scenes and is quite charming. She points
out that still has the hairstyle she sported in Daughters
of Darkness
and I regret I've never seen her in other films. (She is still
a beautiful and vivacious woman.) Also in the extras category
are the trailer, a few amusing radio spots and a great poster
and still gallery. Altogether a very satisfying package that's
well worth the price. Blue Underground has done it again and this
movie deserves the fine attention they've lavished on it. 6/19/03 |
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