Daughters of Darkness

1971

Action / Horror

10
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 61% · 25 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 61% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 8005 8K

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Plot summary

Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

Director

Harry Kümel Photo
Harry Kümel

Top cast

John Karlen Photo
John Karlen as Stefan / Valerie's husband
Georges Jamin Photo
Georges Jamin as Retired Policeman
Delphine Seyrig Photo
Delphine Seyrig as Countess Bathory
Paul Esser Photo
Paul Esser as Hotel clerk
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
920.53 MB
1204*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 1
1.85 GB
1792*1072
English 5.1
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 40 min
Seeds 18

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by dbdumonteil

Fade to red.

The follow-up to Kümel's "Malpertuis" (from Jean Ray's book),"Les Lèvres Rouges " has got a much simpler screenplay and ,with one exception no great stars (no Orson Welles,Michel Bouquet,Susan Hampshire ,Jean-Pierre Cassel.....)....One star ,but what a star!Delphine Seyrig was one of the greatest stars France had ever had.She mesmerized her audience as no actress of her generation could;her death was a major loss for the European cinema.She could play the fairy godmother of "Peau D'Ane ",the dumb bourgeois lady of "Le Charme Discret De La Bourgeoisie" or the legendary bloody countess -many historians do not believe in those blood baths -with the same aplomb;three parts so different and the same woman with the same suave voice -you MUST hear her speak,a dubbed version would be a disaster;so make sure you get a DVD with subtitles.I have always thought Belgian directors were very good at creating a supernatural atmosphere without using a ton of special effects;like Delvaux in "Un Soir Un Train" ,Kümel makes the simple picture of a train which comes to a standstill.The baroque hotel will remind some users of "L'Année Dernière A Marienbad" ,Seyrig's debut in France.It's to state the obvious to write that Seyrig steals every scene she is in and fortunately she's featured in many scenes ;the three other leads seem bland by comparison and it takes all the talent of the director to pull them off."Les Levres Rouges" gave a renewed life to the vampire movie ,like Polanski's "the fearless vampire killers" did in the precedent decade .A strong lesbian interest in this movie too:Seyrig was so hot she could appeal to both men and women.
Reviewed by Undead_Master 7 / 10

Really good movie

This isn't a standard horror film. It's a low budget art film with a vampire theme. If you watch it with that in mind, it's pretty thought provoking and very memorable. It has a couple of shocking scenes and it has a nice atmosphere, but for most of it's running time, Daughters of darkness plays as a drama.The question is... Would you even call daughters of darkness a horror movie at all?... Personally i think i do, but it's a close call. It's just dark enough and morbid enough to put it into the horror category, but it's not really suspenseful and it doesn't try to generate thrills.The visual style is very striking. The aesthetic of the movie brings to mind the french new wave movement and there is nothing standard about the way it's made. The editing, the use of sound and the pacing are all very unusual. There is also a great deal of attention lavished on the art direction and the costuming. Everything in the film feels like it's very calculated. It never feels improvisational. There is never a sense of spontaneity.Daughters of Darkness has the sort of cold logical atmosphere that you might find in a Stanley Kubrick film.It's a film that's full of dialog and most of the film is played out, watching people talk to each other. The dialog is very well written and constantly engaging. You rarely see a horror film that relies this much on acting. The acting is fantastic, so it works to it's advantage.Delphine Seyrig delivers one of the best performances i've seen in a long time. I'm not going to forget that performance any time soon. Even if the supporting cast hadn't been excellent, she could have carried the film all by herself. It's even more impressive when you think about how complex her character is.. She's half villain, and half hero. She's never entirely unsympathetic, but she's clearly calculating and manipulative.this might even be a truly great movie. I'll have to watch it again to be sure, but it's definitely good enough to warrant multiple viewings. It's one of the artiest horror films i've ever seen and it's worth checking out, even for people that don't enjoy the genre.
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