Rating: 
Summary: A mesmerizing and atypical vampire film
Review: "Daughters of Darkness" (originally titled "La rouge aux lèvres") is a 1971 Belgian-French-West German production directed by Harry Kümel that stars Delphine Seyrig as the Countess Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Bathory (a real historical figure who murdered hundreds of young women in her quest for immortality). In the film, Bathory and her young female companion (Andrea Rau) cross pathes with a young couple, Valerie and Stefan (played by Danielle Ouimet and John Karlen - Willie Loomis from TV's "Dark Shadows") who are honeymooning during the off-season in Europe. At first the couple seem fairly normal, but things quickly sour, as the woman is shown to be emotionally unstable and the man is very violent and turned on by death. Their relationship is also undermined by homosexuality on both sides. There are intimations that Stefan is in thrall to an older man back in England, and Valerie - of course - soon falls under the spell of the ageless and beautiful Countess Bathory. This mesmerizing and hypnotic film makes brilliant use of sound, mood, and color to paint an understatedly savage tableau, and it has a well-deserved cult following. It's probably too slow-moving for the average horror movie fan, however. "Daughters of Darkness" is very self-consciously an "art" film. The carefully constructed images, the nonsensical dialogue, the use of vivid reds and blues, and the extremely deliberate pacing all serve to create a film that - despite a few shockingly strange death scenes - is much closer in spirit to "Last Year at Marienbad" than it is to "The Lost Boys."
Rating:
Summary: A mesmerizing and atypical vampire film
Review: "Daughters of Darkness" (originally titled "La rouge aux lèvres") is a 1971 Belgian-French-West German production directed by Harry Kümel that stars Delphine Seyrig as the Countess Elizabeth (Erzsebet) Bathory (a real historical figure who murdered hundreds of young women in her quest for immortality). In the film, Bathory and her young female companion (Andrea Rau) cross pathes with a young couple, Valerie and Stefan (played by Danielle Ouimet and John Karlen - Willie Loomis from TV's "Dark Shadows") who are honeymooning during the off-season in Europe. At first the couple seem fairly normal, but things quickly sour, as the woman is shown to be emotionally unstable and the man is very violent and turned on by death. Their relationship is also undermined by homosexuality on both sides. There are intimations that Stefan is in thrall to an older man back in England, and Valerie - of course - soon falls under the spell of the ageless and beautiful Countess Bathory. This mesmerizing and hypnotic film makes brilliant use of sound, mood, and color to paint an understatedly savage tableau, and it has a well-deserved cult following. It's probably too slow-moving for the average horror movie fan, however. "Daughters of Darkness" is very self-consciously an "art" film. The carefully constructed images, the nonsensical dialogue, the use of vivid reds and blues, and the extremely deliberate pacing all serve to create a film that - despite a few shockingly strange death scenes - is much closer in spirit to "Last Year at Marienbad" than it is to "The Lost Boys."
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful but a bit Boring
Review: Daughters of darkness has what most recent horror flicks lack, georgeous yet creepy environments, unique somewhat complex characters, a slow buildup of tension, but it could simply use a little more action. The climax is disappointing given all the cinematic energy expended earlier in the film. The lesbian theme may have been provacative in 1970 but is very tame today. A must-see for art-house horror fans, but not on my top ten.
Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece!
Review: Daughters of Darkness is a true example of art in horror-movies. A must see and also a chance to hear the music score of one of the greatest composers in the world, François de Roubaix. Delphine Seyrig and Andrea Rau; we haven't seen such strong sexuality in lesbianism since Ingrid Pitt in Vampire Lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding director
Review: Daugthers of Darkness is more than a surreal masterpiece.It's an unforgettable experience.But for when on DVD more of Harry Kumel's
films, as the eerie Malpertuis? SOS to Amazon to urge who cares for restoring this and other treasures of the seventh art.
Rating:
Summary: Laid back 70`s erotic feeling
Review: First to mention are the exciting women in this very 70`s film.I liked the style, the clothes and the look of the film; it`s all kind of red anyhow, so you get this erotic impression. Although the film is really slow and the effects are very unspecial (e.g. the glasbowl cutting the arms of stefan etc.) this film has it`s own flow and lots of charme. My favorite girl is without a doubt Valerie, when she gets catched from the Countess`charisma. If you like Vampire films you should definetily see this one.
Rating:
Summary: Last Year at Ostend
Review: I would be hard put to come up with a better example of misleading cover art than the picture Anchor Bay chose for DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. Leading you to expect low-budget trash, pitched at a peak of sustained hysteria, perhaps garnished with a few self-consciously Op visual effects, it gives you no clue of the arty artifact the film actually represents. DAUGHTERS is indeed trash, but of an ultra-refined, expensive variety. Aside from THE HUNGER (whose makers must have seen this film), I can't think of another vampire movie so obsessively focused on the sexy, chic trappings of the genre. The slight story is an excuse for a lushly erotic, forebodingly elegant atmosphere. The actors traipse around in high fashion outfits, rattle about empty hallways left over from LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, struggle with deciding whether they want to be vampires, lesbians or sadomasochists, and drive around the Belgian seaside resort of Ostend during the off season in a fey, antique roadster. The images are framed, lit and cut so carefully, they practically sparkle. (In fact, they literally sparkle in one sequence as the lamé dress worn by Delphine Seyrig turns her every movement into a dance of refracted light.) The hotel where most of the action takes place is worthy of some of Helmut Newton's steamier fantasies. Certainly Seyrig has been made up, accoutred and posed with enough care to be ready for him if he arrived. I suspect she was chosen for the part precisely because her most famous performance, in MARIENBAD, consisted of little more than similar photogenic posing. She does indeed look superb, and I wouldn't be surprised if half the budget paid for her wardrobe. With its kitschy pretensions, DAUGHTERS almost inevitably has to tread a thin line between utter silliness and insufferable pomposity. Trying to art up a genre usually associated with quick, resourceful filmmaking, it ends up being about nothing so much as the skill and money lavished on it. I liked the film, but there were times when I longed for Christopher Lee to jump out of the shadows to show how's it done. Vampirism isn't made into art by dressing it exquisitely, but by making the legend live, by exploiting our childish fears of the dark and the foreign, by momentarily making us believe vampires exist. DAUGHTERS only makes you believe that, assuming you've got the money and the style, Ostend might make a good weekend vacation stop.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: I'm delighted this will be available on DVD. I watched it on VHS a long, long time ago. I'd heard about it in various books on vampire films and haunted every video store I could find to locate a viewing copy. When I finally found it, I watched it with the enthrallment of the very young with the object of an obsession. Based loosely on the story of Elisabet Bathory, this "contempory" tale is of a young newly wed couple who are seduced by a mysterious woman whose interest in them is predatory. Compared to current movie fare, this is extremely tame with it's allusions to S&M and chic debauchery, but the european elegance of the film will satisfy the die hard vampire film fan who enjoys the older movies that defined the genre in the late 60s and into the 70s. Not as openly sexual as the lush offerings of a Hammer film, it has it's own more subtle erotic charm.
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: I'm delighted this will be available on DVD. I watched it on VHS a long, long time ago. I'd heard about it in various books on vampire films and haunted every video store I could find to locate a viewing copy. When I finally found it, I watched it with the enthrallment of the very young with the object of an obsession. Based loosely on the story of Elisabet Bathory, this "contempory" tale is of a young newly wed couple who are seduced by a mysterious woman whose interest in them is predatory. Compared to current movie fare, this is extremely tame with it's allusions to S&M and chic debauchery, but the european elegance of the film will satisfy the die hard vampire film fan who enjoys the older movies that defined the genre in the late 60s and into the 70s. Not as openly sexual as the lush offerings of a Hammer film, it has it's own more subtle erotic charm.
Rating:
Summary: Vampirism at its best
Review: If vampires are an erotic breed, this film brings with it a subdued feeling which pricks the skin. Tame by today's standards, this film moves with its own classic life. It may be slow in arriving, but it is a journey worth viewing.
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