A Vampire Film That Rejects Fangs for Atmosphere

Read Time:5 Minute, 31 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Daughters of Darkness (Les lèvres rouges) (UHD+BD LE)
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Genre: Horror, Drama, Thriller
Year Released: 1971, Radiance Films 4K 2025
Runtime: 1h 27m
Director(s): Harry Kümel
Writer(s): Pierre Drouot, Jean Ferry, Harry Kümel
Cast: Delphine Seyrig, John Karlen, Danielle Ouimet, Andrea Rau, Paul Esser, Georges Jamin, Joris Collet, Fons Rademakers
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 FrightFest Film Festival, available October 13, 2025. Pre-order your copy here: www.radiancefilms.co.uk

RAVING REVIEW: DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS isn’t the kind of vampire film that lures its audience in with sharp teeth and spurts of blood. Instead, it glides into view with a quiet elegance, letting its atmosphere wash over you like waves against the Belgian shoreline where the story unfolds. From its very first moments, there’s a sense of unease lurking beneath the polished surfaces, as though the film is more interested in seduction than shocks. Harry Kümel, working at the height of his career, crafted something that plays as both a piece of Gothic horror and an artful exploration of desire, repression, and control.

The story begins with a young married couple arriving at a nearly deserted seaside hotel in Ostend. The emptiness of the setting immediately sets the tone, its faded grandeur and cavernous halls providing the perfect stage for unsettling encounters. Into this space enters Countess Elizabeth Báthory, played with commanding poise by Delphine Seyrig; she becomes the embodiment of elegance masking menace. Her presence transforms the hotel into something almost theatrical, a place where seduction and danger coexist without ever being spoken aloud.

Seyrig’s performance has long been recognized as the film’s crown jewel, and it’s easy to see why. With her calculated gestures and the sly way she lets every line linger, she creates a figure who is less a monster than an irresistible force of nature. The role leans into her background as a star associated with high art cinema, drawing on her earlier work in Resnais’ LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD while twisting it into something darker. What results is a character that transcends the typical vampire archetype; she is both alluring and terrifying, offering pleasure with the inevitability of doom.

The couple she encounters, Stefan and Valerie, are already fragile before the Countess begins her slow encroachment. Their marriage feels brittle, with Stefan played by John Karlen as a man driven by cruelty as much as charm, and Danielle Ouimet’s Valerie desperate for validation in a relationship that gives her little. The Countess doesn’t so much intrude as she magnifies what already exists, pulling at those weaknesses until everything begins to unravel. Andrea Rau, as the Countess’s companion, Ilona, adds yet another layer of tension; her beauty and melancholy accentuate the sense that this pairing of women carries with it an inevitability.

Kümel’s handling of the material is deliberate. He is less concerned with jump scares than with compositions that lock his characters into spaces where power shifts feel as inescapable as fate. The color palette is striking, with deep reds and cold blues heightening the sense of extremes. Even the hotel becomes something more—echoing, lonely, and strangely timeless. That atmosphere is a key reason the film has endured, giving it an almost dreamlike quality where every action seems both inevitable and surreal.

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS was a trial of experimentation in a unique genre. The lesbian subtext is more than suggestion—it is a central component of the story, handled with a sophistication rare for the early 1970s. Where other genre films of the time might lean into exploitation, Kümel treats desire as destructive, weaving it into the film’s exploration of control, gender, and mortality. There’s also a vein of feminist critique running through it, particularly in the way Seyrig’s Countess exerts dominance over a world that has historically tried to contain women.

For those expecting the thrills of Hammer horror or the excess of Jess Franco, the film may appear restrained, even slow. Its horror is rooted in suggestion, in moments of silence that feel almost unbearable, in the way Seyrig can make a glance feel like a death sentence. Yet, for viewers willing to immerse themselves in its world, it becomes mesmerizing.

The new 4K restoration from Radiance Films ensures that the film’s visuals have never looked sharper, allowing audiences to appreciate the intricate details of Kümel’s imagery with greater clarity. The Limited Edition release also comes with a wealth of supplements, including new commentaries and interviews, rare behind-the-scenes footage, and even Kümel’s early short films. For collectors, this is more than just a release—it’s a celebration of a landmark piece of European genre cinema. The premiere at FrightFest 2025, with Kümel himself in attendance, further cements its legacy as a film that refuses to fade into obscurity.

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS is less about vampires than it is about seduction, control, and the inevitability of destruction once desire takes hold. Its pacing, atmosphere, and performances all work in service of that idea. It’s a film that lingers long after it ends, not because of what it shows, but because of the haunting suggestion of what lies beneath its surface.

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[photo courtesy of RADIANCE FILMS]

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