Daughters of Darkness

Halloween episode, so let's dip into scary monsters. The scariest of all? Daughters of Darkness.

A newly wed couple is slowly heading back to his home in England, although he's not that excited to, so they hang around at a hotel. Another pair turn up, the Countess Elizabeth Bathory and her servant. He's uncertain, and a lot of a prick, and she's uncertain about everything, and the Countess plays on and with everyone. The Countess picks up her, makes him into a toy, but eventually has a problem with sunlight.

This film is "adult" in that it has nudity and violence. And the Countess enabling an abusive husband. It also has a number of sub plots that don't go anywhere. Like his mother. Was there something up with that I didn't get? And the hotel concierge and police inspector hovering around which pays off in... actually, that doesn't pay off either.

The Dracula imagery is sort of there, but there are a few shots where the director Harry Kümel just said "sod it, let's make it obvious. Get it! GET IT!!!". And then the ending feels like "we need to wrap this up, give the bad guy some come-up-pance, and also leave the movie open ended," so subtlety definitely isn't a hallmark of this movie.

So definitely not a horror movie I was aware of. Not incredibly sure I'd recommend it to others, but nor one to stay away from.

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