Daughters of Darkness

1971 "These are the Daughters of Darkness… They are waiting for you – They thrive on blood!"
6.5| 1h40m| R| en| More Info
Released: 02 October 1971 Released
Producted By: Roxy Film
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

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Director

Harry Kümel

Production Companies

Roxy Film

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Daughters of Darkness Audience Reviews

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
qmtv Negative! Complete failure, pile of crap film. Successful as an "ART" film, if deaf and blind. Boring, Amateur Acting, Garbage Story.OK, first rule of a film, should probably be is ENTERTAINMENT. This movie is boring, slow, amateur acting all around, amateur directing, the story is just plain garbage. Best part is the cinematography, that was good. The editing sucked, you can tell by how long they linger on a frame. And all the cuts of the waves crashing in. The music was OK, not great. The ending with the car crash and fire was just plain garbage. Then the new embodiment of the "Countess" maybe waiting for a sequel, real Hollywood ending. Believe it it sucked. I'm reading through the reviews. And most people love this crap. Maybe they go into it thinking it's an ART film and they excuse all the elements that make up an ENTERTAINING film, like story, acting, etc. I don't know, but it must be why the same people love Suspiria, another pile of crap that people love, and other Argento films. I hate Argento and I hate this movie. Here's the story, a newlywed couple stay at an abandoned hotel. We have no back story on the wife, not good. The back story on the husband is he has a mother, but there's mystery. So, you stick around for the mystery. Finally we find out who the mother is, an older guy in drag, probably some kind of sugar daddy for the husband. This leads to nothing. Nothing! OK, so then we get a scene, wait for it, when the husband beats the wife with a belt. Not cool. Then a shot of them naked with marks on the wife, and the guy still holding the belt. She takes off but is brought back to the hotel by the "Countess". Now the Countess is supposedly Elizabeth Bathory, the blood sucking/bathing wench who also checked in at the hotel. She appears earlier with her "Secretary". We have no other info on her or why she's staying at this hotel. Apparently she stayed there 40 years before, at her last world tour, because the concierge recognized her and that she hasn't aged a day.The countess sends her secretary to seduce the husband, she dies by cutting herself on a shaver, they bury her on the beach. The countess opens her coat like bat wings, real chess here. But people love this crap. The countess kills the husband and she and the wife drink his blood, and they dumb the body. There's a retired detective that comes around, he gets run over while riding his bike. At the end, the wife is now the new secretary, she is driving the countess. The countess asks for speed because daylight is approaching, they crash, the countess flies out of the car onto a branch, and is impaled, the car goes on fire and so does the countess. Next scene, we see the wife, acting as the new countess speaking to another couple at an outside part. The end. The story sucks. No backstory on the wife, the backstory on the husband at first is interesting, then goes into a dead end. The countess and her secretary, just ridiculous. The acting all around are garbage. The woman playing the countess, you can tell there's talent there but the crap she's given is utter nonsense. It just goes on and on. The secretary was decent compared to the rest. The wife was just plain owful. The husband was OK, but not great, again, given garbage dialogue. The concierge and old detective could have been played by the same person, both utter trash. The sets were OK, but not great. Just because you put someone in a red dress in the middle of the set does not equate to art. The Bathory story is also garbage. The movie with Ingrid Pitt "Countess Dracula" is also garbage. I'm starting to think that it's not about the product. It's about the marketing. You can produce a movie or any other product, have nonsense stories, crappy acting, amateur directing, but if you have a great publicity campaign then you can call it "ART" and denounce those who don't like it as snobs. Maybe that's what happened here. And with "Suspiria" a worse film than this.
Leofwine_draca A slow-moving art film dealing with a pair of women who are vampires - except not in the typical sense. I'll make it clear from the start that I'm not a big fan of art-house films - I'm more of a traditionalist myself. This accounts for the film's average rating - the rating is of how much I enjoyed the film, not of how good the film is. I admit that the film is very good and deserves 5/5 for its merits, however, I only enjoyed it partially because I'm not really into these slow-paced, character-focused movies.It's a film which makes good use of some European locations - the photography is wonderful and reminds me of DON'T LOOK NOW. The acting is also above average, with standout performances from Delphine Seyrig as the hypnotic Countess and John Karlen as the violent, hypocritical husband. It's only Danielle Ouimet who spoils things with her wooden performance - she may be beautiful, but she's no actress. There is very little action in the film, apart from the finale, making this one hard to sit through for some impatient viewers.Throughout the film, the key focus is that of relationships - between the two couples, and how they interact with each other. Although billed as a lesbian vampire affair, it's actually quite subtle, with only a couple of kisses here and there - don't worry, there are no explicit scenes in this film. The basis is the story of Countess Bathory, the real-life woman who bathed in virgin's blood and who was also the inspiration for the Hammer film Countess Dracula, starring Ingrid Pitt. Indeed, the blood is kept to a minimum too, and the blood-drinking is tastefully portrayed. The film succeeds in enchanting the viewer and wrapping them up in the vampire's spell, becoming almost hypnotic. There are a couple of shocks - the sudden, brutal whipping, or the bloody bathroom death - but these are few and far between. For the most part it's a subtle, understated, dreamy affair. Only occasionally dipping into unintentional comedy - the murder of the bicyclist was unexpected and amusing - DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS is otherwise a well-made, but only moderately enjoyable film.
mfsdc Daughters of Darkness is often quoted as a horror movie, Gothic/vampire tale, actually is far more than that. It focuses on other aspects of human condition behind the theme and the plot, Delphine Seyrig proves when she is anything but scary, indeed a mirror of a society, which are developed through a purely French cinema of the 70 decade in the form of film making, enjoying performances from a handful of actors in a superb camera work and a a no less magnificent soundtrack, creating an atmosphere very own, much like the scenes chosen and the acting itself.You can see this film as a horror movie entertainment fleeting, but in this case do not expect a creepy experience, or watch the movie expecting nothing and feel that the film does not aim high flights, but a stunning purity.
giantbunny24 On the box it put this film in the same company with greats like Night of the Living Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I completely disagree. For one thing, I was expecting to see at least a little gore in this film and there was almost none, other than a scene where the male character cuts himself shaving. For an "erotic" film, there was very little actual sex, apart from the first scene, which incidentally does not feature much nudity, and a shower scene. OK, so there wasn't much sex or violence, that doesn't mean it's a bad film. Some of the best films simply imply sex or violence. This however is not one of them. The acting is not bad, but the characters are written really flatly. The male character's mother who is dying of cancer is unconvincing. The wife is even less convincing. She doesn't seem to have any past at all. Where did these people meet? I still don't understand why the mother does not like the wife. The relationship between the vampire and her mistress is confusing. What is the mistress' purpose? It seems as though there is a symbiotic relationship, but what is the nature of that symbiosis? Overall, a disappointing film.