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Daughters of Darkness: Standard Edition
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Blue Underground Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (4th July 2023). |
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The Film
 When a late train causes honeymooners Stefan (Dark Shadows' John Karlen) and Valerie (Daniele Ouimet of the early Cinepix Canadian "maple syrup erotica" film Valerie) to miss the ferry to their connection to England, the pair check into an off-season resort in Ostend as the only guests; that is, until the arrival of the glamorous Countess Elizabeth Bathory (India Song's Delphine Seyrig) and her sullen companion Ilona (Beyond Erotica's Andrea Rau) who take an immediate interest in the couple. Although the Countess is infatuated with innocent Valerie, she seems just as attracted to the sadism seething under the surface of Stefan's arrogance while Ilona first seethes and then desires to be free of her mistress. Into this ménage-a-quatre also enters a retired police inspector (Loves of Casanova's Georges Jamin) following the news of recent sex murders in nearby Bruges and the hotel concierge (If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium's Paul Esser) – seemingly the only employee during the off-season – who insists that the Countess is the same woman who checked into the hotel forty years before when he was a bellboy. Along with Vicente Aranda's The Blood-Spattered Bride from the next year, Daughters of Darkness is more a spiritual successor to Roger Vadim's comparatively-tame Blood and Roses than Hammer Films' Countess Dracula or the "Karnstein Trilogy" of The Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire, and Twins of Evil. Although director Harry Kümel set out to make something trashy and pulpy to cause a stir as a means of achieving international attention and thumbing his nose at Belgian film criticism and the Belgian film industry, Daughters of Darkness is the overtly horrific equivalent of Last Year at Marienbad compared to the vampires nus of Jean Rollin's poetic and pulpy films and "vampyros lesbos" of Jess Franco's alternately jazzy and oneiric takes (both of whom were seemingly disinterested in the Bathory legend or J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" with the latter's aristocratic vampires gender inversions of Count Dracula). Even with the twist ending, it is possible to interpret the film as having no supernatural content at all with the final "transformation" more of a psychological one. Bathory prowls the hotel looking and acting like Marlene Dietrich – which Seyrig patterned the character after down to her mannerisms – and even has a monologue late in the film: "Who do you think I am? Just because my name happens to be Bathory. A kind of ghoul, a vampire? Oh no, my dear. I'm just an outmoded character, nothing more. You know: the beautiful stranger, slightly sad, slightly mysterious, that haunts one place after another." Vampire or not, she is the ultimate predator; more so than Stefan who is himself not only outmatched by the Countess but also by his "Mother" who is revealed to be a gay sugar daddy (Dutch director Fons Rademakers) whose casual dismissal of Stefan's rebellion has him turning his impotent rage violently on the film's most innocent character. While the film seems a stylistic advance over Kümel's Malpertuis, it perhaps makes sense that that more literary and personal work was actually made afterwards since the international critical and box office success of the more provocative Daughters of Darkness perhaps made possible the more ambitious and very Flemish low key fantasy work (as well as Kümel reigning in his stylistic flourishes after curating every shot in this film). 
Video
Released theatrically by Howard Maron-offshoot company Gemini Releasing in a version reworked by "film doctor" Fima Noveck – responsible for the re-edits of Web of the Spider, Ganja & Hess, Blood Feud, and The Inheritance – Daughters of Darkness came to VHS from Continental Video in a big box under its original title and a possibly-unauthorized AIR Video release under the title "Children of the Night" (the same company also put out The Blood-Spattered Bride under the title "Til Death Do Us Part") in this American version which featured an added vocal over the title sequence, toned down sex and violence, and some subtle trims and alterations to Kümel's flashier choices including the removal of some color tints. Seemingly an obsession for Blue Underground's Bill Lustig, the film received a restoration of its director's cut on laserdisc from The Roan Group and DVD from Anchor Bay in 1998 featuring a commentary track with actor Karlen moderated by David Del Valle. An anamorphic upgrade followed in 2003 from Blue Underground with the addition of a second commentary with director Kümel (also moderated by Del Valle) as well as an interview with actress Rau. That 2003 anamorphic transfer replicated the color grading of the laserdisc with a slightly warmer look to skintones while Blue Underground's 2006 edition – a double bill with Anchor Bay's older transfer of The Blood-Spattered Bride (which Blue Underground themselves in 2016) – featured more neutral timing with truer whites and lighter skintones in addition to adding an interview with Ouimet and a location visit with Kümel and co-writer/co-producer Pierre Drouot. In 2010, a DVD appeared in the U.K. from Optimum Releasing (since bought out by Studio Canal) with slightly more subdued colors (the reds were still vivid but not quite as boosted looking as the earlier transfers), and this grading was also replicated on Blue Underground's original 2011 Blu-ray release.  Blue Underground's niche company adoption of the 4K format was not the only justification for a UHD/Blu-ray/CD soundtrack limited edition in 2020 since Lustig was also able to make use of the recently rediscovered original camera negative for the new 4K scan. The standard edition here under review replicates the 4K UHD disc of the set – a standard edition Blu-ray edition was released last year – and what a stunner the 2160p24 HEVC 1.66:1 widescreen presentation is even for those familiar with every video incarnation since the Continental Video release. There are plenty of new touches to savor. The sleeping car sex scene is now no longer blanket –tinted with blue. The blue gels separate the lovers from the background and accent the foreground while their bodies now take on a lavender hue while the subsequent sequence with the light on reveals a wealth of detail from the texture of Stefan's red robe which was previously just a wash of red to each and every strand of hair on both leads and the lines under Karlen's eyes that no longer suggest an actor too old for the role but an aging boy toy. The first shot of the countess in which only the lower half of her face is lit now reveals her eyes shining in deep shadow and the many variegation of red now subtly distinguish the Ilona's lipstick from her scarf. There is depth where the darkest of shadows looked flat by comparison in 1080p from the opening exterior train shot to the cubby holes of the hotel desk.
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 mono track is incredibly clean with clear dialogue and scoring while the Dolby Atmos and DTS-HD 5.1 tracks eschew gimmicks for a bit of spread to the score that make the stings sound that much more "pointed." A French dub is also included in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 and there are English SDH subtitles for the English track and English subtitles for the French track (which translate the note Stefan gives the concierge even though it is in English onscreen, making one wonder if French inserts were shot for the film or if they were always left in English to suit the international tone of the film). 
Extras
Ported over from the laserdisc and DVD editions is the audio commentary by actor John Karlen, moderated by journalist David Del Valle in which the actor expresses his admiration of Seyrig, recalls Kümel being more uncomfortable directing the sex scenes than the actors were performing them, noting that no one wanted to do direct sound (including Seyrig) but the producers thought an English-language film would sell better, and that Kümel did not intend for him to know who played "Mother." He also suggests that the film is actually set in the thirties despite his mod wardrobe and is reluctant to talk about tensions with the director over his treatment of Ouimet but eventually relents and spills the beans. Ported from the 2003 DVD is the audio commentary by co-writer/director Harry Kümel, moderated by filmmaker David Gregory in which he discusses his intentions behind this "trashy movie" and the how the co-production nature of the funding required him to accept Karlen, Ouimet, Rau, and Esser sight unseen with Seyrig as the only performer he wanted from the start. He attributes Alain Resnais with convincing Seyrig to appear in the film and reveals that Resnais told him Bathory was Seyrig's greatest role (Kümel disagrees and is of the opinion that her role in Resnais' Muriel is superior). New to this release is the audio commentary by author Kat Ellinger (who had just penned a book on the film as part of Auteur Publishing's Devil's Advocate line at the time of the original limited edition release in 2020), drawing from interviews she conducted with Ouimet and Kümel. She places the film within the context of the wave of lesbian vampire films, the specific parallels it shares with The Blood-Spattered Bride, and the treatment of women in these films compared to their Hammer equivalents. She also sheds light on Kümel's original conception of the film as period piece specifically about Bathory's atrocities which would have been too expensive with the setting, costumes, and the need for "eight hundred virgins" as well as the film's genre as fantastique rather than gothic (noting Belgium's fantasy literary tradition which has rarely extended to the country's cinema output).  Ported over from the 2003 DVD is "Daughter of Darkness" (7:58), an interview with actress Rau who began as a ballet dancer and photographic model before taking acting classes, distinguishing Daughters of Darkness from her earlier softcore films as being a "mystery." The other two interviews come from the 2006 release. In "Locations of Darkness" (21:37), Kümel and producer Pierre Drouot (Toto the Hero) revisit Brussels' Hotel Astoria in which the film's interiors were shot, exploring the largely unchanged interiors and discussing how they matched angles with reverse angles shot inside Ostend's Thermae Palace hotel (which Kümel visits alone) which too remains unchanged apart from the replacement of the revolving door. "Playing the Victim" (15:31), an interview with Ouimet who recalls the success of the Quebec softcore films Valerie and The Initiation, being introduced by director Denis Héroux to Daughters of Darkness producer Henri Lange, and Kümel not giving her enough direction. She speaks warmly of both Karlen and Seyrig who she credits with making her a better actress. The trailer section includes the U.S. theatrical trailer (2:11) – with the tagline “if you think these ladies are something, wait until you meet MOTHER… she’s something else” – the international trailer (3:56) under the title "Promise of Red Lips", and the French theatrical trailer (1:43) as "Les Lèvres Rouges " which all appear to have been digitally-recreated, as well as four radio spots (2:11). Like the trailers, the alternate U.S. main titles (1:55) – with a horrible vocal added to the main theme – appear to have been recreated digitally with the body of the credits sequence looking cleaner than the scratchy MPAA card and the equally-worn first shot after the credits. An Easter Egg (1:17) features two shorter American trailers – not TV spots since they have blood and nudity – for which audio could not be found. A large poster and still gallery closes out the disc. 
Overall
Designed as a "trashy" provocation to Belgian critics, Daughters of Darkness is the Last Year at Marienbad-equivalent of the lesbian vampire film.
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