A vampire movie set in Ostend during the off-season, when the town, hotel, and pub are all but deserted. That emptiness gives the film a genuinely creepy atmosphere, and it's used well - the hotel in particular looks great, and the location photography has a bleak, wintry quality I enjoyed. I thought Delphine Seyrig as the Countess was great but not really impressed by the other three main performers. The script holds up reasonably well for most of it but loses it towards the end. Just an odd resolution and mundane death. I felt that they did not do enough with the retired cop who recognises the Countess and is on her case - that half-hearted attempt on his life? She's a vampire, suck the man dry! Still, the atmosphere carried it a long way. The music was good, the Countess' costumes are great (and I loved the sunglasses that Stefan wears though I don't think they suited him), and there's enough classic 70s horror - blood, nudity, the lot - to keep things interesting.

Watched the 4K restoration of this at Fright fest but it had been on my list for quite some time. I have been to Ostend in the winter and the eerie bleak atmosphere was a big takeaway for me. To see how Kumel has used this unusual location for this unusual film is an insight to his talent. The story is simple, the cast is perfect and the outcome is beautiful and glamorous which always compliments a dark horror story.

"What are you thinking about? The same thing you are." The Daughters of Darkness is a movie that has several great ideas and fails at nearly all of them. The movie takes place almost entirely at a hotel, there we follow our newlywed couple: Stefan, and Valerie. They have been married one day and we already see that the relationship is horribly toxic, e.g., Stefan explicitly says he does not love Valerie, and is physically abusive to her. Am I supposed to like this guy? Because I don't. [spoiler]Also, there is more to his story, but it is never made clear at all: it seems like he has hemophobia, and he has a strange relationship with this mother, to the extent that he is actively keeping Valerie from meeting her. Why? Why include it in the story if it serves no purpose? Get that shit out of the screenplay.[/spoiler] Next we meet our titular daughters of darkness: Ilona, and [spoiler]The fucking Countess Elizabeth Bathory! Like, wouldn't you think to go by a pseudonym? And it's not as if this is set in a universe where people don't know who she is, there's a scene where she, and Stefan talk about the legend of Bathory.[/spoiler] Anyway, this is a very small cast; outside of our four main characters we only have three people... [spoiler]who do nothing. This includes a guy who is set up to be a Van Helsing type, but Bathory hits him with a car, and he never shows up again.[/spoiler] So, this movie falls into the sub-genre of lesbian-vampire horror. Trouble is it's light on both: the lesbianism is suggested, but never shown, and there is only one scene of vampirism. The runtime is largely talking, and wife beating. Okay, so there is a fair amount of nudity, not a lot, but enough to be remembered. What Daughters of Darkness really feels like is a Franco or Rollin film, if either had talent. Trouble is with the sleaze dialed back, this is just boring. Truly a toothless vampire movie, and I mean that both literally, and metaphorically. So, why watch this? What Daughters of Darkness gets right is the atmosphere and style. The aforementioned nudity helps, yes, but the locations, the wardrobe, and overall look of our lady vampires is doing most of the heavy lifting. There is far better out there for this niche category, but this is still an important watch regardless.