Daughters of Darkness

"Daughters of Darkness" (1971, Harry Kümel) is an erotic Belgian vampire movie made in English.

Newly weds, Stefan (John Karlen) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet), are on their honeymoon. They stop at a grand and lavish hotel in Belgium planning to spend the night there and then catch the ferry to England in the morning. The couple are experiencing some tension as Stefan seems reluctant to introduce his new wife to his mother.

The concierge explains that hotel is empty as it is off-season and that the couple have the place essentially to themselves. Well, mostly. There is always the Countess, Elizabeth Báthory (Delphine Seyrig) who shows up after dark in all her splendour with her secretary, Ilona (Andrea Rau). The countess takes an unhealthy interest in the young couple, becoming obsessed with them.

Valerie and Stefan come across a gruesome murder and learn of others. By the time they see the Countess' true nature it could very well be too late.

A very strange film that manages to be both classy and campy at the same time. This film has beautiful scenery, exquisite costumes and erotic horror elements. It's a real hybrid of a film. I feel that this film acted as inspiration to AHS' Hotel season;a  lonely hotel, creepy staff and the halls haunted by the presence of a beautiful, polite and sinister femme fatale vampire wearing fabulous outfits.

Sinister, sensual and dark, "Daughters of Darkness" manages to engage whilst retaining its Art House charms.

Hani

Julia

"Julia" (2014, Matthew A. Brown, Farraj Factory, Kinetic Arts, Tycor International Film Company) is an artsy rape revenge film.

Julia (Ashley C. Williams) is a quiet, mousey nurse who is drugged and gang raped by some monstrous men. Sure, there's a guy who wasn't too into it, but he's still detestable for being there, and he's eventually coerced into taking part, so.... Yeah...

They leave her for dead but she manages to get home and survive. Seeking a way to cope with the horrific ordeal, Julia comes across an unusual therapist who tells her to follow his teachings to the letter and she will have her revenge. She also becomes entwined with one of the therapist's many tough female vigilantes (ex-patients, I assume), a lesbian woman called Sadie (Tahyna Tozzi). Unfortunately, Julia takes matters into her own hands, exacting terrible revenge on her tormentors without the help of her therapist, resultantly pissing him off.

This film is very stylised. It's like an alternate reality where all men are mysogynistic rapists and all women are emotionless and stabby. The plot takes a while to get going and we are shown the full story in flashbacks, which left me confused for a while until more was revealed. The colours are very strange and muted and the lighting is very red and green. Stylised is fine, but when it's aesthetics over entertainment I begin to lose interest.

I get that Julia is meant to be caught in an emotional vortex after what was done to her, but the complete lack of emotion in, not just her but all the characters, made it somewhat difficult for me to empathise with anyone and thus care too much about them.

I'm not sure what message this movie was trying to purvey. At first I thought it was going to be about female empowerment, but even when Julia becomes a badass in leather pants, cutting dicks off and gouging eyeballs here, there and everywhere, she's still not a very empowered character. So, I'm stumped as to whether there is a message to be honest.

I'm also not clear on the therapist's rules. He seems to be essentially telling her to honeypot entrap men in random bars and then kill them for finding her attractive, rather than actually to get back at the idiots who hurt her? What is his agenda? I just don't get it.

Essentially, it's a visually pretty film and has some commendable gore. The rape scenes are very, very difficult to watch (but then, what rape scene isn't?) and some of the revenge is pretty squirmy too. However, the characters are unlikable, blank and uninteresting and the long artsy pauses where we watch Julia stand on an escalator and such may be striking, but essentially lose their shine after a second and I found myself thinking about making a cup of tea whilst she finished ascending this apparently endless staircase...

I just don't get what all the fuss is about, really.

[Image: Tycor International Film company, et al]

 

Hani

Proxy

"Proxy" (2013, Zach Parker) is a film about a young pregnant woman called Esther (Alexia Rasmussen) who is attacked outside of her doctor's office by a hooded assailant and loses her baby.

 

She begins attending support groups and encounters another grieving mother, Melanie (Alexa Havins), who could be as damaged as she is...

 

Actually the film is about so much more than that but that would be giving an awful lot away.

 

Definitely not a horror film, this chiller is a weird, artistic and violent piece which enjoys some gore, splatter and a shockingly brutal opening scene.

 

There's also a good change in direction, but on the whole the film is very slow to unfold. If you're prone to letting your mind wander you may be unable to sit through the whole slow burning mystery-ride.

 

However, if you go in with only a vague notion, you can certainly enjoy watching this odd and intense plot unfold.

 

 

Hani

Lesbian Vampire Killers

"Lesbian Vampire Killers" or just "Vampire Killers" (2009, Phil Claydon, Alliance Films, Velvet Bite, AV Pictures, GEM Global, Momentum Pictures) is a rather crude British Horror comedy.

Taking inspiration from 70s Hammer Horror films, British Lads Mags and English lad humour, the film's plot needs very little in the way of explaining:

Two down-on-their-luck nitwits (James Corden & Mathew Horne) go for a hike in the fake Norfolk town of Cragwich where they meet a group of overly friendly, sexy female foreign students in their rather girly VW campervan.

The group head to a small cottage for the night only to find that they have been sent there by the locals to satisfy the hungry group of cursed Lesbian Vampire super-babes who dwell in the woods.

A tongue in cheek affair with some natty camera work and a lot of unsatisfyingly white vampire gloop (if you're not going to dust like a decent vampire, the least you could do is go up in flames or explode in a great big fountain of blood!) But that's not to say that I didn't enjoy it. As long as you're looking for juvenile boob, fart and dick jokes, you'll be satisfied.

Not the best British horror comedy film but it's funny in places. If you're one of those people who are easily offended, though, I'd sit this one out.

I did enjoy the schlocky 70s style credits, though!

[Image: Momentum Pictures]

 

Hani