Radiance Films unveiled a double feature of brand new 4K restorations for Belgian auteur Harry Kümel’s Daughters of Darkness and Malpertuis at London’s FrightFest film festival.
DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (Belgium/France/West Germany, 1971)
Official synopsis: Kümel delivers an unforgettable gothic nightmare, set in an eerily deserted seaside hotel. Newlyweds Stefan (John Karlen) and Valerie’s (Danielle Ouimet) honeymoon is disrupted by the arrival of Countess Elizabeth Bathory – played with ethereal menace by Delphine Seyrig – and her mysterious companion (Andrea Rau as Ilona). As night falls and secrets surface, the couple are drawn into a hypnotic vortex of seduction and vampiric terror.
I’m a longtime fan of Daughters of Darkness, having first seen it at a repertory cinema in northern California in my university days, then revisiting it often on home video. It has been a good few years since my most recent viewing before this one, though, and thanks to the 4K restoration, this is the best the film has ever looked to me.
Daughters of Darkness is a classic for many reasons. The film works on multiple levels, on the surface as a vampire story embracing cinematic and literary traditions of vampiric lore while adding the Elizabeth Bathory historical elements; thematically, it explores gender roles and power games along with sexual fluidity through lesbian vampire aspects; sadism and fascination with violence and death; and much, much more.
Kümel’s artistic vision is sublime, with Director of Photography Eduard van der Enden gorgeously capturing the ornate trappings of the grand hotel in which much of the film takes place, along with the brilliant costume design. Each cast member is excellent in their role. Erotically charged and dreamlike, Daughters of Darkness is high-art Eurohorror that offers a great deal of substance along with its style.
Daughters of Darkness 4K restoration premiered at FrightFest and gets Limited Edition Box Set release on 13 October (Radiance Films).
MALPERTUIS (Belgium/France/West Germany, 1971)
Official synopsis: Malpertuis plunges audiences into the surreal with a haunting tale of ancient gods, crumbling mansions and cursed bloodlines. Adapted from the novel by Jean Ray and featuring legendary filmmaker Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) in a towering late-career performance, the film centres on a young man trapped in a labyrinthine house where family secrets blur into mythic horror. Jean-Jacques Griffon (Mathieu Carriere), a disillusioned young man, returns to his ancestral home after his father’s death, only to find the sprawling mansion has become a cryptic maze filled with strange inhabitants. His dying father has trapped several relatives and mysterious figures inside Malpertuis, an ancient, decaying mansion rumoured to be a prison for old gods disguised as humans. As Jean-Jacques navigates a world where myth bleeds into reality, he unravels disturbing secrets about his family’s cursed legacy and the supernatural forces at play.
Malpertuis is an enigmatic head-scratcher of a film, but a splendid looking one. Kümel again brings his painterly vision to this follow-up to Daughters of Darkness. Like protagonist Griffon, first-time viewers will wonder about the mysteries that the titular abode holds, as the relatives and employees of dying Cassavius (Welles) wait for him to finally pass on, some quite eagerly.
As the mysteries slowly begin to unfold, the film’s horror elements escalate. Wonderfully acted, splendidly realized, and masterfully directed, Malpertuis is a highly unusual slice of genre-film fare that cinephiles of every stripe should put on their need-to-see lists.
Malpertuis 4K restoration premiered at FrightFest and gets Limited Edition Box Set release on 13 October (Radiance Films).
