Daughters of Darkness: Episode 4

The fourth episode of the podcast I'm co-hosting is now up!

From the Diabolique site:

In the fourth episode of Daughters of Darkness, Kat and Samm begin a four-part discussion of the career of Polish director Andrzej Zuławski. Meant to be a celebration of his life and incredible work, the episode begins with a brief discussion of his early years, particularly his training as an assistant director under Andrzej Wajda. This is followed by a discussion of his two short films for Polish television, The Story of Triumphant Love (1969) and Pavoncello (1969), two lesser seen and perhaps more conventional works, where he established a number of the themes he would use throughout his career: love triangles, troubled romance, hysterical women, literary source material, and dizzying staircase sequences.

This is followed by a lengthy exploration of his first feature-length film, The Third Part of the Night (1971), which was co-written by Zuławski’s father, Mirosław, and is loosely based on the elder Zuławski’s experiences working in a typhus lab during the Nazi occupation. The episode wraps up with a look at The Devil (1972), Zuławski’s unhinged second feature, a film that was promptly banned by the communist government and resulted in Zuławski’s departure from Poland and relocation to France. Set during the period of German occupation in Poland in the late eighteenth century, the film follows the homeward odyssey of a troubled young man who is released from prison by a mysterious stranger.

Daughters of Darkness: Episode 3

The third episode of the podcast I'm co-hosting is now up!

From the Diabolique site:

In the third episode of Daughters of Darkness, Kat and Samm wrap up their three-part discussion of lesbian vampire films, this time with a focus on low budget American and Spanish films from the 1970s. They begin their discussion with the unusual film The Velvet Vampire (1971), the only entry in the series to be directed by a woman. The film’s star, Celeste Yarnall, is currently in ill health, so please contribute to her Go Fund Me campaign.

Then they explore Spanish-language films like The Werewolf vs the Vampire Woman (1971), where Paul Naschy’s werewolf faces off against a vampire queen, and the eerie, poetic The Blood-Spattered Bride (1972). They also take a look at Joe Sarno’s inane sexploitation film, The Devil’s Plaything (1973), about a castle full of lesbian vampires attempting to reincarnate their perverse leader with the help of a buxom, virginal sacrificial victim. Luigi Batzella’s absolutely insane The Devil’s Wedding Night (1973) gets a special mention, before moving onto cult classics like José Ramón Larraz Vampyres (1974) and Juan Lopez Moctezuma’s Alucarda (1977), as well as his Mary, Mary Bloody Mary (1975). Two obscure films about innocent young girls who are pursued by aggressive female vampires are also explored: Czech film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) and low budget American film Lemora, a Child’s Tale of the Supernatural (1975).

The episode concludes with a somber discussion of two more mainstream, relatively recent lesbian vampire films. First off is The Hunger (1983), Tony Scott’s melancholy meditation on aging and death starring David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve. Finally, Nadja (1994) is a David Lynch-produced film that reimagines one of the first movies discussed in episode one, Dracula’s Daughter, with a ‘90s independent cinema feel.

Daughters of Darkness: Episode 1

Check out the first episode of a podcast on cult cinema that I'm co-hosting!

From the Diabolique site:

"In the inaugural episode of Daughters of Darkness, Kat and Samm explore the history of lesbian vampire films. This first episode of three begins by examining the lesbian vampire from her origins in eighteenth century Gothic literature, particularly Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s unfinished poem “Christabel” (1797) and Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu’s story “Carmilla” (1871), both of which explore themes of monstrosity, repressed sexuality, and female identity. “Carmilla” — the source material for the majority of lesbian vampire films — follows a lonely young woman named Laura, who makes a strange, seductive new friend, Carmilla, whose designs on Laura are decidedly sanguinary. Carl Theodor Dreyer’s surreal horror film Vampyr (1932) was the first to adapt “Carmilla,” however loosely, but was followed soon after by the more straightforward Universal horror film, Dracula’s Daughter (1936). The latter — with its depiction of an elegant, sympathetic female vampire reluctantly driven to act out her bloodlust out on female as well as male victims — was among the first to portray vampirism as a blend of madness, female hysteria, sexual dysfunction, and addiction. Dracula’s Daughter would influence subsequent adaptations of “Carmilla,” like Roger Vadim’s lush arthouse effort Blood and Roses (1960) and obscure Italian Gothic horror film Crypt of the Vampire (1964). The film co-starred Hammer star Christopher Lee, who spends much of the running time in an outrageous smoking jacket.

Speaking of Hammer studios, the episode wraps up with a discussion of their Karnstein trilogy, a watershed moment for lesbian vampire cinema. Films like The Vampire Lovers (1970), Lust for a Vampire (1971), and Twins of Evil (1971) — as well as some of the studio’s outlier efforts like The Brides of Dracula (1960) or Countess Dracula (1971) — left a bloody mark on vampire films. With minimal violence and plenty of nudity from buxom starlets like Ingrid Pitt, these films generally depict aristocratic vampires preying on innocent young ladies in pastoral settings. A film like The Vampire Lovers was famous for its use of lesbianism and casual nudity, but is quite restrained compared to the films discussed in episode two by European directors like Jess Franco and Jean Rollin."

Find it here.