Blending controlled composition, rich cinematography, and a salaciously hypnotic score, Daughters of Darkness unfolds like a hazy dream presented with the utmost precision. Right from an opening train carriage sex scene bathed in bluish-purple light, Kümel’s touch is generously impressionistic. DP Eduard van der Enden captures the cool blues of the wintry seaside setting and contrasts them with colour-saturated costumes, cocktails, and—inevitably—blood. Meanwhile, composer François de Roubaix’s sinister mix of synth, string, and choral elements is remarkably synergetic and establishes an otherworldly tone, framing the hotel as an eerie liminal space. For more than obvious reasons, it is a deeply sensual film.

While the film’s greatest strength is its heightened atmosphere, the psychodrama at its heart is superbly performed by the four main actors. John Karlen is especially captivating in a role characterised by violent masculinity in both its most mundane and horrific forms, while a scene-stealing Delphine Seyrig plays the Countess Báthory with an intriguing blend of sensitive, seductive, and menacing charm. In fact, her red-lipped villain is a dramatisation of a real Hungarian noblewoman of the same name—believed to be a serial killer who drank blood to maintain her youth—and Seyrig has the requisite gravitas to embody such a figure.