31 Nights of Halloween Horror - Night 22 - Daughter of Dracula
Daughter of Dracula
87 mins.
Dir. Jess Franco
France/1972
If you thought Count Dracula was the only Dracula movie by Jess Franco that we would be watching this month you would be wrong, but wish you were right.
Franco is so hit or miss, after our last entry with him that kicked off our season with Count Dracula, hopes were high that we may have another winner. But with Franco you never know what you are going to get, sometimes there are moments of clarity and brilliance and sometimes you are left scratching your head.
Daughter of Dracula kicks off with stellar location shots, a brief narration about Dracula and a stalking scene of a women attacked in her bath before we get to unfold this tale of vampirism. Baroness Karlstein is on her deathbed, she summons for her granddaughter Luisa, to tell her of a family secret before she passes. The family is cursed and the very first Baron Karlstein was a vampire. She gives her a key to a secret part of the chapel. Luisa then moves into the castle with her uncle and her cousin. Once in the castle she enters the secret room to find Count Karlstein a vampire played by Franco regular Howard Vernon. In this vampiric role the count pretty much just lays in his coffin, opens his eyes and bears his fangs. Not sure if he was only available to film for like two hours, because literally that is all he does in the film. Close up of his eyes, close up bearing his fangs, sit up in the coffin, go back down and do it again.
What is loosely left of the rest of the "story" is Luisa becomes a vampire, thanks to the Count. She stalks women when they are getting undressed and attacks them and she engages in a lesbian relationship with her cousin, eventually biting her. Everyone in the town pretty knows something is going on with all the corpses that pile up. Charlie the reporter thinks something is suspicious and heads on over to Castle Karlstein and does some investigating eventually finding the coffins of the Count and Luisa. He drives a spike into the forehead of the Count killing him and sets fire to Luisa in her coffin. Not really your typical ways of eliminating a vampire, but then I think most of this movie was made up as they went along.
There isn't too much of a story going on here, you just kind of have to go with it. The horror aspect of the movie is very minimal, mostly some poorly glaring fangs and a wee bit of the red stuff. This is more of an incoherent sleaze fest where every woman in the film gets naked except for like two, and that's only because one of them was the old Baroness from the beginning who dies. Typical Franco staples fill out this film, excellent location shots, his cameo role, lots of closeup zooms and out of focus shots with nudity taking precedent over everything else in this film. More on the slower side, a little disappointing, I can only recommend this one for Franco completists. You are always rolling the dice with this guy. Sometimes you get Count Dracula, sometimes you get his daughter. Franco is such in inconsistent director he forces you to watch his body of work cause you never know what to expect.
Daughter of Dracula
87 mins.
Dir. Jess Franco
France/1972
If you thought Count Dracula was the only Dracula movie by Jess Franco that we would be watching this month you would be wrong, but wish you were right.
Franco is so hit or miss, after our last entry with him that kicked off our season with Count Dracula, hopes were high that we may have another winner. But with Franco you never know what you are going to get, sometimes there are moments of clarity and brilliance and sometimes you are left scratching your head.
Daughter of Dracula kicks off with stellar location shots, a brief narration about Dracula and a stalking scene of a women attacked in her bath before we get to unfold this tale of vampirism. Baroness Karlstein is on her deathbed, she summons for her granddaughter Luisa, to tell her of a family secret before she passes. The family is cursed and the very first Baron Karlstein was a vampire. She gives her a key to a secret part of the chapel. Luisa then moves into the castle with her uncle and her cousin. Once in the castle she enters the secret room to find Count Karlstein a vampire played by Franco regular Howard Vernon. In this vampiric role the count pretty much just lays in his coffin, opens his eyes and bears his fangs. Not sure if he was only available to film for like two hours, because literally that is all he does in the film. Close up of his eyes, close up bearing his fangs, sit up in the coffin, go back down and do it again.
What is loosely left of the rest of the "story" is Luisa becomes a vampire, thanks to the Count. She stalks women when they are getting undressed and attacks them and she engages in a lesbian relationship with her cousin, eventually biting her. Everyone in the town pretty knows something is going on with all the corpses that pile up. Charlie the reporter thinks something is suspicious and heads on over to Castle Karlstein and does some investigating eventually finding the coffins of the Count and Luisa. He drives a spike into the forehead of the Count killing him and sets fire to Luisa in her coffin. Not really your typical ways of eliminating a vampire, but then I think most of this movie was made up as they went along.
There isn't too much of a story going on here, you just kind of have to go with it. The horror aspect of the movie is very minimal, mostly some poorly glaring fangs and a wee bit of the red stuff. This is more of an incoherent sleaze fest where every woman in the film gets naked except for like two, and that's only because one of them was the old Baroness from the beginning who dies. Typical Franco staples fill out this film, excellent location shots, his cameo role, lots of closeup zooms and out of focus shots with nudity taking precedent over everything else in this film. More on the slower side, a little disappointing, I can only recommend this one for Franco completists. You are always rolling the dice with this guy. Sometimes you get Count Dracula, sometimes you get his daughter. Franco is such in inconsistent director he forces you to watch his body of work cause you never know what to expect.
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