With: Delphine Seyrig (Countess Bathory), John Karlen (Stefan), Danielle Ouimet (Valerie), Andrea Rau (Ilona Harczy), Paul Esser (hotel clerk), Georges Jamin (retired policeman), Joris Collet (butler), Fons Rademakers (mother)
Director: Harry Kümel
Producers: Heney Lange, Paul Collet
Production co: Showking Films, Maya Films, Ciné Vog Films, Roxy Film
Screenplay: Pierre Drouot, Jean Ferry, Harry Kümel
Photography: Eduard Van Der Enden
Editors: Denis Donan, Gust Verscheren
Music: François de Roubaix
REVIEWS

“Stranded in a palatial seafront resort hotel in out-of-season Ostend, newlyweds Stefan (Karlen) and Valerie (Ouimet) find themselves in thrall to the hotel's only other guests, the Countess Elisabeth Bathory (Seyrig) and her surly but sultry companion Ilone (Rau).  Tension within the young couple – Valerie is pressurising Stefan to inform his disapproving mother of their marriage – is exploited by the countess when she rouses Stefan to ecstasy with an account of her ancestor's unquenchable thirst for blood.  Three young women, meanwhile, have been found murdered in nearby Bruges, their bodies drained, and the hotel concierge (Esser) can't get past the fact he remembers the countess staying at the hotel 40 years previously, and she hasn't aged a day.

There are neither fangs nor longueurs in this sumptuous blend of lesbian vampire flick and European art movie.  The casting of Seyrig, trailing memories of Marienbad, is inspired, and her swooning performance bewitches the entire cast.  Kümel casts his own spells with alternating blue washes and red dissolves, and skilful location work that doesn't allow you to see the join between hotel exteriors and interiors – in Ostend and Brussels respectively.”

— Nicholas Royle, Time Out
FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS
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Hamilton
Monday, 18 June, 8:00pm

Auckland
Monday, 25 June, 6:30pm

Canterbury
Monday, 2 July, 7:30pm

New Plymouth
Wednesday, 25 July, 6:00pm

Dunedin
Wednesday, 12 September, 7:30pm

Palmerston North
Monday, 8 October, 6:00pm

Wellington
Monday, 29 October, 6:15pm

Whanganui
Monday, 5 November, 7:00pm
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