Director: José Ramón Larraz
Year: 1974
Country: United Kingdom/Spain
Alternate Titles: Vampyres: Daughters of Dracula; Blood Hunger; Satan's Daughters
Genre: Vampire; Exploitation
Plot:
Arriving in the British countryside, a couple of travelers camping in the middle of the woods find their spot is on the grounds of a castle-like house owned by a pair of mysterious girls preying on stranded travelers and must save their friend from their clutches when their true nature is revealed.
Review:
This was a fantastically enjoyable sleazy vampire effort. As is to be expected here, there's plenty of trashy good fun to be had with the film's use of overtly trashy yet classy sleaze. From the opening lesbian canoodling on the bed that gets interrupted by the hunter arriving on the spot to blast them away, the intensely erotic love-making session that takes place the first night the driver takes her home or the enjoyably bizarre sequence of the two of them absolutely lusting after a bitten and bloodied victim in a frenzy of bloodsucking and biting before showering off together, there's plenty of fine skin on display here from sources well-provided to deliver it. That those lesbian encounters or just general topless lounging around carries on throughout the whole film manages to keep the pace up rather nicely.
On top of the film's fine sleaze content, there's also some incredibly fun Gothic atmosphere included in the mix. Since they stay at a large wooden manor, the sense of opulence and old-world luxury seen there provides a rather enjoyable location in which to introduce these kinds of scenes usually featured here. The large floors, endless corridors and billowing curtains produce a kind of chilling feature that goes hand-in-hand with the forested grounds on the outside of the house where the decaying ruins of the stone walls and overgrown bushes alongside the dirt roads provide a wholly foreboding atmosphere to play off the sleazy charms. With the rather fun dinner party taking place within these conditions and generating a fantastic atmosphere for the action within, there's a lot to like with this as well.
While not necessarily all that much of a flaw at all, there is some issue here with the guise of the film's story. Under all normal pretenses possible, there's no definitive storyline here at all with the film basically meandering around somewhat like an improvised rendition of these vampiric creatures preying on people and then moving on to something else which drags this one out considerably. There's almost nothing about the vampire women themselves nor is there anything about their feeding habits, and the entire point of the camping couple out in the woods that stumble onto everything is never brought up which really confuses matters even more as you're waiting for something to make sense. That this doesn't is certainly a strike or a positive for each individual rather than a true detriment to the film.
Overview: ****/5
While there's a few minor flaws present, the fact that there's plenty of stellar moments within here that manage to provide the kinky thrills and exploitative elements for those looking for it hold this one up for the most part. Give this one a look if you're looking for sleazy Eurohorror trash or a fan of the creative figures, while those not interested in the positive aspects should heed caution.
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