My take: This story was a bit too slow for my liking, but it was one of the more interesting Countess Bathory stories I have seen.

Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

Daughters of Darkness (not to be confused with Daughter of Darkness) is a slow-moving horror film from the 1970s with a distinctly European feeling to it. I get the impression while watching it that I am missing something or that I may have liked it better if I was living in Italy in 1971.

The movie follows two young newlyweds on their honeymoon. They stop at a coastal town , where they meet a strange older woman and her young female companion. This woman claims to be the descendant of the infamous Countess Bathory, who murdered hundreds of girls in Hungary from 1585-1610 (according to Wikipedia at least).

Countess Elizabeth Bathory

Countess Elizabeth Bathory in Daughters of Darkness. Lookin’ good after so many years.

Is she the descendant? Or is show the real deal? You will have to watch the movie to find out.

And I do recommend watching it, particularly if you find stories about Elizabeth Bathory interesting. I myself had a bit of an obsession with her story in high school. Hers was the first story I learned that seemed like a real-life basis for vampirism. She was also a famously sadistic serial killer. Little goth 16-year-old me found this fascinating.

I got a copy of the movie via Netflix disc. Here is the trailer on YouTube: