FEMALE VAMPIRES OF 1971: Forbidden Blood & Sapphic Shadows!!

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) d. Harry Kumel (Belgium/France)
VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971) d. Jesus Franco (Spain)
THE VELVET VAMPIRE (1971) d. Stephanie Rothman (USA) 

TWINS OF EVIL (1971) d. John Hough (UK)
LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971) d. Jimmy Sangster (UK)
THE SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES (1971) d. Jean Rollin (France)
THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN (1971) d. Leon Klimovsky (Spain)

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1971 was a remarkable year for the female vampire — seductive, dangerous, liberated… and deeply entangled in the contradictions of exploitation cinema. Tonight, we’re exploring a remarkable cycle of films from that year, on both sides of the Atlantic, that transformed these immortal bloodsuckers into figures of erotic power and cultural tension.

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971) Blu-ray Review

Lust for a Vampire (1971) d. Jimmy Sangster (UK) (95 min)

Austria, 1830. Terrifying and erotic female vampire Carmilla Karnstein (Yutte Stensgaard) is brought back to life via a blood sacrifice, this time as a younger, blonder version of her previous incarnation (1970’s The Vampire Lovers). Seeking fresh flesh and drink, she is enrolled – as Mircalla Karnstein – in a prestigious finishing school for girls run by the very proper Miss Simpson (Helen Christie) and surrounded by a bevy of shapely students flitting about in various states of undress.

Her prime pickings are disrupted, however, by the arrival of rakish young author Richard LeStrange (Michael Johnson) who proffers his services to Miss Simpson as an English teacher in a thinly veiled attempt to mingle with the minxes. Before long, the class roster is dropping as quickly as the maidens’ blouses, LeStrange and Mircalla are engaged in a passionate if ill-advised love affair, and the local villagers are sharpening pitchforks and dusting off their torches for a climactic showdown.