A deserted Hotel becomes a sepulcher, echoing dark secrets and mysterious
desires. Director Harry Kümel eschews prosaic supernatural conventions for the
psychological, creating a seducing character study of libidinous pathology and
murderous intent.
Stefan and Valerie are newlyweds caught in a circuitous travelogue, their
destination obscured by Stefan’s secretive family tree. It soon becomes evident
that the couple married quickly and don’t really know each other which adds to
the mounting dread, as Stefan’s behavior becomes erratic and Valerie’s erotic.
After checking into a storybook hotel, which beckons like some grand totem of
the dead and buried, haunted by memories of long lost souls, they are consumed
by two beautiful women who wear their hearts firmly beneath their breasts.
The gorgeous Delphine Seyrig once again assumes an ethereal spirit,
evoking the haunting trauma of Alain Resnais’ masterful LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD,
a shadow dance of confounding immortal narrative. Seyrig portrays Lady Báthory,
descendant or deceit, her ageless beauty a vampiric delight, clotting the
senses of the two young lovers penetrated by her sexual charm. Kümel corrupts
Bram Stoker’s Victorian morality by allowing the women to enjoy their
incorporeal seductions, reveling in the pleasures of sex, a matriarchal
domination in which men commit willingly. A subplot involving a Detective and a
few unsolved murders peaks momentary interest but fails to generate suspense
and is concluded rather haphazardly.
Sex and gore are kept to the imagination though the film drips with
carnality and blood-lust, where two women become enslaved to their physical
desires, embraced by the cold arms of undeath. For Lady Báthory, Evil always
races faster than the speed of night.
Final Cut: (B)
