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As Daughter of Dracula unfolds, we see an unidentified person narrating the tale of Castle Karlstein, which was previously occupied by the notorious murderer, Count Dracula (Howard Vernon). Nearby, a town’s brooding voyeur watches from a distant place as a young lady bathes, only to tempt and eventually attack her. To add to the already chaotic scene, Luisa (Britt Nichols) finds out her mother (Carmen Carbonell) is dying, right at the same moment when she also discovers that she is a descendant of Count Karlstein (Daniel White), the owner of the castle among many other assets. After discovering her roots, Luisa makes herself comfortable in the colossal estate, which is when an inspector (Alberto Dalbes) and a journalist (Fernand Bilbao) resolve to look deeper into the murders that were committed. As the story goes on, it reveals that Luisa is starting to develop feelings towards her cousin, who is of fuller figure and goes by the name of Karine (Anne Libert) and the newest complication in the story, and to put it lightly, she grows more fond of her shapely cousin. The search for coffins in the crypt eventually bears fruit, discovering the deceased corpse of Count Dracula. As the tale unfolds, Luisa, who is now afflicted with vampirism is pining for Karine and her lesbian sex escapades contradict the newly found concept of world order, until Jefferson (Jess Franco), who is an enigma to the family, abducts the inspector and plants the notion of a vampire’s destruction into his head.
Dracula’s Daughter, yes, that’s right, the Frenchman was not as prolific with his vision creations. Frances’ vision seldom met reality. Horror movie enthusiasts do not confuse this with the 1936 classical lesbian adaptation that took the world by storm. After the considerable accomplishment of Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers in 1970, it seems you could not walk half a mile without bumping into lesbian vampires. Vampires seem to be the trend in films these days, as do get-rich-quick schemes. The adaption of the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla met all elitists munching their popcorn happily as the year rolled into 1970, fueling the idea of female vampires. Make no mistake, as much as I would like to turn a blind eye to the brilliance of Franco taking inspiration from Hammer’s lead, the nitty-gritty details of the daughters of the bone-chilling classic were eyewitness to style led instead of substance and story. Does this mean Daughter of Dracula is a horrible film? As I stated, a mix is always helpful, something Franco achieved with ease, and unlike many other directors, he does not rely on classical story plots. Along with an extraordinary score by Daniel White, a surprising number of female nudity combined with Franco’s unique twitches, he would widely use, in combination would take audiences deep into a hypnotic trance.
Regrettably, in lieu of these charms, a good deal of the film is ugly. Even if the camera work manages to dazzle with its artistic vision, it is just as often incoherent and Franco takes a what can o approach towards the graphics. It might be true that the sex scenes are well-lit, but they happen in clean but lifeless places, from grimy toilets to unappealing bedrooms. The inspector’s investigation parts are darker and even less inviting visually, with Franco opting for the flat lighting. At these moments, the camera does very little moving at all, and when it does it’s exclusively to follow an actor’s movements or zoom in closely to someone’s face for the sake of suggesting surprise.
Characters seduce, bite, and skulk their way through the flimsy but meandering plot. Either way, the performers do manage to pull off something, in particular Britt Nichols and Anne Libert. It is unfortunate that the relationship between the two was not expressed in more openly romantic terms rather than purely physical (for the perfect example of how this should be handled, look at Jean Rollin‘s The Living Dead Girl 1982). And Vernon, who is usually so dependable, is dreadful in his portrayal of Dracula.
The movie does not seem to have gotten a new transfer and instead looks as though a raw scan of the original 35 mm parts was used. Some viewers may have issues with this choice, but the image does reproduce a theatrical experience. Is it sharp? Not really, although there are certain moments where some details are sharp, especially during close-ups (of which there are plenty) of faces or when fabrics or wall tiles are the focus. Instances of dirt and debris are also high, though these along with a firm but far from overwhelming amount of natural film grain expose the bones of the film. Colours are rather muted, a fault that is best observed in skin tones and other natural elements like trees and the sky. Reds become tinged with orange while grays are far too light. There is also some stutter and flicker here and there. All things considered (most of which are the film elements and not the transfer), the film still looks better than any DVD release and is a worthy upgrade for Francophiles, even if this is far from Franco’s best picture.
What stands out most in that soundtrack is Daniel White’s score. The audio aspects are competently managed, although dialogue is occasionally affected by minimal hissing. Fortunately, this doesn’t pose too much of an issue, and English subtitles are provided, which is a good thing (they are set to on automatically, but can be turned off). During brighter scenes, the subtitles are displayed in white but offset with a faint black shadow so that the text can be easily distinguished from the background.
There are some other features, such as the original trailer (4:38), and a compilation of less sexually revealing alternate versions meant for export to more puritanical countries (3:19) that were used for other more conservative nations. Nevertheless, the most intriguing additional feature has to be the audio commentary by film historian and creator, editor, and contributor of Video Watchdog Tim Lucas. He starts talking about the names Karlstein and Karnstein and then transitions to the topic of the film’s cinematography in question. He discusses how precisely Daughter of Dracula complies with why Daughter of Dracula is considered one of Jess Franco’s most famous and mediocre films. It is intensely frustrating to have been so near to being a masterpiece, yet IX Jess Franco’s stylish touches suffered in the flat spaces in between.
The Redemption Blu-ray comes in single-layered BD25 format and spends on good and bad. Certain scenes are relatively detailed, while some aren’t as much, and there is print damage here and there. The outcome is a movie and BD release that is average regarding film quality and audio-visual quality. Still, Francophiles will probably want the upgrade, and the commentary by Tim Lucas is certainly informative.
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