For every dedicated Jean Rollin fan we will also have a dozen others who consider his oeuvre to be the cinematic equivalent of a sleeping pill – if you can sleep through that many nude women. With his sense for mixing eroticism with art-house, his productions are stunning to look at but at the same time, his fixation on foregoing conventional narrative structures and focusing often entirely on silent, dialogue-free surreal imagery and slow, languid dreamlike sequences can also make his films exercises in boredom. Although Carmilla does go for the ladies, her ultimate aim is to take over the body of Mel Ferrer’s character’s fiancée (Elsa Martinelli), so though there are clearly lesbian elements in this film, this isn’t such a clear cut victory for the sisterhood. Unusual for a film of this vintage, this production also displays some short scenes of nudity. Drenched in absolutely stunning, beautiful colors and imagery, and with a delightful musical score, this is a feast for the eyes and also features some haunting black and white dream sequences with splashes of red a la The Tingler. From then on the name Carmilla Karnstein (or any of its variations such Mircalla or Marcilla) should soon become synonymous with female vampires in the same way that Dracula is still the prototype for all male blood suckers.ĭirected by Roger Vadim, who always had to marry his leading ladies, Blood and Roses stars his then-wife Annette Vadim as Carmilla.
This is also the first time that Sheridan Le Fanu’s novel Carmilla was transferred to the silver screen, though in a modernised adaptation. If Dracula’s Daughter was the first cinematic lesbian vampire, Blood and Roses deserves the accolade for being the first truly sexual vampire movie. Dracula’s Daughter may be the first Lesbian Vampire on film, but she is also more importantly the first Neurotic Vampire as she seeks a psychological cure for what she considers a compulsive obsession for human blood. That lesbian angle, not unsurprising for the time this was filmed in, is only ever so subtle, but clear enough to warrant an inclusion in this list. Though she is ultimately after psychiatrist Dr Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), she also approaches two possible female victims. How it came about that she could claim that title above all other vampire girls he sired is left unanswered, but she gets to repeat the classic “I don’t drink. The focus in this production is on Dracula’s eponymous daughter, Hungarian Countess Maja Zaleska, played by stunningly melancholic Gloria Holden. We see a dodgy Lugosi lookalike in a coffin and Van Helsing being arrested for his murder. This is the direct sequel to Universal’s classic Dracula and follows up immediately where its predecessor left off.