Interesting film. Beautifully atmospheric yet average overall. Don't get me wrong i liked the film, but the flaws do distract(the dated 70's score and the ending). If there's was one aspect of the film i still don't quite get, it's when the male lead Stefan calls his "mother". Now is it just me or was anyone else confused. Whats the deal here? Can someone help me out?
sharewell it just shows his lover ; and the fact that he talks to him shows he is in fact a gay but has female lovers too ... typical 70s fun stuff , i loved that part
shareJohn Karlen revealed at a Dark Shadows Festival that he didn't actually find out until afterward that the phone call was to a male lover rather than to "Stefan's" actual mother. Of course the man loves to tell all kinds of whoppers but they have a core of truth, and since the scenes do not appear to have been filmed in the same physical space, but edited together, and "Stefan's" dialogue never actually states his situation with "Mother" afterward, I believe it.
"Shake me up, Judy!"
Actually, on the commentary track on the DVD, he says that the director tried to keep it from him, but he found out the truth from a producer or crew member. I don't know which time he's pulling our leg, but either way it's interesting, no?
I don't want some renegade necrophile princess as MY roommate!
Yeah, I guess I totally missed that when I watched it. That part didn't make any sense and I kept waiting for it to be explained later on but it was never eluded to again. I don't really think it has anything to do with the rest of the movie. Was it cut when it was originally released? Now that I know they were trying to show that Stefan was a bisexual, I think it was entirely irrelevant. Weird. Also, why did Valerie become the Countess after the fiery crash (which she miraculously survived)? It doesn't jibe with the rest of the legend. She was supposed to stay young forever, not jump into other people's bodies. What the heck?!
Congratulations. You're still in the running towards becoming America's Next Top Model.
I think your kind of missing the point, the whole buisness with "mother" served to add to the overall atmosphere of mystery and depravity and I believe was meant to be and remain something of an enigma. My take is that Stefan's relationship to "mother" is a parellel to the relationship between the countess and Danielle. Both the countess and "mother" are vampires of one sort or another who like to keep "pets" of the same sex. As for the ending I think you have to accept it as a sort of Twilight Zone-ish situation, a mystery of the supernatural. I don't think it's a good idea to try and pigeonhole a film like D O D too tightly into any sort of accepted vampire lore. The whole thing is somewhat surreal.
sharesuzus petals wrote;
"Also, why did Valerie become the Countess after the fiery crash (which she miraculously survived)? It doesn't jibe with the rest of the legend. She was supposed to stay young forever, not jump into other people's bodies. What the heck?!"
I just watched it for the first time and my impession was that the Countess died. She was both impaled and burned, methods traditionally used to kill vampires. Ilona was a vampire and was killed by an accidental razor wound to the back.
I thought Valerie, having been made a vampire by the Countess, continued courting victims just as she had seen the Countess do and had somewhat adopted the Countess's style.
All just MHO of course.
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Various things point different ways regarding the question "is this a vampire?" One odd scene is when the Countess is fiddling with her lipstick and a compact mirror. When she realizes the detective might see what is (or isn't) reflected she shuts the compact quickly. Meanwhile we've seen that her fingers are reflected as normal but her lips don't appear to be... surely it should be both or neither?!
Best line: the Countess (asked how she looks so young): 'Oh, it's very simple: a very strict diet, lots of sleep.'
"I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken."
The scene is relevant to Marcel Proust and the way mother talks is like Oscar Wilde who were both bisexuals just as Stefan. Stefan is outbursting against Valérie when his "mother" calls the marriage with her "irrealistic", remembering him that he could never satify a woman entirely. But Valérie is so beautiful that she can seduce vampires and what they call a "kept boy"...
shareI was wondering if Stefan and his "mother" were vampires as well? The way he responds to the Countess and knows the history of her bleeding out virgins. It just seemed like he knew too well who she was and what she was about.
And then the way "mother" responds to Stefan marrying Valerie is almost like how a vampire would respond to another who had married.
But I could be way off track here. But doesn't it seem that Stefan and the Countess share something?
The Countess and Stefan are both sadists and recognize the trait in one another. "Mother" was also a sadist, (s)he humilated the butler , petting his head like a dog and then waving him away after he brought the phone to "Mother". That phone must have had one long assed honkin' cord, BTW. Seriously, the cord looked like it was 6 inches on the table, but the butler drags it half across a mansion?
If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions.
Actually, he unplugs the phone, takes it to where 'mother' is and then plugs it in to his left.
Excellent synopsis of the Countess and Stefan, as well as the telephone cord. Oh yes, the days before cordless!
Whether or not the two were somehow initially connected is intriguing but not entirely relevant. The fact is they each had what the other needed, and the important thing is that they found each other.
The simplest explanation I always bought was that the phone call showed that Stefan was a twisted, kinky sombitch who deserved to die.
shareI was wondering if Stefan and his "mother" were vampires as well?I was leaning toward this point of view while I watched. The movie seems to make a big deal of the cut on his neck while shaving, for example, which later in the day gets a very specific close-up in which we see it seems to be healing supernaturally quickly.
I'm still not sure what to make of this movie. The fact that it was a european horror movie from the early 70s explains why it's so surreal but the plot holes are very schizophrenic. I think they definitely didn't think alot of it through as you say. They left alot of things unexplained like "mother" and I guess maybe I just didn't catch alot of the hidden innuendoes. Maybe alot of message about duality and bisexuality as you where "the filmmakers wanted to have it both ways.."
Definitely not a traditional vampire lore flick. The only supernatural powers Countess seemed to possess were immortality and an ability to quickly transport herself from one place to another (after Valarie walks away from her before they encounter Stefan and the deceased Ilona) which we really don't see elsewhere in the movie. Immortality seems to be the entire reason. Otherwise, there are no fangs, no transformations, definitely no super strength.
Also I didn't even know if Ilona was a vampire or not. Though she seemed to show an aversion to running water, she seemed to not possess any kind of super strength or influence over Stefan when he tried to drag her into the shower and then she dies from a simple fall on a razor to the back. Nor at any point did she try to bite or bleed him during their sex play. i thought maybe she was just a consort or "assistant" under the Countess' spell. But early on in the movie, I remember she utters in a depressed tone "I wish I could die" which would indicate she was immortal. For the record she was incredibly sexy in the way she moved and her beautiful face and skin. Maybe not a great actress but as a director, I would have hired regardless and I'm sure that's what the director here was thinking.
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The dude he talks to on the phone looked pretty flamboyant. It’s kinda hinted that Stefan might’ve been a homosexual or bisexual. It also explains why he hesitated to call his mother.
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