Not All Fangs Are Phallic: Female Film Vampires

Author(s): James Craig Holte

Source: Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts , 1999, Vol. 10, No. 2 (38), A Century of
Draculas (1999), pp. 163-173
Published by: International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43308382

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 Not All Fangs Are Phallic:

James Craig Holte

espite the domination by the char

tion during the past hundred years
been female, and no examination of
in popular culture or the developme
eth century fiction or film would b
character of the female vampire in
pires, who, in general, tend to be im
nobleman, female vampires are a m
It is possible that the earliest vam
troduction to Daughters of Darkne
asserts that the female vampires w
of the destructive side- blood, deat
mother goddesses of prehistory. K

This representation of the goddess

the rise of the Judeo-Christian infl
chotomous vision of the world wh
desses embodied all that was evil in
they were female, sexual, pagan, an
the cycle of life. These women wer
monsters. (8)

Whether directly related to the worship of the mother goddess or not, the im-
age of the female vampire is clearly influenced by patriarchal attitudes and is
also clearly ancient in origin. As I have argued in Mythical and Fabulous
Creatures,

specific references to vampirism abound in the records of Babylon

and Assyria. R. Campbell Thompson, in The Devils and Evil
Spirits of Babylonia, discusses the belief in the Ekimmu, the soul
of a dead person that could not rest and wandered about the earth
tormenting the living until a priest could exorcise it (l:xxiii-xxv).
In addition, Assyrian, Babylonian, and ancient Hebrew legends
refer to Lilitu, Lilith, Lamia, or Lamme, a night-roaming female
monster who sought the blood of young children. According to the
Talmud, Lillith was Adam's original wife. She argued with him

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Not All Fangs Are Phallic: Female Film Vampires

over his authority and left him, but

because of her disobedience. After t
undead, immortal, and vengeful- a
children. A similar legend appears
bears Zeus' children, but jealous H
venge, Lamia wanders the earth atte
dren as possible. (244)

Violence and sexuality, the two most

vampire lore and mythology, are pr
early narratives. Sexuality begets j
ity-God's, Adam's and Zeus'- is que
ally active females. Thus monsters a
patriarchal order.
The literary history of the female
The first modern literary vampir
"vampire epidemics" of Eastern Europ
first examined by German scholars
liberations helped make vampirism
German poets followed German sch
Goethe's "The Bride of Cornith" feat
The English Romantic poets were
Perhaps the most famous example
"Christabel." Coleridge's poem, witho
scribes a vampiric meeting betwee
doned in a forest by kidnappers, and
who befriends her. Christabel bring
castle, they share a bottle of wine, an
Geraldine awakens appearing young
with feelings of guilt and confùsion
pray. At the end of the poem Christ
Lady Geraldine, and abandons his da
suggestions of lesbianism and his us
poem are quite powerful, and the ef
Female vampires, or lamia figures,
Edgar Allan Poe. As such critics as
Lyle Kendall have pointed out, Poe's
ures who drain life from other char
vampire analogy as a metaphor for
central concerns and is evident in
"Morella," "Lige ia," "The Oval Por
Usher."
"Ligeia" and "The Fall of the House of Usher" are the two most famous

1 64 Journal of the Fantastic

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examples. In "L
vampire- pale
dead to reclaim
Usher rises fro
of incest and
The most fam
tive is Joseph
appeared in In
tion narrated
years earlier.
castle and is in
rator to her w
bites the nar
Carmilla's atte
Countess Karn
a general, a do
the narrator e
footsteps outs
Carmilla has b
vampire narra
used Le Fanu's
adaptations h
(1936), Blood
Lust for a Va
(1971), The D
(1973), Till D
Valerie (1991
The three bes
British compa
pire Lovers, a
ized that alth
series, the Dra
pire Lovers, d
Tudor Gates,
overtly eroti
Christopher L
trays the fem
from her und
two beautiful
tracked down
eral Von Spiel
The Countess

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Not All Fangs Are Phallic: Female Film Vampires

ing the authority of the church and

Lust for a Vampire is a quickly pro
Karnstein but little else from "Carmilla." In this film the Countess
Karnstein is revived again and enrolled in a private girl's school in which she
seduces a series of beautiful young virgins, turning them into vampires. The
film ends with her impalement by a burning ceiling rafter.
Twins of Evil, the third film in the Hammer "Carmilla" series, is far
more successful. Screenwriter Tudor Gates combined material from Le
Fanu 's story with a dramatic witch-hunting narrative, and the result is an ef-
fective and popular horror film. In this adaptation the vampire Countess
Karnstein is again revived, again attacks beautiful young women, and is
again destroyed, this time by a male organization of witch hunters called the
Brotherhood.
Although Hammer Films borrowed from Le Fanu the source material
for the most popular of the "Carmilla" adaptations, other filmmakers had
used the source before. The first was German director Carl Dryer in his fa-
mous Vampyr, which tells the story of a young man's encounter with a fe-
male vampire who is menacing a small village. Dryer and cinematographer
Rudolph Mate used the basic elements of "Carmilla" to create a hauntingly
atmospheric tale of terror. Another equally well-made adaptation is Roger
Vadim's sensual and erotic Blood and Roses. In this film Carmilla is pos-
sessed by the spirit of Mircalla, an ancient female vampire. While possessed,
she seduces her cousin's beautiful young fiancee before she accidentally falls
upon a wooden stake that pierces her heart. Like Vampyr, Blood and Roses
is a well made and effective adaptation of Le Fanu.
All of these adaptations of "Camilla" emphasize the seductive eroticism
of the original, often making the lesbian elements of the novella the films' fo-
cus. Later films, of course, present a more openly erotic depiction of the fe-
male vampire. In general, the "Carmilla" films depict a vampire who is
younger, more aggressive, and more sexually active than in the many films
that present representations of Dracula. The female vampire presented is
also depicted as clearly outside the accepted norms of traditional Western
culture: she is not only unnatural, undead, she is both a lesbian or bisexual
and sexually aggressive. As a result, these female vampires, although de-
picted as sexually attractive and intelligent, are destroyed at the end of these
films.
An equally attractive source for the development of the female vampire
is the life of Elizabeth Bathory, an Hungarian countess born in 1560 and
brought to trial in 1611 for the torture and murder of somewhere between
150 and 650 young women. After hearing rumors of the disappearance of the
young women, Hungarian authorities raided the Bathory Castle in late De-
cember, 1610, and discovered the body of one dead girl in front of the door
of the manor house and two other dead young women inside. During two

1 66 Journal of the Fantastic

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 separate trial
had a lar killed
ported that Ba
ple, were usua
The trial evid
tims-some we
Bathory made
keep herself
Was A Woman
drank the bloo
four of the co
relationships w
Transylvania,
castle for life. She died in 1614.
The Bathory legend has inspired numerous films, including I Vampiri
(1957), Countess Dracula (1970), Daughters of Darkness (1971), Legend of
Blood Castle (1972), Curse of the Devil (1973), Immortal Tales (1974),
Thirst (1980), and The Mysterious Death of Nina Chereau (1987). These
films, like the films based on "Carmilla," vary in quality, and like the films
based on "Carmilla" the Bathory films emphasize lesbian and bisexual be-
havior. They are also darker in tone than the "Carmilla" films. Perhaps the
best of these is Daughters of Darkness, a multi-national production directed
by Harry Kumel based on Michael Parry's novel Countess Dracula.
Daughters of Darkness is a serious and visually stunning film that is both
erotic and horrific. It depicts a contemporary Elizabeth Bathory who has sur-
vived over three hundred years as a vampire. With her lover and companion,
Ilona, she visits a Belgian seaside resort, where she meets a newly married
couple. Bathory and Ilona set out to seduce the couple, discovering in the
process that the husband is a violent sadist. In the end, death comes to all
four characters. A more traditional adaptation is Hammer Films' Countess
Dracula, in which Ingrid Pitt portrayed Bathory in a traditional Hammer
gothic horror film, complete with pseudo period costumes and settings. The
other films based on the Bathory legend are less significant.
Both the films based on "Carmilla" and those using Elizabeth Bathory as
a source feature intelligent, sexually active female vampires whose destruc-
tion at the end of the films restores traditional values after viewers have had
the opportunity to enjoy narratives full of forbidden pleasures. Several of the
films, especially Daughters of Darkness, provide sympathetic depictions of
female vampires.
Also important in influencing the development of the female vampire
during the last century has been Bram Stoker's Dracula. Although signifi-
cant, the influence of Ligeia, Christobel, Madeline Usher, Elizabeth
Bathory, and even Carmilla are secondary to that of Stoker's female vam-

In the Arts 167

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Not All Fangs Are Phallic: Female Film Vampires

pires, who dominate the third chapter of

screen and popular culture by Tod Br
1931 adaptation of Dracula for Univer
tion between Jonathan Harker and th
rectly referred to as the "Brides of D
conventions of depicting female vam
tacular scene. Because this representat
is worth looking at the entire scene f
Writing in his diary on the mornin
leaving his rooms and falling asleep i
calls awakening with a start and writ

I was not alone. The room was the sam

since I came into it; I could see along
moonlight, my own footsteps marke
long accumulation of dust. In the m
three young women, obviously ladies
thought at the time I must be dream
though the moonlight was behind the
the floor. They came close to me, and
and then whispered together. Two
acquline noses, like the Count, and gre
seemed to be almost red when cont
moon. The other was fair, as fair as f
masses of golden hair and eyes lik
somehow to know her face, and kn
dreamy fear, but I could not recoll
where. All three had brilliant white
against the ruby of their voluptuous
about them that made me uneasy, som
time some deadly fear. I felt in my he
sire that they should kiss me with th
write this down, lest some day it s
cause her pain; but it is the truth. Th
then all three laughed - such a silvery
as though the sound never could have
human lips. It was like the intolerabl
ter-glasses when played on by a cunni
her head coquettishly , and the other t
"Go on. You are the first and we sh
right to begin. "
The other added:
"He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all." I lay
quiet, looking out from under my eyelashes in an agony of delight-
ful anticipation. The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I
could feel the movement of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in

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 one sense, hon
nerves as her v
ter of offensi
my eyelids, bu
girl went on h
was a delibera
pulsive, and as
an animal, till
the scarlet lips
teeth. Lower a
range of my m
Then she pau
tongue as it lic
on my neck. T
flesh does wh
nearer. I coul
super-sensitive
teeth, just tou
guorous ecstas

Almost every
noting Jonath
three vampir
and the explic
The scene is r
perfect miniatu
ous, sensual, se
fied by the e
encounter wit
vitation of the
represented by
him. In many
century what
uality-will be
Two film ad
Francis Ford
tive approache
the role of th
Films Dracula
Heising is cent
gins of the na
than Harker w
estate busines
cula- Renfield

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Not All Fangs Are Phallic: Female Film Vampires

confrontation with the female vam

Browning's version three strange wo
pelled by Dracula, who has returned t
self. In this adaptation the strangenes
eroticism and aggressive sexuality is
to Dracula is emphasized.
Coppola directs the same scene in a
Dracula the confrontation between Harker and the "Brides" is one of the
most dramatic scenes in the film. Coppola includes significant parts of
Stoker's dialogue and provides the three female vampires with richly sugges-
tive sensuous costumes. Coppola's scene is also more explicit, showing a
four-way embrace and Harker's overtly sexual response to the advance of
the vampires. In addition, when Dracula returns die three vampires chal-
lenge him with the assertion that he "never loved," before leaving Harker
for a newborn child offered by the Count. Coppola's female vampires are far
more erotic, confident, and assertive than Browning's and provide an alter-
nate representation of vampirism to the one provided by Dracula himself.
This trend of increasingly positive depiction of the three female vam-
pires of Dracula' s castle continues with the work of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro,
who has recently begun a three novel series about the vampires, each focus-
ing on one of the "Brides" and each making that vampire the hero of the nar-
rative.
More central to the Dracula adaptations is the role of Lucy Westenra,
the friend of Mina Harker who is turned into a vampire by Dracula and then
preys on the neighborhood children as the mysterious "boofer lady" until she
is destroyed by Van Heising and Arthur Holmwood. Lucy Westenra, or the
light of the west, is a significant character in Dracula because she draws to-
gether all of the other major characters. She is Dracula's victim, Mina's
friend, Van Helsing's patient, and the object of the affection of three suitors:
Arthur Holmwood, soon to be Lord Godalming, Doctor John Seward, and
the American Quincy Morris. In addition, she provides a contrast with the
novel's heroine, Mina Harker. Lucy, especially in the film adaptations, is
more openly sexual and aggressive than Mina, and once she is infected by
Dracula's bite her open sexuality becomes a threat to the Victorian commu-
nity. This threat is met when Van Heising organizes the men to hunt Lucy
and, in a sexually and violently graphic scene, drive a stake through her
body, at which moment Lucy's fiendish grin disappears and her sweet ex-
pression returns. The reimposition of male authority is clear in Stoker's de-
scription of Lucy's staking:

The Thing [Lucy] in the coffin writhed; and a hideous,

bloodcurdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body
shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions; the sharp

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 white teeth ch
was smeared w
looked like th
deeper and dee
the pierced he
and high duty
courage so tha
(227-228)

Lucy's fate is
Stoker's novel
vampire and V
violations of h
supervises her
men who use h
front adult males: she feeds on children.
As J. Gordon Melton notes in The Vampire Book: An Encyclopedia of
the Undead, the character of Lucy has received unequal treatment in the ad-
aptations of Dracula. She is dropped from Nosferatu and the Hamilton
Deane play; she returns, in a badly edited subplot, in Tod Browning's Dra-
cula; and she is transformed into Jonathan Harker's fiancee in Hammer
Films Horror of Dracula. In both the Jack Palance (1973) and the Frank
Langella (1979) versions of Dracula Lucy is restored to her central position,
and in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) the character
of Lucy is emphasized.
Coppola's adaptation foregrounds the sexual nature of the vampire:
Lucy's turning by Dracula is portrayed as a sexual initiation and awakening,
and her staking by Arthur Holmwood is represented as a kind of rape.
Coppola's adaptation, following Stoker's novel, suggests that Lucy can be
vampirized, and then must be destroyed or put back in her place, because she
was willing and capable of embracing her own sexuality and eager to throw
off the domination of the men around her.
Other recent films have depicted strong female vampires as well; in fact,
several have used the figure of the female vampire as a positive image for
women, and in doing so they help develop the more sympathetic vampire, a
central character in the developing genre of the dark romance.
In her introduction to Daughters of Darkness: Lesbian Vampire Stories,
Pam Kesey notes that Blood and Roses was a pioneering film in that it pres-
ents a narrative in which lesbianism is portrayed in a positive manner and
heterosexuality is "abnormal and ineffectual" (14). Similar depictions occur
in Vampyrs (1974), in which a lesbian couple is killed by a homophobic man
and returns as man-attacking vampires, The Mark ofLillith (1986), and Be-
cause of the Dawn (1988). Two additional contemporary films depicting

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Not All Fangs Are Phallic: Female Film Vampires

positive female vampires, The Hun

deserve special attention.
The Hunger , based on a novel by
Tony Scott. The MGM/United Artists
the first rate cast performs well in th
rative that manages to create both f
Catherine Deneuve plays Miriam Bay
pire living in New York City with
Bowie, who has suddenly begun to ag
the eroticism and violence of vampir
of the undead existence. In attempti
Baylock is such a sympathetic char
boundary between horror and traged
An equally effective stretching of
Brothers' Innocent Blood (1992), dire
part horror film, part gangster f
multi-genre films, Innocent Blood
film's plot is simple. Marie is a beaut
only on evil men. She accidentally tu
Don, into a vampire who sets out to
spends the rest of the film correctin
Despite the thin premise of the fil
reasons- clever dialogue, strong actin
expectations. Most important, howev
female vampire. Although undead, th
ture of darkness; she is, in fact, a da
who deserve death and mortified wh
vampire. She is attractive, intelligent
piction the female vampire is a role m
ences are intended to sympathize and
the vampire is no monster.
In a number of ways the representat
followed that of the male vampire; a f
dercurrent of sexual attraction has b
tive, although still dangerous. Conte
mentioned above are attractive and
vampirism is only one part of their
sters. Like some of their contempo
Rice's Lestat or Chelsea Quinn Yar
vampire, at the end of the twentieth
the quick and the undead.

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 Note

Some of this m
Dracula Film A

Works Cited

Berenstein, Rhona. Attack of the Leading Ladies: Gender, Sexuality, and

Spectatorship in Classic Horror Cinema. New York: Columbia University
Press, 1996.
Le Fanu, J. Sheridan. "Carmilla." London, 1871.
Holte, James Craig. "The Vampire." Mythological and Fabulous Creatures. Ed
Malcolm South. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 243-264.
Kesey, Pam. Daughters of Darkness: Lesbian Vampire Stories. Pittsburgh: Cleis
Press, 1993.
McNally, Raymond. Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of
Transylvania. New York: McGraw Hill, 1993.
Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Detroit:
Visible Ink, 1994.
Parry, Michael. Countess Dracula. New York: Beagle, 1971.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Westminster, UK: Constable, 1897.
Streiber, Whitley. The Hunger. New York: Morrow, 1981.
Twitchell, James. The Living Dead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic Literature.
Durham: Duke University Press, 1986.

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