DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) d. Harry Kumel (Belgium/France)
VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971) d. Jesus Franco (Spain)
THE VELVET VAMPIRE (1971) d. Stephanie Rothman (USA)
TWINS OF EVIL (1971) d. John Hough (UK)
LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971) d. Jimmy Sangster (UK)
THE SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRE (1971) d. Jean Rollin (France)
THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN d. Leon Klimovsky (Spain)

1971 was a remarkable year for the female vampire — seductive, dangerous, liberated… and deeply entangled in the contradictions of exploitation cinema. Tonight, we're exploring a remarkable cycle of films from that year, on both sides of the Atlantic, that transformed these immortal bloodsuckers into figures of erotic power and cultural tension.

From the icy aristocratic seduction of Delphine Seyrig's Countess Báthory in Daughters of Darkness to the psychedelic sensuality of Jesús Franco's Vampyros Lesbos, 1971 delivered a striking wave of female vampire films across Europe and the United States. Spain's horror boom added drive-in gothic thrills with Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman, while Jean Rollin's Shiver of the Vampires offered a surreal, dreamlike blend of eroticism and avant-garde imagery.

In America, Stephanie Rothman's The Velvet Vampire reframed the female predator through the lens of sexual liberation and feminist critique. Meanwhile, Hammer Studios continued its scandalous Karnstein cycle with Lust for a Vampire and Twins of Evil, balancing gothic tradition with the era's rising appetite for sensuality and transgression.

Seen together, these films reveal a fascinating paradox: the female vampire as both symbol of emergent female sexual agency and carefully lit object of the male gaze. In 1971, horror vampire cinema didn't just bare its fangs — it bared everything, and we breathlessly drank our fill.

Join AC and his awesome panel of guests (Steve Archacki, Emily Barney, David Del Valle, Barry Kaufman, Nicola McCafferty) for an especially epic episode, as we unravel the threads of empowerment and exploitation!
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STEVE ARCHACKI is a connoisseur and collector of all things EuroTrash (especially Italian/Spanish gothic and giallo films and anything Hammer Horror). He also identifies as an avid vinyl soundtrack collector, lapsing metalhead, direct mail marketing guru, and to this day, still harbors perpetual crushes on Rosalba Neri and Dagmar Lassander.

EMILY BARNEY studies Czech language and is obsessed with Czech and Slovak movies. She's appeared on The Projection Booth Podcast's Czechtember series, and blogs at emily-barney.com. She's also a lifelong horror and cult movie fan, the weirder the better.

DAVID DEL VALLE is a renowned film historian, journalist, and commentator specializing in horror, science fiction, and cult cinema. He has contributed to publications like Fangoria and Cinefantastique, and produced Vincent Price's only interview focused on his horror career. Del Valle's books include Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign and Six Reels Under.

BARRY KAUFMAN has been committed to spreading the gospel of obscure horror and science-fiction cinema since writing the fanzines Monsters of Japan and Demonique in the 1970s and 80s. He ran All-Horror Video out of a house in the woods in Homewood, Illinois through the 1980s, followed by his shop The House of Monsters in Chicago from 1996 to 2007. He now vends at genre related shows and programs festivals in the Chicago area featuring his inconspicuous film favorites.

NICOLA MCCAFFERTY is a PhD candidate in the department of Radio, Television, and Film at Northwestern University. Her research looks at screen representations of nonhuman women such as mannequins, dolls, robots, and aliens in order to deconstruct the overlapping categories of whiteness, humanity, and femininity. Outside of grad school, Nicola has a few stray bylines at Dread Central, has seen every Kristen Stewart movie, and runs an Etsy store (https://www.etsy.com/shop/vvitchroom/?etsrc=sdt) where she sells enamel pins, stickers, and prints inspired by horror and cult films from the 1960s to today. 
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