The lesbian vampire is a tale as old as cinematic time. But where did it come from and why? Why don't we see lesbian werewolves or even witches the way that we see lesbian vampires? For this final week of Pride Month, I wanted to take an actual in-depth look at the history of lesbian vampires in the movies.
Where does the lesbian vampire trope even come back? Fascinatingly, it comes from literature. Maybe that's all other monsters need - a classic lesbian literary take on their stories. Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu wrote a novella called Carmilla in 1872 about a countess who seduces and sucks the life out of a young woman named Laura.
This novella predates Dracula (it post-dates the very first vampire story, The Vampyre, published in 1819). That means lesbian vampires may have actually influenced Bram Stoker - and lesbian vampires are something we call all stroke it to!
The oldest lesbian vampire film might surprise you. It's considered to be 1936's Dracula's Daughter. This Universal Pictures drama was a sapphic sequel to Dracula. Of course, the gayness was all subtextual. According to the book The Celluloid Closet, the studio actually leaned into some of the lesbian themes when marketing the film. They knew even back in the 1930s - in Hays Code 30s! - that sex sells and lesbians are particularly titillating.
Gloria Holden and Nan Gray starred in this sensual sequel. Check out a scene here:
Due to the Hays Code and diminished interest in monster movies, lesbian vampires were not really seen again until the late 60s when horror movies made a huge comeback. Indie and foreign filmmaking also saw a huge rise along with the creative horror comeback that the world saw in this era. This is when we saw lesbian vampires finally make a reappearance. The first was in 1960's Blood and Roses which comes to us from France and was based on the novella Carmilla.
The 1970s were the heyday of this genre. The Vampire Lovers ushered in this era with what became a trilogy of films from Hammer Studios. These films also marked a clear era of focusing on sex over monstrosity. Ingrid Pitt played Carmilla perfectly and would reprise the role for the other Hammer Studios vampire films.
Daughters of Darkness was inspired by Elizabeth Bathory rather than Carmilla in this surrealistic and lusciously shot film with Delphine Seyrig as The Countess with a lust for blood. Delphine kept her clothes on, but her victims like Andrea Rau did not!
1971's The Velvet Vampire barely hides its reference to lesbianism with the title. It was also directed by the legendary female exploitation director Stephanie Rothman. The story introduces the villainous Diane LaFanu played by Celeste Yarnall - a clear reference to the writer Sheridan Le Fanu - who seduces a young Sherry Miles AND her husband.
The Spaniards got involved with the vampire lesbian trope with some truly iconic films The Blood Spattered Bride and Jesus Franco's Vampyros Lesbos. Alexandra Bastedo played the blonde babe who gets seduced by a vampiress in this iconic role with imagery that helped inspire Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
But Vampyros Lesbos is REALLY noteworthy!
Vampyros Lesbos stars Soledad Miranda as the countess with alluring dark hair and eyes and a bodacious bod. She seduces busty blonde Ewa Stromberg.
While we are speaking Spanish, let's check out a Mexican classic that took a turn at the lesbian trope. 1975's Mary Mary, Bloody Mary was directed by Juan Moctezuma. What a great title that alludes, of course, to the Bloody Mary urban legend. Cristina Ferrare is undressed by her vampiric vixen in this sexy scene that shows off Cristina's suck sacks in the mirror. If you say "Bloody Mary" in the mirror three times, this scene plays:
We were able to get a Scandinavian take on vampire babes with films like Lust for a Vampire and The Devil's Plaything (which was clearly an inspiration for scenes in modern Suspiria). These films went hard when it came to toplessness and vampire covens.
1974 saw more explicit vampire films like Vampyres aka Daughters of Dracula. This film starred Playboy centerfold Anulka Dziubinska and Marianne Morris as seductresses who lure men to their castles for orgies that end in blood. Exquisitely shot by cinematographer Harry Waxman (and shot at the same location as The Rocky Horror Picture Show), this movie has rich and sumptuous visuals that match its starlets.
This scene also has some of the most explicit lesbian content of any of these other 70s films. The women literally touch each other in several scenes. They have orgies with other people and they have sex with just one another. There is a lot of nudity in all of these 70s films, but this one definitely wins the prize for full-on lesbian sex.
1983's The Hunger is one of the few 80s films in this genre. This aesthetically sexy film is noteworthy for starring Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon (as well as David Bowie) as immortal lovers. This film is a classic for a reason: when else would you see these two in bed together? A body double was unfortunately used for Deneuve, but Sarandon let herself have some fun!
In 1994, we saw the Lynchian film Nadja (of which David Lynch was also an executive producer), but the 80s and 90s brought another lull in the genre. A handful of low-budget films like 1999'a The Vampire Carmilla were made, but otherwise, male-centric vampire movies became the rage until the 2010s when we saw a slight return of lesbian vampires (thanks in part to the popular series True Blood).
2019 literally delivered an adaptation of Carmilla, but it shockingly had very little skin. 2014's The Unwanted may be the best adaptation of Carmilla in the modern era. The lower-budget flick features skin from Hannah Fierman and Christen Orr.
The lesbian vampire trope appears to be a tale as old as Hollywood itself. For nearly 90 years, sexy vampires have sucked and seduced women as their victims and their lovers. I doubt that that will stop titillating audiences any time soon! Here's hoping for another resurgence of these kinds of films, preferably like the kind we saw in the 1970s.
