Lesbian vampire
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Lesbian vampirism is a trope in 20th century exploitation film that has its roots in Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's novella Carmilla (1872) about the predatory love of a vampire (the title character) for a young woman (the narrator), and also takes its inspiration from the legend of sixteenth-century Hungarian Countess Erzsébet Báthory.
In essence, lesbian vampirism in 20th century film was a way to hint at the taboo idea of lesbianism in a fantasy context outside the heavily censored realm of social realism (Andrea Weiss (1993) Vampires & Violets: Lesbians in Film). Also, the conventions of the vampire genre--specifically, the mind control exhibited in many such films--allow for a kind of forced seduction of presumably straight women or girls by lesbian vampires.
Notable film titles include Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960),The Vampire Lovers (1970), Jess Franco's Vampyros Lesbos (1971), Vampyres (1974) and The Hunger (1983). The vampire films of Jean Rollin usually contain some kind of lesbian element or hint. Erzsébet Báthory appears in Daughters of Darkness and The Blood Countess.
In lesbian literature of the 1990s, Pam Keesey edited two anthologies of lesbian vampire stories, Daughters of Darkness (1993) and Dark Angels (1995).
See also
- Notes
- Queer horror
- Fictional portrayals of psychopaths in literature
- The Celluloid Closet
- LGBT themes in horror fiction
- Homosexuality in speculative fiction
- Elizabeth Báthory in popular culture
- The island of Lesbos (from where the word "Lesbian" comes) had local traditions about the nature of Greek vampires: they were thought to have long canine teeth much like wolves.
- Tracey Wigginton, an Australian murderer nicknamed "The Lesbian Vampire Killer"
- Lesley Firestone, the subject of "American Vampire in London"
