January is the Human Centipede 3 of months, but here are some things I absolutely loved this week:
the split shot sequence in Sisters (1972)
Grace Kelly elegantly scaling a balcony in Rear Window (1954)
the wallpaper upon wallpaper in A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Housekeeping: I added photos to My Favorite Final Frames! I was worried it would be too spoiler-y, but you wanted it.
Upcoming Topics: The Blood Countess, Actors, The Internet Part Two
This Week: Carmilla
This is part of chocolate syrup’s ongoing Vampire Series. Here’s where you can find part one.
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
The Gothic novella Carmilla was published in 1872, a full quarter of a century before Dracula.
Laura, 18, lives in the picturesque countryside of Styria in a Gothic castle, a schloss, with her father, a retired Austrian soldier. They are extremely isolated, closest to a ruined village 3 miles away.
One of Laura’s earliest memories is from when she was 6 years old; she awoke in the middle of the night to find “a solemn, but very pretty face looking at me from the side of the bed.” Laura was caressed, then awakened by ”a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and I cried loudly. The lady started back, with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and, as I thought, hid herself under the bed.”
In the present, her father tells her that his friend, General Spielsdorf was supposed to visit with his daughter, Laura’s age, but unfortunately, the girl, Bertha, died of illness. Laura is devastated.
She and her father gaze at the moon on this misty evening when they hear a carriage accident on the road. A young lady is injured, her pulse weak.
Her mother, in black velvet, is fine, but embarking on “a journey of life and death.” She inquires if the girl can stay with them for 3 months while she completes her trip, and Laura begs her father to let her. The lady in black tells the father that the young lady is not to tell them anything about “who we are, whence we come, and whither we are traveling.”
Laura is shocked to find that it’s the girl from her dream.
The girl, Carmilla, confirms the recognition. “How wonderful! Twelve years ago, I saw your face in a dream, and it has haunted me ever since.”
“I am sure, Carmilla, you have been in love; that there is, at this moment, an affair of the heart going on.”
“I have been in love with no one, and never shall,” she whispered, “unless it should be with you.”
They admit they’re not frightened, they’re drawn together, partially because they find each other so beautiful.
Carmilla and Laura become friends, but Laura is most frustrated with Carmilla’s refusal to divulge anything about her life.
First—Her name was Carmilla.
Second—Her family was very ancient and noble.
Third—Her home lay in the direction of the west.
Carmilla has some odd habits; she’s moody, she won’t pray, she doesn’t eat, and she sleeps during the day and sleepwalks outside at night.
Young girls nearby begin dying, and when a funeral hymn is sung for one, Carmilla loathes the sound to the point of rage.
Restored heirloom paintings arrive to the schloss, and Laura finds a portrait of an ancestor, Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, dated 1698.
The artist now produced it, with evident pride. It was quite beautiful; it was startling; it seemed to live. It was the effigy of Carmilla!
It is identical to Carmilla, down to the mole on her throat. Carmilla kisses Laura and announces her affections, only to nearly faint.
"I am sure, Carmilla, you have been in love; that there is, at this moment, an affair of the heart going on."
"I have been in love with no one, and never shall," she whispered, "unless it should be with you."
Laura begins having nightmares of a monstrous cat approaching her at night, the beast sending stinging pains, like two large needles an inch or two apart deep into her breast, and of a voice saying, "Your mother warns you to beware of the assassin," and of Carmilla standing at the foot of her bed in her nightgown drenched in blood.
Laura begins to grow weak, and the doctor finds a small, blue spot below her collar where the creature in her dream bit her. She is not to be left alone.
On a trip to the nearby ruined village of Karnstein with her father, the General tells them how at a costume ball, Bertha met a beautiful young woman named Millarca and her mother who, upon Bertha’s urging, convinced the General to let the girl stay for 3 weeks while she attended a matter of great importance.
Bertha fell ill, just like Laura - the nightmares, the piercing of the chest - and the General attempted to decapitate the girl, but she fled. The local priest diagnosed Millarca as a vampire.
Just then, Laura is comforted to see “the beautiful face and figure of Carmilla” appear, but the General attempts to attack her with an axe.
When Laura continues calling her name, it is revealed that Carmilla is an ANAGRAM for Millarca!!!! And Mircalla!!!!
Laura returns home, admitting “the sinister absence of Carmilla made the remembrance of the scene more horrible to me.” The next day, they find the hidden tomb of Countess Mircalla.
The grave of the Countess Mircalla was opened; and the General and my father recognized each his perfidious and beautiful guest, in the face now disclosed to view. The features, though a hundred and fifty years had passed since her funeral, were tinted with the warmth of life. Her eyes were open; no cadaverous smell exhaled from the coffin. The two medical men, one officially present, the other on the part of the promoter of the inquiry, attested the marvelous fact that there was a faint but appreciable respiration, and a corresponding action of the heart. The limbs were perfectly flexible, the flesh elastic; and the leaden coffin floated with blood, in which to a depth of seven inches, the body lay immersed.
Here then, were all the admitted signs and proofs of vampirism. The body, therefore, in accordance with the ancient practice, was raised, and a sharp stake driven through the heart of the vampire, who uttered a piercing shriek at the moment, in all respects such as might escape from a living person in the last agony. Then the head was struck off, and a torrent of blood flowed from the severed neck. The body and head was next placed on a pile of wood, and reduced to ashes, which were thrown upon the river and borne away, and that territory has never since been plagued by the visits of a vampire.
Just one more big chunk of text, the very end:
“One sign of the vampire is the power of the hand. The slender hand of Mircalla closed like a vice of steel on the General’s wrist when he raised the hatchet to strike. But its power is not confined to its grasp; it leaves a numbness in the limb it seizes, which is slowly, if ever, recovered from.”
The following Spring my father took me a tour through Italy. We remained away for more than a year. It was long before the terror of recent events subsided; and to this hour the image of Carmilla returns to memory with ambiguous alternations—sometimes the playful, languid, beautiful girn l; sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in the ruined church; and often from a reverie I have started, fancying I heard the light step of Carmilla at the drawing room door.
And that’s Carmilla!
Laura is forever changed, perhaps the numbness in her limbs and the memory in her heart never leaving her, forever haunting her, changing Carmilla in her mind from a vampire to a ghost of a girl she knew. Like every girl who had an extraordinarily intimate friendship with another girl in high school.
Influence on Vampire Media
What Carmilla does well, and is present in so much vampire media hereafter, is the longing.
This whole story is a throbbing ache for connection. Cheeks pressed together, tumultuous sighs, glowing skin in the moonlight. Laura is absolutely bouncing on her heels for a friend, isolated in a castle with a ruined village as the closest landmark. Carmilla is the only one of her kind.
Carmilla’s been 18 for - Edward Cullen voice - “a while.” And her preference for feeding is other 18-year-old girls. For her and Laura, it’s the classic sapphic Do I want to be her or do I want to be with her? And for Laura, there’s the added Victorian bouts of repulsion toward intimacy and same-sex intimacy.
Many questions go unanswered, but we don’t quite know if killing is Carmilla’s endgame. Does she get a thrill out of haunting little girls and coming back into their teenage years to dangle her affection like a shiny medallion until she sucks the life out of them, dooming them to the same 18 years she’s got? Or does she find them so beautiful and fascinating she can’t help but feed, but want, but nibble a bit too hard, take a bit too much for the comfort of slumbering in the blood of a friend, a lover?
When the Hays Code fell, one of the first trends that emerged was the lesbian vampire era. Arguably, it began with The Vampire Lovers, a 1970 Hammer horror and the first in a trilogy based on Carmilla.
I think they were popular at this time for 3 reasons:
Public domain.
Vampires are low-budget creatures. Just add fangs. Or skip ‘em, even.
Gay was allowed sorta, but easier to add if somebody died for their gay little sins.
In later vampire media, there’s a bi- or pansexuality to vampires; the art of sucking blood is erotic and necessary, so it’ll be a pleasurable experience no matter the gender of the suckee. All vampires are into all genders because fuck it, they all have blood, and they’re immortal; you live long enough, nothing fazes you.
Not Carmilla, whose prey after 150 years is still just one type.
Future Influence on Vampire Media
Here are some things from Carmilla, I’d like to see more of:
Vampires sleeping in coffins full of blood! The bathing in blood is very Countess Bathory, but it’s a great visual and I say we bring it back. Give me a ‘getting ready’ montage à la Legally Blonde first thing in the evening - a vampire exits from her coffin, dripping blood, wraps herself in a white towel, stretching and giving the spiders a little hello kiss, licking the blood off her fingertips to the tune of Irma Thomas’ Time Is On My Side.
Weird dreams as plot points! Was that real or not? Who cares, it was rad and had a long-lasting effect on you that will come to a head at a transitional time in your life!
Vampires changing into different creatures! Bats are fun, but they used to change into wolves or dogs, so yea let’s do a giant cat, or even a raccoon!
Really obvious anagrams! Stupid fun.
Recommended Watchlist
Note: I will add trigger warnings for major elements to my content, but not for movie recs, as there are just too many. If there’s any content you don’t wish to see, check out doesthedogdie, wikipedia, or reddit. In addition to violence and gore, I see a lot of pet deaths and assault, but you can get specific with things like vomiting or plane crashes.
Shiver of the Vampires (1971)
Director Jean Rollin’s body of work is the closest in vibes to Carmilla, and this is my favorite of his I’ve seen and one of my favorite films ever. It’s dreamy, it’s queer, it’s Gothic, it’s French, it’s pseudo-intellectual, and it’s horny. It has a castle with a foggy graveyard, an incredible soundtrack, and the most iconic character entrances of all time. Free on Kanopy.
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
A book! In this story and the entire collection by Angela Carter, you’ll find female-centric dark erotic fairytales and beautiful, haunting prose.
The Hunger (1983)
Come for the David Bowie, stay for the Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
The film and tv show are wonderful, but Anne Rice’s grief translates to the characters so well on the page.
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Let The Right One In (2008)
For even more, check out this list by lesbian vampire expert and host of the Girls, Guts, Giallo podcast, Annie Rose Malamet. It includes some other favorites like Daughters of Darkness, The Velvet Vampire, and Dracula’s Daughter.
Thanks for reading! Next week: Something Something Actors! See you then.
xo,
the sweat on the forehead of the guy who swears he wasn’t bit, merely grazed— i promise you linda, i would never lie to you, it’s me for god’s sakes, put the gun down before i eat your goddamn brains, linda, your delicious, delicious goddamn brains— by the zombie version of allie lembo