A young Los Angeles couple is invited by the mysterious Diane to her secluded desert home. Unbeknownst to them, she is a centuries-old vampire, and it’s not long before they become the objects of her desires.
Stephanie Rothman subverts conventions of exploitation cinema from within, creating the first truly feminist vampire movie with her signature style, wit and surreal use of sun-drenched California locations. Though often labelled as a second-wave exploitation filmmaker, Rothman’s films are among the most politically and socially astute takes on feminist liberation politics in early 1970s America. She was also the first woman to direct a Roger Corman production.
Los Angeles couple Lee and Susan Ritter (Michael Blodgett and Sherry Miles) meet the mysterious Diane (an unforgettable Celeste Yarnall), who invites them to her secluded desert home. Little do they know that this temptress is a centuries-old vampire and it’s not long before they both become objects of her seductions. With psychedelic visuals and surreal dream sequences, Rothman foregrounds sexual desire, agency and pleasure, exploring the shifting values of the early 70s as erotic tensions arise within the hot California desert isolated from the rest of civilisation.
With clear influences on contemporary horror, including Anna Biller’s The Love Witch, Rothman plays with the conventions of the genre, prioritising a feminist perspective and playful exploration of gender roles by subverting the common trope of the male vampire, thereby allowing Diane to project her dark feminine desires.
DCP c/o of American Genre Film Archive with thanks to Shout Factory.
This screening is part of Sun, sex and socialism: the cinema of Stephanie Rothman co-curated by Selina Roberston and Isabel Moir, presented as part of Other Ways of Seeing, with support from BFI Awarding Funds from National Lottery.
With an introduction by film curator Isabel Moir and Selina Robertson.
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