Abstract
This chapter considers the figure of the invasive female vampire. It is a common belief that the vampire requires some form of invitation before being allowed to enter a human’s personal space, yet they are able to glamour or control the mind of a victim with no such offer being made. While traditionally it is not uncommon to hear of male vampires wantonly partaking in such acts of psychic violation, the most extreme form of the uninvited possession of another is, as this study shows, largely the remit of the female of the species. This chapter investigates the phenomenon of vampiric metempsychosis (transference of souls) by examining seven films revolving around a female vampire figure: Daughters of Darkness (Kümel 1971), The Devil’s Plaything (Sarno 1973), Thirst (Hardy 1979), The Hunger (Scott 1983), Nadja (Almeraida 1994), The Last Sect (Dueck 2006) and The Host . The films will be considered in chronological order to chart how the nature of this transference develops over time to become increasingly concerned with the integrity of the many identities involved, though never really disentangling itself from various forms of violence. Of particular interest in this study is the dialectic between whether such violent “home” invasions are the result of traumatic repetition/re-enacting of the violence of the vampress’s own conception or whether they are the only form of reproduction and/or agency available to the female vampire.
References
Abbott, Stacey. 2007. Celluloid Vampires: Life After Death in the Modern World. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Fox, Renée. 2013. Carmilla and the Politics of Indistinguishability. In Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, ed. Kathleen Costello-Sullivan, 110–121. New York: Syracuse University Press.
Fronius, Helen, and Anna Linton. 2008. Introduction. In Women and Death: Representations of Female Victims and Perpetrators in German Culture 1500–2000, eds. Helen Fronius and Anna Linton, 1–8. Rochester: Camden House.
Gelder, Ken. 2012. New Vampire Cinema. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kellerman, Natan. 2009. Holocaust Trauma: Psychological Effects and Treatment. New York: IUniverse.
Le Fanu, J. Sheridan. (1872) 2003. Carmilla. Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.net/1/0/0/0/10007/.
Morrisey, Belinda. 2003. When Women Kill: Questions of Agency and Subjectivity. New York: Routledge.
Strieber, Whitley. (1981) 2001. The Hunger. New York: Pocket Books.
Weinstock, Jeffrey. 2012. The Vampire Film: Undead Cinema. London: Wallflower.
Weiss, Andrea. 1992. Vampires and Violets: Lesbians in Film. London: Penguin.
———. 2014. The Lesbian Vampire Film. In Dracula’s Daughter’s: The Female Vampire on Film, eds. Douglas Brode and Leah Deyneka, 21–36. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press.
Wells, H.G. (1898) 2008. The War of the Worlds. Maryland: Arc Manor.
Zimmerman, Bonnie. 2004. Daughters of Darkness: The Lesbian Vampire on Film. In Planks of Reason: Essays on the Horror Film, eds. Barry Keith Grant and Christopher Sharrett, 72–81. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press.
Filmography
Blood is My Heritage. (1957) 2003. Directed by Herbert L. Strock. Los Angeles, CA: American International Pictures. DVD.
Devil’s Plaything, The (aka Vampire Ecstasy, aka Veil of Blood). (1973) 2013. Directed by Joe Sarno. London, England: MediumRare. DVD.
Dracula. (1979) 2014. Directed by John Badham. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures. DVD.
Dracula’s Daughter. (1936) 2008. Directed by Lambert Hillyer. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures. DVD.
Daughters of Darkness. (1971) 2010. Directed by Harry Kümel. London, England: Optimum Classics. DVD.
Host, The. 2013. Directed by Andrew Niccol. Universal City, CA: Universal Pictures. DVD.
Hunger, The. (1983) 2004. Directed by Tony Scott. Beverley Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. DVD.
Last Sect, The. (2006) 2007. Directed by Jonathan Dueck. London, England: Momentum Pictures. DVD.
Lust for a Vampire. (1971) 2008. Directed by Jimmy Sangster. Beverley Hills, CA: Metro Goldwyn Meyer. DVD.
Manchurian Candidate , The. (1962) 2004. Directed by John Frankenheimer. Beverley Hills, CA: United Artists. DVD.
Nadja. (1994) 2004. Directed by Michael Almereyda. Universal City, CA: October Films. DVD.
Originals, The. 2013-present. Created by Julie Plec. Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers Televison. DVD.
Thirst. (1979) 2004. Directed by Rod Hardy. Los Angeles, CA: New Line Cinema. DVD.
Under the Skin. (2013) 2014. Directed by Jonathan Glazer. Paris, France: StudioCanal. DVD.
Vampire Diaries, The. 2009–2017. Created by Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers Television. DVD.
Vampire Lovers, The. (1970) 2008. Directed by Roy Ward Baker. Beverley Hills, CA: Metro Goldwyn Meyer. DVD.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bacon, S. (2017). Breaking and Entering: Psychic Violation, Metempsychosis and the Uninvited Female Vampire. In: Baker, D., Green, S., Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, A. (eds) Hospitality, Rape and Consent in Vampire Popular Culture. Palgrave Gothic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62782-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62782-3_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62781-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62782-3
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)