Stuart Gordon was a busy man back in 1990. Aside from his surprisingly good retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and something called Robojox, he also made this little known TV movie, which like the Poe film; is surprisingly good! Given that the film was made for television, it's not surprising that it doesn't feature the blood and gore of Re-Animator, and overall it feels like a cheaper, more rushed production. These things don't matter, however, as Gordon makes good use of what he has here, and rather than bombard the audience with special effects, he sticks to the more difficult method of storytelling to keep the film alive; and while this story takes obvious influence from a range of earlier films, Gordon's vampire flick is an involving and entertaining little flick for the duration of it's running time. The plot follows a young woman who travels to Romania in order to find her father. It's not long before she realises that he was killed, but the story doesn't end there as new evidence turns up that links her father to a mysterious cult of vampires...
Stuart Gordon is undoubtedly one of the greatest horror directors of modern times, and one of the reasons for that is that he isn't willing to stick to conventions. Gordon is happy to take filming outside of the USA and risk making a film with a largely foreign cast and, just like it would in the later 'Castle Freak' and 'Dagon' - the alien European setting does the film no end of favours where mystery is concerned. The lead role is taken by Mia Sara, who manages to do three things with it. Her acting isn't bad at all, and she's rather nice to look at too; but perhaps the best thing about her role in this film is that her looks and persona perfectly suit the style and tone of the movie. Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins (complete with silly accent), gives a memorable central performance also, and the pair are backed up nicely by Robert Reynolds and Jack Coleman. The plot plays out nicely, and Gordon keeps things very much on the level. There isn't a great deal of 'bite' in the script, but it really doesn't need it as this film is all about mystery. There's a lot of very good ideas in this movie, and it's fair to say that the sum of the parts falls a little short of what could have been; but I really enjoyed Daughter of Darkness and give it warm recommendations.
