- While passing through a vacation resort, a newlywed couple encounters a mysterious, strikingly beautiful countess and her aide.
- A chic, good-looking and suitably 70's couple arrive at an extravagant and deserted seaside hotel after eloping. Stefan is wealthy and happily English, with a hidden streak of sadism, while Valarie is intelligent but of inferior (Swedish) blood. To keep her with him at the eerie hotel he lies consistantly about his relationship with his mother and his plans to tell her of their marriage. Meanwhile he has mysterious phone conversations with an older, dominant and pampered sissy. Two fresh guests arrive; the Hungarian countess, Elizabeth Bathory and her voluptuous protege, Ilona. Virgin corpses begin showing up about the city drained of their blood. A wary detective lurks around the hotel taunting his only suspect, the Countess.—kwedgwood@hotmail.com
- Two days after getting married in Switzerland, Valerie and Stefan Chilton travel by train to take a boat to England to visit Stefan's mother at the Chilton Manor. However, the train has to stop in Ostend and the couple lodges in the royal suite at a seaside hotel. The concierge Pierre advises that the place is empty since it is out of season and they become aware of three murders in Bruges. On the same night, the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Báthory arrives in the hotel with her secretary Ilona Harczy and Pierre swears that she had been in the hotel forty years ago with the same appearance. When Valerie and Stefan cross the path with the mysterious countess, their lives are affected by the woman. Meanwhile a retired detective snoops at the hotel suspecting that the countess may be the serial-killer that drains the blood of the victims to use as elixir of youth.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory didn't die in 1613 walled up in her castle. She is still alive over 350 years later and still preying on young girls for their blood. Elizabeth (Delphine Seyrig) and her secretary Ilona Harxzy (Andrea Rau) have arrived at a hotel in Ostend, Belgium. Concierge Pierre (Paul Esser) is astonished to see the Countess again. He last saw her 40 years ago when he was but a young bellboy, and she hasn't changed a bit. It is winter, and the only other hotel guests are a newlywed couple, Stefan (John Karlen) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet) Chilton, who are en route from Switzerland to England, where Stefan's mother lives. Elizabeth comments to Ilona that Stefan and Valerie are perfect, and they take the adjoining suite. Stefan is having a hard time telling his mother about his marriage. He makes one excuse after another when pressed by Valerie, even going so far as to ask Pierre, in front of Valerie, to put through a call to his mother while slipping Pierre a note that says, "Say there is no reply." Stefan is not anxious to get back to England and finds reason to hang around Ostend for another day or two or three.
No one can go to Belgium without visiting Brugge, walking among its medieval buildings and taking a boat ride on its many canals. Stefan and Valerie are no different. While boating along, they make a stop where they find a crowd gathered outside of a building and an ambulance arriving. Wanting to know what is going on, they join the crowd and learn that a young girl has been murdered, her throat slit and all the blood drained from her body. And she wasn't the first. Three other girls have been similarly murdered in the past week. As the body is carried from house to ambulance, a strange look overcomes Stefan, who strains to get a look at the dead girl and hits his wife in the face when she suggests that they leave. This is a side of Stefan that Valerie hasn't seen before, and it scares her, especially when he and Elizabeth start talking about the history of the Bathorys, and Stefan seems positively mesmerized by Elizabeth's description of how she tortured the servant girls. To make matters worse, after Stefan finally does call his "mother", he suddenly starts beating Valerie with his belt. The next day, Valerie decides to leave Stefan, packs her bags, and goes to the train station. Just as the train is about to leave, Elizabeth shows up and convinces Valerie to give it another try. You can't give up after just a few days, she advises.
Unfortunately, while Valerie was trying to run away, Ilona seduced Stefan, which wasn't too difficult. After they have sex, Stefan takes a shower. When he tries to pull Ilona under the running water, she screams as though in pain and grabs a straight-edged razor. In the tussle that follows, Ilona drops the razor and then falls on top of it, killing herself instantly. Just at that moment, Elizabeth and Valerie walk in the bathroom to find their naked bodies lying on the floor. Valerie has given up loving Stefan. Elizabeth doesn't seem upset at all about losing her companion. Her primary concern is what to do with the body. They take the body to the shore, where Stefan digs a deep hole. Elizabeth tosses in the body a bit prematurely, pinning Stefan under it, and the sides of the hole start caving in, burying Stefan along with Ilona. Fortunately, Valerie still cares enough to grab Stefan's hand and pull him out.
Unknown to Stefan, Elizabeth has also been seducing Valerie with her kisses. When the three of them return to the hotel, Valerie chooses Elizabeth over Stefan. Now it's Stefan's turn to be jealous. He starts packing his clothes and orders Valerie to pack, too, but she refuses, so he slaps her around a bit more. Elizabeth and Valerie attempt to smother Stefan with a bowl, but it breaks, cutting Stefan's wrists. They drink up the blood and, when he is dead, they toss his body off the balcony. Elizabeth and Valerie attempt to make a getaway, but the sun is starting to rise. Elizabeth pushes Valerie to drive faster. Suddenly the car spins out in the morning light, and Elizabeth is thrown clear but lands impaled on a tree branch.
Epilogue: A few months later, Valerie walks with a young man and woman, telling them how they will be the best of friends. But she speaks with Elizabeth Bathory's voice.
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