Happy Halloween. Let's talk vampires. Let's talk lesbian vampires.
No, this isn't one of those dirty movies. You sicko. There are children here, and I hope you're happy that you've spoiled their innocence. You bastard.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a very good book. It's one of the only novels I've read from cover to cover in an entire day, and has a legacy that cannot be denied. Yes, the legends of vampires have existed for centuries, but no real narratives seem to predate Dracula. Well, a story I found sure does.
Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla predates Dracula by over 25 years. Originally appearing in the monthly magazine The Dark Blue, hasn't had as many adaptations as Dracula, but is certainly worth checking out if you'd like to see the deeper roots of vampire fiction, and (I suppose) gay literature.
Spoiler Alert! From here on out, I'll be discussing the plot. I warned you. Don't say that I didn't. That'll make me cry, maybe.
The story follows Laura, a young woman who has everything: A nice family with a nice house in southeastern Austria. Did I say it was a nice house? I meant it's a castle, perhaps the nicest of houses. One night, Laura dreams of a beautiful mysterious figure inside of her bedroom.
A mere twelve years later, and Laura is now eighteen. She's lonely after the loss of a potential friend, a girl named Bertha, the niece of her father's friend, General Speilsdorf. The only thing Laura is missing in life is a companion. But she isn't alone for long. An accident outside the castle brings Carmilla into Laura's life.
Carmilla and Laura get to know each other, and become friends. They discover that they had the same dream when they were young, and recognize one another from the dream. The two are very good friends, but Carmilla begins to like Laura a lot. Like, a LOT. See where I'm going with this? For some reason, Carmilla doesn't pray at dinner and sleeps pretty much all day? See where I'm going with that?
As the story goes on, women from the nearby village start dying from an unknown cause. Things get oddly suspicious when the two friends pass by a funeral of one of the girls, and Carmilla suddenly becomes upset.
See how Carmilla doesn't want to look at the funeral. Do. You. See. Where. I'm. Going. With. This?
The girls soon come upon an old painting of Countess Mircalla Karnstein, who is believed to be Carmilla's ancestor, from centuries past. Do you see where I'm going with this?
Laura soon has dreams of a large, cat-like monster coming into her bedroom and biting her on the chest, drinking her blood, who then transforms into Carmilla. She soon falls ill, with her begging for her father to never leave her alone after a doctor finds a strange wound on Laura's chest.
The father and daughter meet up with the General in the decaying town of Karnstein, who tells the story of when the General's niece, Bertha, had met a young woman named Millarca. Millarca seems to match Carmilla and Mircalla's descriptions.
So, to get everyone on board here, Carmilla is also Millarca, who is also Mircalla. It's sort of like Dracula and Alucard, but less clever, I suppose.
After Bertha fell ill, similar to Laura, the General pieced together that Bertha's friend was a vampire. He tried to kill the countess with his sword, but the vampire escaped, with Bertha ending up dead of what appeared to be blood loss.
The three decide to hunt down the tomb of Mircalla Karnstein, which had been relocated by a vampire hunter, who slayed most of the vampires in the region. The General and Laura are discovered by Carmilla, who have a brief fight. The vampire escapes.
The three find a fourth party member, Baron Vordenburg, a descendant of the original vampire hunter who destroyed Carmilla's family. The trope of the elderly vampire hunter who descends from other vampire hunters would be used by both Abraham Van Helsing family in the Dracula novel, and Simon Belmont from Konami's Castlevania.
Vordenburg explains that his ancestor had been romantically involved with the original countess before she became a vampire, and took notes that would potentially lead others to finish off the countess and her family off once and for all. The four instruct a group of (what I suppose are) soldiers to find the countess's hidden tomb using the ancestor's old notes. Carmilla's body is destroyed via staking and burning, and having the ashes thrown into a river.
All seems well, but Laura never recovers from her illness...
Happy Halloween!
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