Harry Kümel describes his film as “a fairy tale for adult adults,” and Nigel Andrews calls it “a modern dress version of the Countess Dracula legend with deafening Freudian overtones.” (Monthly Film Bulletin) Delphine Seyrig plays Countess Bathory, who arrives at a hotel in Ostend and “swans around Marienbad style - ‘Weren't you here forty years ago?' queries the hotel porter....” She takes an interest in a young couple returning from their honeymoon, and recounts to the newlyweds the story of her ancestress, who, it seemed, killed eight hundred virgins so as to preserve her youth and beauty by bathing in their blood. Later that night, Mme. Bathory's companion, Llona Harczy, is herself killed with a razor in the shower, but not before seducing the young husband, Stefan. Stefan is murdered by the Countess who runs off with the bride into the too-fast approaching dawn.