Daughters of Fire

The only copy of Daughters of Fire I could find was a low quality VHS rip of this already grainy film which was probably filmed using cheap film stock. As always, I absolutely do feel like a super clever archaeologist uncovering artifacts when I watch a VHS rip of a movie. Though in this case, I do mourn the lack of any higher quality copy available to me. Daughters of Fire is an excellent film with some quality visuals that sadly, the degradation of the VHS rip do not emphasize.

Lesbian couple Ana and Diana go to visit Diana’s childhood home, an eerie estate in Gramado. Diana’s mother is of course, dead. Several unusual characters make themselves known on the estate including Marianne, who works on the estate; Mrs. Dagmar, the groundskeeper who claims she is in contact with the dead including Diana’s mother; and a homeless vagrant who may also be a fallen aristocrat who seeks shelter first on the grounds, then in the house and then has other asks as well. In addition to these unusual characters, eerie events start plaguing both women. Ana in particular starts seeing terrifying things that could not possibly be there… Could they?

Daughters of Fire is a slow film. Much of the good stuff comes in the last twenty minutes. But even the setup, while lacking in scares is both interesting and important. This is a movie that has themes! There’s a Chekov’s gun but it’s a Nazi pistol, evoking Brazil’s troubled past with fleeing Nazis seeing the country as their new home. There’s direct references to settlers and colonizers, especially when discussing Diana’s large family estate. There is also some exploration of current Brazilian society and how they relate to these other themes as well as wealth and sexuality when it comes to Ana and Diana’s relationship. Daughters of Fire is not a series of scary images that is hollow at its centre. This is a movie loaded with meaning, intent and things to say both with its scares as well as in addition to these scares.

The themes are necessary to fill out the film as I do not think Daughters of Fire had the highest budget to work with. This is a shame, because every choice director Walter Hugo Khouri makes is good, intriguing and something he can execute with the means available to him. But god, I would love to see what he could do with even more means. Daughters of Fire really evokes A24-style “elevated” horror in a way that really stands out from most other 70s horror I’ve watched. The film takes its time, crafts an atmosphere and tells a person-focused story capable of succeeding with minimal effects. If nothing else, this film needs a restoration. This really deserves to be seen in a higher quality than the version available to me.

Daughters of Fire fucking rocks. While it evokes numerous other things I’ve seen, almost all good, there’s also something wholly unique about the film. Its depiction of homosexuality feels incredibly progressive and almost matter-of-fact for the time. This slow-burn story has so many ties into Brazilian history, contemporary Brazilian culture and many classic, universal horror themes. Daughters of Fire more than deserves a restoration to be seen at the quality it deserves. But until that happens, go seek it out anyway. Even as a degraded VHS rip, this film’s quality and intelligence still shines through.

Overall rating: 7/10

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