A 2016 film,
Blood of the Tribades follows a conflict between male and female vampires in the hidden village of Bathory. The male vampire clergy, who have long struggled with the women over power, have been inflicted by a mysterious disease which they blame on others. Because of this, they killed all other male vampires, and exiled most of the women, slaughtering any others who they deem sinners. The lesbian vampire couple Élisabeth and Fantine, along with the other female vampires exiled from Bathory, seek to rediscover their past while preserving what is left before Bathor, the vampires' god, is prophesied to return and judge them all.
Tropes of the Tribades:
- Always Identical Twins: Darvulia and Erzsi, the exiled female vampires' twin healers, are completely identical. They're played by actual identical twins Savana and Serena Petruzello.
- Ambiguously Gay: The two female vampires in the lake may be a couple, or just playing as they skinny dip. It's never confirmed either way.
- Arc Words: "The blood is the life". It appears to be a religious phrase for the vampires, denoting their equivalent of communion, as the blood of Bathor is believed to have provided their eternal life.
- As the Good Book Says...: The Bible is quoted right at the beginning (from Genesis, appropriately enough), and later several times by the priests of Bathor to back up their beliefs (i.e. traditional gender roles, homophobia).
- Bad Boss: Grando, head of the priests, tortures those who fail him by making them walk on broken glass.
- Bathtub Scene: Among the earliest scenes is a female vampire bathing in the tub, who's then killed by a male priest (though not before we see her bare breasts).
- Bury Your Gays: The priests of Bathor are violently homophobic, killing everyone they believe to be lesbians. Both some woman playing in the lake together naked (who may be involved, though it's left unclear), along with Élisabeth and Fantine, a definite lesbian couple, are killed by them.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Grando, the head of the vampire priests, has those who fail him or are supposed "sinners" tortured brutally (sometimes to death).
- Corrupt Church: The religion of Bathor has become a homophobic, patriarchal sect which condemns lesbian vampires and the priesthood has been fatally purging people who they blame for a disease afflicting them. Many of the females have been banished already, with all other male vampires it's stated they killed.
- Covert Pervert: The vampire priests despise the lesbian vampires but they're visibly aroused by them.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: A vampire priest who realized the blood of Bathor actually makes them sick (it's their holy sacrament) and said so is whipped to death with roses, bleeding out from the wounds the thorns caused.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: The religion of Bathor seems to be a vampire Christianity, with actual quotes from the Bible on gender roles, an X symbol resembling the St. Andrew's cross, plus essentially communion. Bathor is clearly a Christ-like figure whom they prophesy will come again.
- Daywalking Vampire: None of the vampires are harmed by sunlight, walking around all the time in daytime. Most of the film is set during the day actually.
- Deconstructed Trope: Lesbian vampires. Here, they are portrayed positively, and violently persecuted by the male priesthood of their religion for being "abominations", never shown as predatory or evil.
- Divine Race Lift: In-Universe, the priests of Bathor refer to him as male repeatedly. However, the female vampires do the opposite. The latter are right-she's a woman.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The religion of Bathor is pretty clearly supposed to parallel Christianity, although specifically versions that have persecuted queer people and oppressed women, but also controversies over how much has been corrupted over time (or even if there are divinely-given scriptures at all). Plus of course the homophobia and misogyny that has been supported with religion generally.
- Dying Race: The priests of Bathor are convinced vampires are dying out, which they blame on lesbianism among the women (they reproduce sexually). From what's shown in the film however, it seems more a result of their oppression killing or exiling most other vampires, with only a small number of vampire women actually shown as being lesbians. Of course, they won't blame themselves for it.
- The Exile: Most of the female vampires have been banished by the priests of Bathor for disobeying their rules.
- Eye Scream: Grando fatally tortures members of his own cult with the thorns of a rose in order to keep them in line - one unfortunate follower gets his eyeballs sliced with thorns.
- Fanservice Extra: A lot of minor characters are seen partially or wholly nude, starting with a female vampire who's shown topless while bathing, and a pair playfully splashing each other in a lake. However, we also see a number of men show full frontal nudity. In a lot of these cases though it veers into fan disservice as they're killed or tortured by other people.
- Finishing Each Other's Sentences: The twins Darvulia and Erzsi always do this. Everything they say is alternating sentences.
- The Fog of Ages: The vampires get this (it's even referred to as "the fog"), having great difficulty remembering things which took place long ago. Due to this, they've forgotten what their original religious doctrines were, allowing it to get corrupted over time.
- Genre Throwback: The producers of the film specifically modeled it on lesbian vampire movies in the 1970s, but with a more sympathetic portrayal (as they're the good guys).
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Discussed when the priests of Bathor come upon Élisabeth and Fantine lying together partially nude after they've had sex. They call the pair "abominations" but Élisabeth says she can tell they're also turned on by seeing it, condemning this as hypocrites. None of them even try to deny it.
- The Heretic: Many vampires are persecuted by the priests for violating their doctrines, such as by drinking blood that isn't Bathor's, letting others feed on it, or revealing that the cause of their disease is the blood of Bathor.
- Heteronormative Crusader: The priests of Bathor condemn homosexuality (or more specifically, lesbianism), and kill lesbian vampires for their "abominations".
- High Priest: Grando is the leader of the priests. He's a cruel fanatic who has no compunction with killing or exiling "sinners", nor torturing his priests if any fail him.
- Homophobic Hate Crime: The priests kill two women in the lake who are nude and splashing each other. Although not explicitly a couple, it's really clear the mere suspicion they are is the motive. Later Élisabeth and Fantine, a lesbian couple, are discovered together by them. They're murdered as a result too. Even the film title references it: "tribade" is an old term for lesbian.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: The priests of Bathor, who are vampires, kill other vampires who they deem sinners and blame for the disease that infects them.
- Hypocrite: Élisabeth condemns the priests of Bathor for being this, since although they condemn her for "abomination" by having sex with a woman, they're also turned on by this (none of them denies the fact).
- Lesbian Vampire: The film is meant to be a deconstruction: it centers around a conflict between lesbian vampires and a patriarchal vampire cult, with the former being the more sympathetic characters.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Élisabeth and Fantine, the two lesbian vampires who are explicit, have very feminine looks. The other two who might be a couple do too.
- Male Frontal Nudity: A number of male vampires are shown entirely nude from the front (or at least bottomless in one case). The camera lingers somewhat over their genitals sometimes in fact.
- Meaningful Name: The film is set in a village called Bathory, which is inhabited entirely by vampires and was founded by a vampire called Bathor. Both the village and its founder are meant to sound like Elizabeth Bathory
, a real-life Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer whose story became attached to vampire folklore. This foreshadows a plot twist at the end of the movie: the male-dominated cult of Bathor keep referring to their savior with male pronouns, but she turns out to actually be a woman. In a more minor case, the credits reveal that a minor character who is killed while bathing is named Bathsheba, and she is one of a few vampires with Biblical names involved in a vampire cult that has an obvious similarity to Christianity. - The Medic: Darvulia and Erzsi are healers for the exiled female vampires, though everything from what can be seen is treated by giving them blood.
- Medieval Stasis: The village of Bathory, which is entirely vampires, remain living in a medieval-like society. One of the female exiles complains of this, saying they refused to change and bring in new things. It seems to be one reason some of them were exiled, as they wanted such change.
- Ms. Fanservice: Élisabeth and Fantine, the two lesbian vampires, appear partially or wholly nude multiple times, along with clearly having (non-explicit) sex.
- No Woman's Land: The priests of Bathor believe in strict patriarchy, with women having a duty to provide children and not possessing any other rights. Any who defy them are exiled or killed, as they deem their sins the cause of a disease afflicting the priests.
- Our Vampires Are Different: They can walk in the sun with no problem, appear to be killed with very ordinary means (here, crossbow bolts), can feed on other vampires, and reproduce sexually with their own kind. Also, none appears to feed on humans at all (in fact, we never see humans period) or even animals. However, they still live for centuries. They appear to be stronger than humans, but don't have any special weaknesses. It's unclear exactly how they were all first made, or if the vampires can turn a human.
- The Purge: The priests of Bathor are killing all lesbian vampires and others deemed sinners, whom they blame as the cause of a disease that the priests have. It's stated they've already killed all male vampires, and have exiled most of the females.
- Queer Romance: Élisabeth and Fantine's centuries-old relationship forms the center of the film, with other same-sex relationships between woman also being implied or mentioned.
- Religious Vampire: Most of the vampires seem to be religious, having a religion based on Bathor, a Christ-like figure whom they believe will come again.
- Second Coming: The vampires' religion teaches that Bathor, who's sort of their Christ figure, will one day come again. In the finale, she does.
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: The priests preach that everything sexual except for straight sex between married couples is wrong. However, when they come upon Élisabeth and Fantine (the lesbian vampire couple) after they've had sex, they pause to stare at them rather than kill the pair immediately. Élisabeth sees and accuses them of being hypocrites who are turned on by them. It seems to be true, given the above, but they kill them both after this.
- Sinister Minister: Grando, the vampire priest, is a vicious fanatic who hunts lesbian vampires both for homophobia and judging them to be the cause of the plague. Also, like the rest of his priests, he's visibly turned on by the thought of two females getting intimate, which makes him a hypocrite too.
- Skinny Dipping: Two of the female vampires go into a lake naked, to swim or maybe more.
- Straw Misogynist: The priests of Bathor are strictly patriarchal (and especially loathe lesbians), exiling most of the women for not following their dictates on gender norms or other rules.
- The Theocracy: Although it's not explicitly stated, the priests pretty clearly rule Bathory.
- Together in Death: Élisabeth and Fantine, after they're murdered by the priests of Bathor, lie together there on the floor. Although tragic, it would have doubtless been their wish in the end.
- Twin Telepathy: Although not stated, twins Darvulia and Erzsi seem to have it, as they finish every sentence the other makes, knowing what they will say unfailingly.
- Twofer Token Minority: All of the vampires are white except for a single woman who's East Asian, the twins and Bathor, who's revealed as a black woman right before the end.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Some of the plot threads introduced in the film are completely unexplained.
- What is the blood of Bathor exactly? If it's stored blood from Bathor, it seems like that couldn't last this long.
- Why does it sicken the priests?
- Would Hurt a Child: When the priests see the baby of the woman they just killed is a girl, they leave her to die.
