Harry Kümel

Directing

Harry Kümel

Born 1940-01-27 · Antwerp, Belgium

Harry Kümel (born 27 January 1940) is a Belgian film director. His 1971 vampire feature Daughters of Darkness (Les lèvres rouges; Fr, "The Red Lips"), starring Delphine Seyrig became a cult hit in Europe and the United States. He also directed the film version of Malpertuis (1971), featuring Orson Welles and adapted from the 1943 novel by Jean Ray. He also directed Monsieur Hawarden (1969). From 1969 until the present, Kümel has taught cinema at several film institutes, including The Dutch Film and Television Academy - Amsterdam (NFTA), Institut des Arts de Diffusion - Brussels (IAD), Royal Institute for Theatre, Cinema and Sound - Brussels (RITS), and the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

Acting credits

Janssen & Janssens draaien een film poster
7.0

A documentary celebrating 25 years of flemish subsidised cinema.

Janssen & Janssens draaien een film

1990

Tales of the Uncanny poster
7.0

A detailed look at the history of horror anthology films.

Tales of the Uncanny

2020

Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss poster
7.4

Actor and writer Mark Gatiss embarks on a chilling journey through European horror cinema, from the silent nightmares of German Expressionism in the 1920s to the Belgian lesbian vampires in the 1970s, from the black-gloved killers of Italian bloody giallo cinema to the ghosts of the Spanish Civil War, and finally reveals how Europe's turbulent 20th century forged its ground-breaking horror tradition.

Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss

2012

Daughters of Darkness: Locations of Darkness poster
NR

Director Harry Kümel and writer Pierre Drouot revisit the locations from their classic movie Daughters of Darkness.

Daughters of Darkness: Locations of Darkness

2006

De droomproducenten poster
10.0

Documentary exploring why Belgian television doesn't invest more money in Belgian cinema as is the case in e.g. the netherlands.

De droomproducenten

1984

Malpertuis Archive poster
NR

An archival documentary on the making of Malpertuis featuring Kümel, actor Mathieu Carrière and director of photography Gerry Fisher among others

Malpertuis Archive

2005

Hollywood by Bike poster
7.0

Documentary that looks back at 35 years of Dutch cinema, with Paul Verhoeven and others.

Hollywood by Bike

1993

Forgotten Scares: An In-depth Look at Flemish Horror Cinema poster
6.5

The feature-length documentary "Forgotten Scares" goes back to the birth of Flemish horror in the '70s and shines a bright light on the future of horror in Belgium. The viewer gets a chance to discover long forgotten - and even unfinished - genre gems and learn in-depth info about underrated 'splatter and gore'-fests, post-apocalyptic movies, slasher-films, nazisploitation, women-in-prison and other fantastical Flemish genre benders through the eyes of the directors, producers, composers, principal actors and genre experts. "Forgotten Scares" is illustrated by rare behind the scene footage, classic film scenes, production stills, promotional art and even never before seen videos out of the vaults of the filmmakers.

Forgotten Scares: An In-depth Look at Flemish Horror Cinema

2017

Orson Welles Uncut poster
NR

Malpertuis featurette on the casting of Welles, including rare outtakes of the actor

Orson Welles Uncut

2005

Paradise Lost poster
4.7

The Mayor of a small Flemish town is determined at all costs to save a unique bird sanctuary from a ruthless businessman who advocates a housing development on the site. The main story, though, centres on a childhood trauma that unites the two men and a dark femme fatale whom one desires and the other attempts to manipulate.

Paradise Lost

1978

Het Beest poster
3.0

When he finds out that his company has expropriated his own mother, a successful young manager gets deeply upset. Money and power now have a different meaning. He needs to struggle against his own self and stake everything in order to reorganize true values in his life. His career is at stake. When his mother dies in the pension she's been put, his point of limit is reached. He feels responsible and takes revenge through terrorist actions. The beast explodes.

Het Beest

1982

Anna the Maid poster
NR

Short film by Harry Kümel based upon a poem by Jean Cocteau.

Anna the Maid

1958

Malpertuis Revisited poster
NR

Harry Kümel revisits locations from Malpertuis

Malpertuis Revisited

2005

Behind the camera

Daughters of Darkness poster
6.2

Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

Daughters of Darkness

1971

Daughters of Darkness poster
6.2

Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

Daughters of Darkness

1971

My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga & Julie poster
4.6

Susan has chosen a hermit's life on a dilapidated farm over the shallowness of her previous jet set modeling life. When Anton, a hunky courier, comes along to pick her up for an assignment on the French Riviera, he's so fascinated by Susan's odd assortment of house guests that he decides to stay with them for a couple of days.

My Nights with Susan, Sandra, Olga & Julie

1975

Malpertuis poster
6.4

A young sailor finds himself trapped in the labyrinthine mansion of his occultist uncle, along with a number of eccentric and mysterious relatives who all seem to be harboring a dark secret.

Malpertuis

1972

Eline Vere poster
6.3

This melodramatic film follows Eline Vere, as she attempts to break free from the confines of her narrow existence in The Hague through three tumultuous and ultimately disastrous courtships. Adaptation of Louis Couperus' novel Eline Vere.

Eline Vere

1991

Europe - 99euro-films 2 poster
4.0

Second part of a short film project, where every single short film is only allowed to cost 99 Euros. This time there are not only German filmmakers, but directors from all over Europe involved...

Europe - 99euro-films 2

2003

Europe - 99euro-films 2 poster
4.0

Second part of a short film project, where every single short film is only allowed to cost 99 Euros. This time there are not only German filmmakers, but directors from all over Europe involved...

Europe - 99euro-films 2

2003

The Secrets of Love: Three Rakish Tales poster
5.6

Three erotic stories from classic writers Marguerite de Navarre, Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne and Guy de Maupassant.

The Secrets of Love: Three Rakish Tales

1986

Monsieur Hawarden poster
6.4

A woman disguises herself as a man to avoid prosecution for murdering her lover fifteen years ago. She is the last living member of a wealthy Vienna family, and has spent the years after the murder traveling Europe with her female servant. Her travels provide her with an anonymous cloak that allows her freedom of movement but little peace of mind. Nearing middle age, the guilt and weariness of an empty life has her contemplating suicide as the only way out of her dilemma.

Monsieur Hawarden

1968

The Arrival of Joachim Stiller poster
6.5

An Antwerp journalist finds his daily life increasingly disrupted by unexplained phenomena, such as an authentic letter from 1919 that refers to an event taking place at a much later date. Because these disturbances are consistently linked to the name “Joachim Stiller,” the journalist becomes obsessed with it. The resolution, which is closely tied to his traumatic experiences from the Second World War, takes place with a psychiatrist—and later at an abandoned railway station in an Antwerp suburb. Interwoven with this is a subplot about an Antwerp art dealer who believes he can become rich through a new form of painting. To achieve this, he takes a mentally disabled artist hostage. The narrative also follows various romantic entanglements involving the journalist, which ultimately lead to his happy experience of fatherhood.

The Arrival of Joachim Stiller

1976

The Arrival of Joachim Stiller poster
6.5

An Antwerp journalist finds his daily life increasingly disrupted by unexplained phenomena, such as an authentic letter from 1919 that refers to an event taking place at a much later date. Because these disturbances are consistently linked to the name “Joachim Stiller,” the journalist becomes obsessed with it. The resolution, which is closely tied to his traumatic experiences from the Second World War, takes place with a psychiatrist—and later at an abandoned railway station in an Antwerp suburb. Interwoven with this is a subplot about an Antwerp art dealer who believes he can become rich through a new form of painting. To achieve this, he takes a mentally disabled artist hostage. The narrative also follows various romantic entanglements involving the journalist, which ultimately lead to his happy experience of fatherhood.

The Arrival of Joachim Stiller

1976

The White Slave poster
4.3

A man visits his girlfriend in Amsterdam after the war. He soon finds himself, for inexplicable reasons, in a country house where two women as 'white slaves' have to learn all kinds of erotic skills, and where a private detective, who has sold his own wife to an Arab in Tangier, comes to investigate.

The White Slave

1969

Paradise Lost poster
4.7

The Mayor of a small Flemish town is determined at all costs to save a unique bird sanctuary from a ruthless businessman who advocates a housing development on the site. The main story, though, centres on a childhood trauma that unites the two men and a dark femme fatale whom one desires and the other attempts to manipulate.

Paradise Lost

1978

Paradise Lost poster
4.7

The Mayor of a small Flemish town is determined at all costs to save a unique bird sanctuary from a ruthless businessman who advocates a housing development on the site. The main story, though, centres on a childhood trauma that unites the two men and a dark femme fatale whom one desires and the other attempts to manipulate.

Paradise Lost

1978

The Warden of the Tomb poster
6.8

An nobleman question an aged grave warden, whose sickness seems to be due to the ghosts who haunt his workplace.

The Warden of the Tomb

1965

The Warden of the Tomb poster
6.8

An nobleman question an aged grave warden, whose sickness seems to be due to the ghosts who haunt his workplace.

The Warden of the Tomb

1965

Josef von Sternberg, A Retrospective poster
9.0

An interview with film director Josef von Sternberg, produced for Belgium television.

Josef von Sternberg, A Retrospective

1969

Josef von Sternberg, A Retrospective poster
9.0

An interview with film director Josef von Sternberg, produced for Belgium television.

Josef von Sternberg, A Retrospective

1969

Anna the Maid poster
NR

Short film by Harry Kümel based upon a poem by Jean Cocteau.

Anna the Maid

1958

Anna the Maid poster
NR

Short film by Harry Kümel based upon a poem by Jean Cocteau.

Anna the Maid

1958

Aether poster
5.5

A woman is picking up her boyfriend at his flat as suddenly a red ball appears... .

Aether

1960

Aether poster
5.5

A woman is picking up her boyfriend at his flat as suddenly a red ball appears... .

Aether

1960