 Bright Lights Film Journal , after noting that " Gloria Holden in the title role almost singlehandedly redefined the ' 20s movie vamp as an impressive Euro @-@ butch dyke bloodsucker " , draws an implicit comparison between Countess Zaleska 's seeking to cure her vampirism through psychiatry and the former position of mainstream psychiatry of homosexuality as a mental illness ( a view still held by a minority in the profession ) . Zaleska 's cruising the streets of London is seen as parallel to cruising for sex ( although that tends to be a gay male activity ) and as suggesting " society 's image of the lesbian as soulless predator " but the conclusion is that " Holden 's striking , <unk> face and haunting , luminous eyes [ are ] the intoxicating essence of transgressive lesbian power . " 
