Definitely see where this fits into the modern vampire landscape puzzle. Whereas book Dracula definitely takes a more backseat approach to tormenting his victims, Carmilla is out here taking tea with them and then mocking their funeral processions. My brother astutely joked that Dracula and Carmilla are two sides of the same shitty coin that is pubescent boys girls in highschool. But you know... vampires.

I also find it fascinating how much love the sapphic community has towards Carmilla despite her very clearly being a predator/murderer of women. I've spoken with several much more well read friends of mine about the matter and it seems to be a mix of genuine lack of cool lesbians to look up to along with the "danger is cool so long as it's fiction" thing that we are all guilty of. I know damned well that I thirsted over the tall Resident Evil vampire lady despite full well knowing she had a torture basement and was a horrible sadist.

My main complaint with the story is that it retreads itself for most of the last 1/3 of its length and repeats more or less what we've already observed but in a more contained manner. Hell, our narrator isn't even present for the staking of Carmilla (to be fair, Carmilla is sleeping in a coffin filled with 7 inches of blood and screams when staked, so props).

Def give it a read, but keep in mind that it does show its age in a few notable ways.