Director: Jean Rollin
Year: 1968
Country: France
Alternate Titles: Le viol du vampire
Genre: Vampire
Plot:
Told in two parts, a group of friends is stranded at the castle of a vampire queen and her sisters, who are believed to be vampires, and the surviving members of the assault are taken in by the vampire queen controlling a series of individuals, hoping to find a cure for vampirism.
Review:
Generally, this was a fairly effective, if overall mismatched, erotic-tinged Gothic vampire effort. The first segment, taking an intriguing enough approach where vampires are treated as more of a psychological mindset due to the vicious actions of the townspeople who are content to keep them confined to the house with crosses staked everywhere, might be short, but it packs a punch. Starting nicely with the introduction to the vampire coven and how they're treated by the locals, with their crosses left everywhere, it sets a fine example to explain why it might be genuine psychosis as to why the villagers believe them to be vampires. With the rest of this explains everything away with the actions of the therapist trying to convince the sisters of their status and the villagers looking to take them out once and for all. Featuring some intriguing atmospheric shots of the village and surrounding woods as well as the fun nudity of the situation, this was a fairly solid outing to start the film.
The second part is where this one falls apart, which is one of the most nonsensical, utterly confusing pieces of cinema constructed. Granted, that's due to behind-the-scenes forces against the film's intentions, but there's little about what's going on here that would make sense regardless of that happening. Events and characters are splashed across the screen for little rhyme or reason or continuity, with several characters who were visibly dead in the first segment coming back in the second half for no reason other than apparently trying to fill a running time. Since it's twice the length of the shorter first half, it would make sense that there would be something here that would make for a coherent argument over what's going on with the mysterious vampire queen, why she's holding court over the others under her control, or what the villagers are doing. Instead, they appear to be holding funerals more than finding cures for what's going on, and with so much of the section devoid of action, explanations, or even interest, this fails drastically to be of any purpose.
Overview: **/5
A misguided if still intriguing vampire project, the idea behind this one provides a solid idea for a series of sleazy Gothic happenings but doesn’t offer much beyond that. Give it a shot if you’re more inclined to this style of European arthouse genre fare, appreciate the sleazy goings-on, or are fans of the creative crew, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment