Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Lips of Blood (The Cinema of Jean Rollin)
Collapse
-
- Published: 02-12-2012, 11:00 AM
- 3 comments
X
Collapse
-
Lips of Blood (The Cinema of Jean Rollin)
Released by: Kino Lorber/Redemption Films
Released on: 1/24/2012
Réalisation: Jean Rollin
Cast: Jean-Loup Philippe, Annie Belle, Catherine & Marie-Pierre Castel, Natalie Perrey, Serge Rollin
Year: 1975
Purchase from Amazon
The Movie:
Number four in Redemption's “The Cinema of Jean Rollin†Blu-ray series, Lips of Blood tells the tale of Frederic (Jean-Loup Philippe), a man in his 30s who never realized he was looking for something. Attending some sort of party for the launch of a new fragrance with his mother (Natalie Perrey), one particular piece of advertising utilizing some old ruins catches Frederic's eyes. He is suddenly thrown into a repressed childhood memory, one that takes place at the ruins and involves a young woman whom he fell in love with instantly, at the ripe of age of twelve. As a boy (played by Jean Rollin's son Serge) he meets her in the night and gives her a toy, professes his love to her, and then takes off to be with his mother, never seeing her again. Fast forward twenty years later and the single photograph of the ruins puts him on an obsessive path to find them. It's also a very dangerous path, as it appears someone doesn't want him to find the ruins.
After some perseverance, and the appearance of the girl he loves who tips him off, he finds the ruins. But in nosing around he inadvertently releases four vampires from their entombment, who in turn seem to be protecting the man with the ultra-perm from whatever people are trying to keep him from discovering the truth about the girl and what happened to her. When he finally does find the truth, it's from a source he doesn't expect. He's being told to do something he doesn't want to, and must make a decision as to where his loyalty lies.
At its core this is a love story. Boy meets girl; boy falls in love with girl; boy goes on a mission to find the girl. But in the true fashion of a Jean Rollin picture, it's all about the visual side of things. Although not as surreal as say The Shiver of the Vampires, Rollin still throws in some telltale signatures found in his other works. Long, flowing, and see through vampire outfits, wonderfully copious amounts of gorgeous female nudity, an amazing location, long takes, and really interesting camera movements. Fascinating castle ruins, run-down buildings, and some beach action make for some great settings. The man had a wonderful eye for what makes an interesting shot, and he exploited that to his fullest potential.
Unlike the aforementioned Shiver, and also Fascination (the only other Rollin movies this viewer has seen up to this point), Lips of Blood seems to be less symbolic and more of a straight-up story, with only one main character rather than numerous ones. It's a lot easier to follow than the other two, and it moves along at a quicker pace as well. Absent is the lesbianism, but there's plenty of vampire action to go around, and two of the four vampire ladies are pretty much naked for their duration of screen time. Heck there's even some female masturbation thrown in for good measure. It's pretty tough to complain about that.
Atmospheric, gothic, and quite eerie at times, Lips of Blood should give horror movie lovers something to talk about. This one feels less like arthouse fare and more like a Hammer movie, giving it a different feel that the other mentioned Rollin films, but it is no less entertaining. From start to finish, there's always something interesting going on or something appealing to look at.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino/Redempion do a fine job giving the movie its high-definition debut, with a 1080p AVC encoded image, and a 1:66:1 aspect ratio. Good detail, the colors look pretty solid, although not the kind to hit you over the head, and the blacks seem deep and consistent. There are white flecks through out, but they aren't distracting and given the age and low-budget roots of the film, it's totally forgivable. There seems to be no edge enhancement or DNR, and there's plenty of what looks like natural grain to behold. Missing are artifacts or aliasing. No apparent authoring issues to mention. The audio is an LPCM 2.0 French language track with easy to read English subtitles. The only complaint is the volume seems louder than the average, but once you find a level that agrees with you, the balance seems to be correct. A little age is apparent in the sound, but it does its job just fine.
For supplements, there's a short introduction by the director, and he addresses some troubles with the filming and is pretty candid about his thoughts on the finished product. Also to be found is a ten-minute or so interview with Rollin script-girl Natalie Perrey, who plays the mother in the movie. The interview is in French with English subtitles, and she speaks of her experiences on the film and with the director, and her relationship with his son, whom she shared lodging with during the shoot. She smokes the entire time she talks. HD trailers for other films from the series are also present, and as with the others releases, a 20-page booklet by Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog, is included.
The Final Word:
This writer can't compare this film to anymore than two Rollin films at this point, but Lips of Blood is every bit as entertaining and interesting as the others. Kino/Redemption has done a great job with these movies, and here's to hoping more are in the works.
-
#1Ryan KBrock LandersFind all postsView Profile02-14-2012, 01:42 AMEditing a commentThanks for the reviews, Todd. Lips of Blood looks great on Blu. I already own the 3 disc Encore set but ordered this anyway since it's my favourite Rollin movie, it was only $15, and I needed to see Screenshot #5 in 1080P. Beatrice Harnois!
-
#2Todd JordanSmut is good.Find all postsView Profile02-14-2012, 10:16 AMEditing a commentThanks Ryan. Yeah it looks nice and so does the lady in that picture. Ian did the screen grabs, and I'm glad he snagged the one with the movie poster. I totally forgot to mention Frederic sits in a theater watching The Shiver of the Vampires.
-
#3Randy GSenior MemberFind all postsView Profile02-18-2012, 05:34 AMEditing a commentLooks great, tried to order this from an Amazon dealer and it was already out of stock!
Posting comments is disabled. -
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (272)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4162)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2513)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (300)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (497)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: February 22nd, 2022.
Director: Gianfranco Parolini
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Palance
Year: 1976
Purchase From Amazon
God’s Gun – Movie Review:
Directed by Gianfranco Parolini in 1976, quite late in the spaghetti western boom years, God's Gun (Diamante Lobo in Italy) introduces us to a bad, bad man named Sam Clayton (Jack Palance) who, along with his gang of equally bad, bad men, start wreaking...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:10 PM -
-
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: October 8th, 2019.
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Christopher Lee, Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo, Gaia Germani
Year: 1968
Purchase From Amazon
Hercules In The Haunted World – Movie Review:
Directed by Mario Bava in 1961 and featuring a screenplay by Bava (and Sandro Continenza, Francesco Prosperi and Duccio Tessari), Hercules In The Haunted World (also known as Hercules At The Center Of The Earth and...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 12:08 PM -
-
Released by: Cinématographe
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jack Nicholson
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, John Belushi
Year: 1978
Purchase From Amazon
Goin’ South – Movie Review:
Made at the height of his career as an actor, 1978’s ‘Goin’ South’ sees Jack Nicholson once again in the director’s chair, seven years after his directorial debut, ‘Drive, He Said,’ failed to set the...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:29 AM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: April 20th, 2024.
Director: Noburo Nakamura
Cast: Miyuki Kuwano, Mikijiro Hira
Year: 1964
Purchase From Amazon
The Shape Of Night – Movie Review:
Directed by Noburo Nakamura for Shochiko in 1964, ‘The Shape Of Night’ follows a young woman named Yoshie Nomoto (Miyuki Kuwano). In the opening scene, she’s working as a streetwalker on the outskirts of town and soon enough, she’s picked...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:26 AM -
-
Released by: Film Masters
Released on: April 23rd, 2024.
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Cast: Richard Carlson, Juli Reding, Lugene Sanders, Susan Gordon
Year: 1963
Purchase From Amazon
Tormented – Movie Review:
The late Bert I. Gordon’s 1963 horror film, ‘Tormented,’ is an effectively spooky ghost story made with an obviously low budget but no less effective for it.
The story revolves around a professional piano player...-
Channel: Movies
04-17-2024, 10:19 AM -
-
Released by: Grindhouse Releasing
Released on: March 12th, 2024.
Director: William Grefé
Cast: William Shatner, Jennifer Bishop, Ruth Roman, Harold Sakata
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Impulse – Movie Review:
Directed by the one and only William Grefé, 1974’s Impulse is one of those rare films that allows you to witness what it would be like if a really sweaty William Shatner got mad at a lady carrying balloons. Before that...-
Channel: Movies
04-15-2024, 01:20 PM -