Tweet
Released by: Kino-Lorber/Redemption
Released on: 5/29/2012
Realisation: Jean Rollin
Cast: Marie-Pierre Castel, Mireille Dargent, Philippe Gaste, Louise Dhour, Dominique Toussaint
Year: 1973
Purchase from Amazon
The Movie:
Jean Rollin was a different kind of director and his favorite of his works, Requiem for a Vampire, is a different kind of film. Those unfamiliar with Rollin's library to some degree may not want to make this one their first Rollin picture, as it could wrongly turn them away from his genius, thus leaving them deprived of some fascinating pieces. Those familiar with the man's stuff are probably checking this review to read someone's opinion as to how it looks compared to the DVD versions of Requiem. If you're one of the latter, you may just want to pop on down to the Video/Audio/Extras section to see what the Blu-ray version has to offer. If you're one of the former, you may do better starting with Fascination or The Shiver of the Vampires before plunging into this one. And to readers in the middle, the ones just getting into Rollin's library, here are a layman's thoughts on the film.
The basic story, and it is a pretty basic story, is about two girls on the run for whatever reason, who find themselves drawn to a castle after being hypnotized/mesmerized by some big bats they stumble upon in the woods. The bats bite them and off they go. Once at the castle, which is pretty much ruins, they learn they are not alone and the inhabitants are vampires. The fact that they are virgins does not go unnoticed by the vampires, particularly the head of the bunch, who has plans on making the girls part of his bloodline. The ritual is scheduled, and the girls agree to lose their virginity before the vampires turn them into bloodthirsty leeches, but when it comes right down to doing the deed, the girls do not see eye to eye on their shared situation. One seems to be accepting of her impending fate, while the other girl is defiant and takes action to prevent being forced into a life of servitude. The opposing viewpoints cause a rift in their relationship, which comes to a head rather quickly and resolves itself just as quickly, resulting in an end that kind of fizzles rather than sizzles.
According to Rollin in the introduction, the movie took him one night to write. Based on how the dialogue is structured, specifically in the first two-thirds of the movie (or so it seemed) it's not beyond believability that his claim is true. There are barely ten sentences in the first forty or so minutes and even when the dialogue offers more than just a name being exclaimed, the story nearly stays void of any substantial periods of dialogue. Add to that some very long periods of inactivity and a lack of any scares at all, the movie could be considered tedious by some and downright boring by others. But what Rollin does with the visuals, which is so often the case with his movies, makes this film a difficult one to take your eyes off of. And we're not talking visuals in the category of special effects, because what special effects are actually used look pretty lame. Some fake bats biting people (one female victim has a bat poised on her naked crotch, apparently drinking happily) and look very much like fake bats; bad stage blood barely shows as marks from being bitten; real amateur looking. But Jean Rollin didn't need all that flash and flare in the visual effects department. He instead used the natural visuals at his disposal to make an impact.
The ruins are amazing and he exploits them to the fullest, at times using interesting camera positions, and the cemeteries used (maybe it was only one) are old, atmospheric, and creepy. Rollin seemed to have a knack for making locations seem more like characters than a backdrop, and there are plenty of great examples of this throughout this film. Also prevalent are seemingly out-of-place props such as a grand piano used outside and at night during the vampire ritual towards the end, or the clown costumes the female leads first appear in. Sometimes these things are real head scratching moments, but you know they meant something to the director and were not just random acts of lunacy. Part of the fun is trying to analyze it upon repeat viewing.
Aside from the landscapes and locations being engrossing, the movie has plenty of sleazy elements to it, only adding to the allure of the picture. There's a little lesbianism, a lot of full frontal female nudity, and most notably a prolonged scene in the dungeon with women being molested by fat and hairy men. The notion that the girls playing the lead roles look way too young to appear naked on camera may turn off some people, but they were in their early 20s according to their limited biographies found online so watch it guilt free. Fans of The Shiver of the Vampires should enjoy seeing the lesbian vampire return as another vampire, although she doesn't employ the same creepy modes of entering the scene like she does in Shiver. One other item to note is the music. Like the visual aspect, the music plays a big role and ranges back and forth between a number of different types of music, bringing a different feel to the film than if it had a more traditional type of score.
So take this advice if you are just coming into the world of Jean Rollin: make sure you watch a few of his other films first or you may get a bit discouraged by the pot-boiler elements of Requiem. You'll probably be glad you did, and you'll have already built up a bit of an understanding of his style. This one is a great example of how he could create what this viewer considers to be photographs with motion.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The transfer to Blu-ray is a 1080p, AVC-encoded one with a ratio of 1.66:1 and it looks awesome. The colors are pretty vibrant as can be seen from the opening scene with the colorful clown makeup and costumes to the end scene with lots of red lighting. A clear picture delivers nice detail, and the black levels look as deep as can be. No issues with compression were noticed. There are minor flecks of white throughout, but not really a distraction since the movie looks so nice. It's a huge upgrade from the 2009 Redemption DVD release, and miles nicer than the way it looks on the Something Weird Video disc under the alternate title Caged Virgins (which incidentally is 20 minutes shorter than this newest version). The audio is handled by two 2.0 Dolby tracks: one in French (optional English subtitles) and the other dubbed English. The English track sounds fine and does its job well, and with the normal pops and hissing that can be expected from an older low-budget movie. The music sounds great and is never overpowering. No authoring issues were noticed.
For extras, the Blu-ray mostly has interviews. It starts with a brief introduction by the director, filmed about 10 years ago. Rollin gives a brief few pieces of info while some silent dude in a mask sits next to him the whole time holding a skull. “The Shiver of a Requiem†is an 18-minute featurette which interviews Natalie Perrey and Jean-Noel Delamarre, two people who worked with Rollin throughout his career. They share some stories (one of which involves Interpol questioning them about a bullet hole-ridden car in the woods) and had an obvious admiration for the director. Another interview is on the disc, ported over from a previous DVD release is with actress Louise Dhour, who plays the piano during the vampire initiation, and she's a real hoot. It runs about 10 minutes long, and she tells all kinds of stories about her career. Three trailers are available: a French one, and English one, and one for Harry Novak's version Caged Virgins. Novak's company makes it look like a softcore romp and it is totally misleading. Also included, trailers for all the other Rollin movies the distributor has available: The Nude Vampire, The Shiver of the Vampires, The Iron Rose, Lips of Blood, Fascination, The Rape of the Vampire, and The Demoniacs. And finally, Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas delivers another great essay in the form of a 16-page booklet.
The Final Word:
A Blu-ray well worth the upgrade, Requiem for the Vampire looks wonderful and is an almost hypnotic movie. Kino/Redemption does a fantastic job with this release and it's a great addition to their “The Cinema of Jean Rollin†series. Get it while you can.
