Réquiem Pour Un Vampire
AKA Requiem For A Vampire, Caged Virgins
Directed By Jean Rollin
Released: 1971
Starring: Marie-Pierre Castel, Mireille Dargent, Dominique, and Louise Dhour
Running Time: 95 minutes
Region: 0 PAL
DVD Studio: Encore Films

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Two girls (played by Marie-Pierre Castel and Mireille Dargent) in clown costumes are making a getaway from the police. They manage to escape but their driver is killed. After setting the car on fire and washing off their clown makeup, the girls set out on foot. They hide out in a cemetery for a while. After one of them is nearly buried alive they decide to venture to a nearby castle which just happens to be the home of a coven of vampires. The oldest vampire (played by Philippe Gasté) and his minions (Dominique and Louise Dhour) inform the girls that they must use their feminine charms to bring food (in the form of young men) back to the castle.

Jean Rollin’s fourth vampire film is another weird one. Requiem For A Vampire sports some cool lighting, great sets, and the cinematography by Renan Pollès is superb. The soundtrack is awesome mixing cheesy organs, free jazz compositions, and progressive rock to great effect. What the film doesn’t have is a good editor. Atmospheric is one thing but Requiem is downright longwinded.

The two leads really make the film. Marie-Pierre Castel and Mireille Dargent (Les Démoniaques) are very appealing as the two (practically mute) runaway clown criminals. They’re wide-eyed stares as the vampire bats are drinking their blood is a classic shot that is too adorable to be horrific. Dominique is practically iconic in her cape and silly fangs. It’s a shame her entrance wasn’t as impressive as her unforgettable clock moment in The Shiver Of The Vampires but her presence is always welcome.

Requiem For A Vampire features a bevy of silly and trashy wackiness. Okay, clown outfits aside, what is it with the disgruntled gravedigger? As Mireille Dargent is being "accidentally" buried alive in the cemetery, the gravedigger (some dopey looking French guy) can clearly see that he’s burying someone. So, Rollin fans, can you explain this one away? Is the gravedigger purposefully trying to bury a woman alive? Does this mean that he can’t see her because she never existed in the first place? You make the call!

Along with The Rape Of The Vampire, The Shiver Of The Vampires, this film should separate the diehard Rollin fans from the casual viewer. There are several moments of brilliance surrounded by overlong shots of the two heroines just wandering around. The striking beauty of the two actresses, trashy rape sequences (with victims chained to stone pillars), vampire bat crotch-blood-drinking, and a very cool gothic cemetery just aren’t enough to retain my attention. Geez, what’s wrong with me? Maybe I’m jaded or maybe I’m just burned out on leisurely paced films flitting between the border of art and horror. Either way, I found Requiem For A Vampire to be occasionally breathtaking but nearly impossible to sit through

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DVD Stuff:

Ding! Ding! Ding! Encore Films is the reigning champion of extras. With an introduction by Jean Rollin, Interviews with actors Paul Bisciglia and Louise Dhour, Jean Rollin reading selections from his writings, audio commentary with the director, alternate “clothed” sequences, and a 64 page full color booklet! Whew! Okay, so yeah the film looks excellent in its restored and remastered 16:9 widescreen and the mono sound (in English and French) is pretty good as well. Also, there are subtitles for English and a number of other languages. This version makes all other releases of Requiem obsolete. A must have for Rollin fans.