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The Rape Of The Vampire
AKA Le Viol Du Vampire
Directed By Jean Rollin
Released: 1967
Starring: Solange Pradel, Bernard Letrou, Catharine Deville, and Ursule
Pauly
Running Time: 100 minutes
Region: 0 PAL
DVD Released By Encore Films
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A group of women who believe they are vampires are
living in an old house on the outskirts of a small village. Three young
people show up in order to prove to the ignorant villagers that these
women are not vampires at all and their fears are unfounded. But things go
very wrong when they actually turn out to be vampires and a bloody
altercation with the villagers occurs. The queen of the vampires shows up
and resurrects the slain vampires and attempts to have them join her
fanged army bent on world domination.
The Rape Of The Vampire
is the first feature length film from Jean Rollin (The
Demoniacs,
Lips Of
Blood) and it isn’t exactly light viewing. My first
encounter with this film was a total disaster and I barely managed to
watch the entire thing. The fact that the film was originally a short film
with the second half blatantly tacked on afterwards to make its feature
length didn’t help matters much. Now that I have given many of the
director’s other films a chance, coming back to
The Rape Of The Vampire
was a much more pleasant, though somewhat problematic experience.
The first thing I noticed was the camerawork. It’s kind of shaky and
clumsy at times but always hungry for beauty and able to capture the
minutest details. The black and white compositions are simply
breathtaking. After I got over drooling over the visual elements, the
music tugged at my ear. The film’s score is a combination of free jazz,
library music, and doomsayer organ pieces that perfectly accentuate this
moody film.
While the film looses steam in the second half, it is hard for me to
really slam it. This is an independent art horror film from the late 60s,
what the hell was I expecting? Oh yeah, and it’s from France! The seams
really start to show during some of the film’s violent moments as the
actors come off as clunky and un-choreographed. There are a couple of
fencing and sword fighting scenes that are pretty embarrassing to watch.
How seriously all of this is meant to be taken is anybody's guess. I found
a lot of comedy hidden in here that takes some of the edge off all the
pretension.
I’m glad I returned to this Rollin film after having such a negative
reaction to it the first time around. I still get antsy during the second
half but the poetic ending saves the day. If you’re a horror fan curious
about getting into Jean Rollin then this is absolutely the last film you
should start with. For that, try my favorites
The Grapes
Of Death or
The
Living Dead Girl. If you’ve got a thing for artsy
vampire films that emphasize mood and revel in experimentation then you’ll
pretty much flip the fuck out for
The Rape Of The Vampire.
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DVD Stuff:
Another stellar Jean Rollin release from Encore
Films. Despite the inevitable scratches that come with an independent film
from the 1960s, The Rape Of The Vampire
has been lovingly restored here. As far as extras go, feel free to part
with your old Image release of this film because Encore leaves it dead in
the water. There is an interview with director Jean Rollin, two actor
interviews (Jacqueline Sieger and Alain Yves Beaujor), an interview with
composer Francois Tusques, censored scenes, a trailer for
The Rape
Of The Vampire, and trailers for other Rollin films.
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Links:
Get this DVD from
Xploited Cinema.
Check out
Encore Films for more info.
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Quotes:
Thomas: “Crazy people always have a nasty effect on me.”
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