The Rape of the Vampire (1968)
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.
“Crazy people always have a nasty effect on me.”