The Nude Vampire [1969] [DVD]

If you are looking for popcorn entertainment forget it! If you need a plot that makes sense to hold your hand then forget it! If you're looking for porn definitely forget it! But if you feel you might enjoy being guided into a labyrinthine dreamscape somewhere between the paintings of Paul Delvaux and Jean Cocteau then you should track this film down. Rollin is one of a handful of film-makers who was able to make films with the logic of dream. Some will be bored and frustrated as the other reviews show and although I would give this film five stars I would also offer caution to those classically minded people who think cinema should follow a particular form or belong to a particular genre or make sense. The Nude Vampire is not a film to be understood. It is, however, a rare and uncompromising vision... Rollin, in most of his best films, works like a poet and if you don't get it then this is okay. He combines elements of classic movie serials with his own obsesseions and dreams. The Nude Vampire might be hard going for someone coming to this kind of cinema for the first time but it might equally be something you find yourself watching many times and becoming more and more enchanted by. In this sense it is very much in the eye of the beholder. But the jarring experimental soundtrack, the beautiful colours, the strange plotting and odd performances all work together to create a film much more than the sum of its parts. Even some of the people who hate this film on first viewing often find themselves returning to it haunted by some of the imagery.

Following the discovery of an oddly mute woman pursued by mysterious animal-masked (à la The Wicker Man) individuals, a bored, bourgeois young man by the name of Pierre adopts a certain degree of interest in his snobbish father's covert nightly activities. His interest and cunning gains him access to the exclusive-entry mansion where the running female had escaped from earlier - inside he discovers groups of masked individuals indulging in strange nocturnal activities (sounds like my local council). The blood/death cult appear to be willingly sacrificing themselves to the very woman that Pierre came across earlier, and despite the fact that she was apparently shot dead before his rapid departure, she now walks around looking rather healthy and all too happy to feast on the life fluid of the recently despatched cult members.

The Blu-ray from Kino, in their collaboration with Redemption, is part of a very welcome series of the director's films, and it goes without saying that it's a notable improvement over older presentations. Having been watching The Nude Vampire since the Redemption VHS days in the nineties it's pleasing to view these films recognising the kind of quality that I believe represents how they were meant to be viewed. Colour is bold, while sharpness is less consistent than the likes of Fascination but detail is pretty good nonetheless. However, I do feel that the transfer reveals limitations with the darker sequences in this earlier effort, not that that is to be considered a criticism in any way. Audio tracks are thoughtfully provided in both native French and English - fans will opt for the former without a doubt. Literate and clear English subtitles are of course present. Extras total around thirty minutes and include a long interview with the director, an introduction, some trailers, and a further interview with Natalie Perrey, who worked on a number of Rollin's films in various capacities, from script writing to acting to editing. The package also contains the same booklet that has made its way into the other Blu-rays from the first wave of releases from Kino. I'd also like to mention that I think the packaging design of these discs is very respectful and finally helps to acknowledge Rollin as the auteur that he really was. All in all, while mainstream viewers may find this film a little too inaccessible for conventional tastes, Rollin fans will want this straight away.

Paul (The Grim Cellar)

Ignore its silly title, this is an early Jean Rollin - from 1969 & his second feature film. It starts out as a kind of avant garde puzzle in the style of Robbe-Grillet - there's a mansion, erotic performances being staged there - or are they for real? - and various different sects, cults & conspiracies being played out. Some characters wander around with big mythical monster masks on their heads as in a Cocteau film. Unfortunately Rollin is not Cocteau, or even Robbe-Grillet, & the film fizzles out with risible dialogue, flat narrative & inept B-movie action sequences (good guys shooting it out against the bad guys etc). The film is quite surreal but the dream-like quality only adds to the film's tendency to lull the viewer to sleep.
The DVD includes a funny filmed interview in which an academic film critic Dr Patricia MacKormick suggests that Rollin's films are feminist parables about subverting the patriarchal family - a theory to which Rollin responds with good-natured bafflement.
Regular horror fans (or sex film fans) will find this film extremely tedious. However, if you are fan of Rollin & Eurotica from this period I would just about recommend Nude Vampire - it does contain good scenes, images and examples of Rollin's style & obsessions - but given the vintage I found it disappointingly uneven.