Change Your Image
ragnarok2001
Reviews
La morte vivante (1982)
Lots of blood, lots of screaming, not nearly enough flesh!
OK, a trawl through my past user comments will reveal that I am really interested in this genre of movies for purely purient interest. Having said that, I do know a good film when I see one. While Holywood rarely produces these, neither does Jean Rollin.
I simply cannot understand how some people can give films such as these high marks. Different strokes obviously. To be fair, this is the best produced Rollin film (out of three) that I have seen, but the others were pretty bad, so that is no commendation. Can bad acting, sloppy plotting and woeful gore effects really be that easily ignored?
The story revolves around a girl brought back from the dead who needs blood to sustain herself, her childhood friend's efforts to meet her need, and a French-American's efforts to expose what is going on. The story is threadbare and doesn't go anywhere. Everyone but the vampire girl bleed profusely by the film's end, but to no effect. Little horror, only litres of fake blood and latex gore.
Worst of all, there is little nudity or sex action to compensate. The opportunity of a lesbian relationship (de rigueur I would have thought!) between the vampire and her girlfriend is not realised, and there is only one sex scene. Isn't this the reason thats these films are made?!? I can think of no other. The other Rollin films I have seen (earlier than this one) are worse overall, but manage to compensate by some spirited flesh action.
And have I mentioned the screaming that occurs throughout the film? It's a wonder my neighbours haven't called the police.
So to those who rate this film highly, purporting it to be some kind of arty French tour de force: I have seen films which are the real thing, and it is an insult to competant French directors to make any comparison with Rollin.
Vampyres (1974)
Horny naked vampyre lesbians rule, but tighter plots please!
One day I will have to sit down & write my plot synopsis for my ideal vampire film. Vampyres has elements of that ideal, but fails to hit the proverbial nail on its head.
As has been outlined in other comments, this begins with two lesbians being shot in coitus by an unknown murderer. Flash forward (or back one reviewer has suggested) to a young couple camping on the grounds of an abandoned castle, and the "man-fatale" being accosted by a beautiful hitch hiker on the road and brought to the castle to be seduced - and sucked in more ways than one!
It is revealed that the gorgeous and shapely hitch hiker has a blonde lover, and that they are in fact the two women shot at the film's outset. They "process" a number of other men through the castle, seducing them then sucking then dry, but our leading man is kept alive to serve as a nightly snack. Things eventually get out of hand and the two innocent campers bleed fatally, though our leading man gets away.
One thing that annoys me is sloppy plots. This film is better than some of its Continental cousins (think Jean Rollin or Jess Franco), but there are still too many things left dangling. After developing the characters of the campers throughout the film, they just end up as vampire fodder. And don't the police ever wonder why the young men showing up in frequent car crashes are naked and slashed with knife wounds?
Although gory at times, the film is hardly scary. One annoying feature is what seems to be suspense "build-up" music which is pointless since nothing suspenseful happens.
On the plus side are the two leading vampire ladies, played by the busty brunette Marianne Morris, and blonde Playmate Anuluka (must track down that 1973 issue!), both 24 at the time! They manage to squeeze in enough nudity and sex scenes, and the girl-girl ones are especially good, though brief. And I do love to see a gorgeous naked babe slurp blood, which they do to good effect! The female camper, played by ex-Doctor Who girl Sally Faulkner, even gets bare, though that scene leads nowhere.
Another plus is that even though the male lead eventually escapes, the vampires get away with it. I HATE films where justice is done by blundering males rescuing their women folks from evil.
To tie up the plot more tightly I would have liked to see the female camper initiated into the vampyre sisterhood, do in her husband, have a naked romp with her sisters, then all three of them kill and drain the dopey leading male. It was such a shame to see her disposed of, especially when the film contained hints that things could have turned out differently. A more unambiguous victory for evil seduction! Hmmm, maybe I should write a screenplay?!
Les démoniaques (1974)
Jean Rollin's tribute to Ed Wood?
Dear oh dear. It might be easy to take cheap swipes at M. Rollin, but this looks likes such an amateurish effort. Terrible acting, contrived and sloppy action, meandering plot, cheap props. I hate to twist the knife, but it certainly breathes new life into the expression "Z-grade".
The video blurb looked so promising - two girls raped by wreckers, take refuge in an abandoned abbey where they make a pact with the Devil to seek revenge. But Jean Rollin seems determined to disappoint. Way too much time is spent on watching people walking long distances, or labouring blindingly obvious plot developments (the psychic brothel madam excels at this!)
There is not nearly enough skin to compensate for having to sit through this, though some spiritied sex scenes do capture the attention. The biggest draw of the film for me was the female member of the wrecker gang (character Tina). I wish I knew who the actress was. Gorgeous, spirited, and great without clothes! Shame she can't act, but I may excuse her. I have a soft spot for beautiful girls who get sexually aroused by wicked deeds.
Bizarre points include the Devil's two attendants - a female clown, and a Rasputin look-a-like. And never did so much plaster statuary give its life for a movie!
In summary, only rent this video for the gorgeous female wrecker, fast forward through the rest.
La nuit des étoiles filantes (1973)
Only one good reason to see this flick
And that reason is Christina von Blanc. She is absolutely stunning, and I am glad I saw the Redemption version, which has her nude scenes (sans the rumoured rape scene). I must say I am glad I did not see any of the more butchered edits. They must be truly bizarre, and very sad if they leave out the nudity, especially Ms von Blanc's. Because this is the only reason I can think of for watching this flick.
Unfortunately I am not a fan of the low budget horror genre, especially as it existed in Europe in the 1960s-1970s. Indeed, horror is hardly the word, as it would be a timid person to get any scare value out of such movies. Unless rubber bats really make you wet yourself. The atmosphere in this film is decidedly low budget, with a cheesy sound track, confused plot, and cliched acting and characters.
So maybe I'm just a perverted voyeur, but did I mention how stunning Christina is - with and without clothes! There are the usual lesbian tensions, but these go frustratingly nowhere. This genre of film seems a compromise between true horro, and skin flick. Makes you wish they'd go one way or another. With Christina von Blanc, I know which way I'd choose!
Bad Girls (1981)
Successful combination of pornography and erotica.
I picked this movie up after seeing it as a trailer. It is delightful to see a pornographic video with a sense of the erotic. This is helped by the fact that the leading quartet of ladies are ravishingly gorgeous (Amanda Ventura alone, yikes!) and are allowed an expression of personality. Their acting skills are also a couple of levels above the usual porn level of brain death. Their attributes (physical, that is!) are effectively show-cased. And it is good to see the fine art of Tease being practised (again, Ms Ventura excels).
This is an old movie, and confirms my belief that this first generation of porn videos were far superior to today's mass produced, generally tedious offerings.
The plot involves four nude models taking a camping holiday in the wild, while indulging in their craft. But they blunder into some kind of S&M institute and are subjected to (mild) humiliations. Not a brilliant plot, but the girls more than compensate.
The only main negative about the film was the atrocious theme song. It was pleasant not to be repulsed by Ron "The Hedgehog" Jeremy, this being a very early role for him. Having only the hired R version I am now attempting to buy the X.