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Le Viol du Vampire
The Rape of the Vampire
La Reine des Vampires / Queen of the Vampires / Vampire Women / Die Vergewaltigung des Vampirs
France 1968
produced by Jean Rollin, Sam Selsky for Les Films ABC
directed by Jean Rollin
starring Solange Pradel, Bernard Letrou, Ariane Sapriel, Eric Yan, Jacqueline Sieger, Catherine Deville, Ursule Pauly, Nicole Romain, Marquis Polho, Don Burhans, Philippe Druillet, Jean Aron, Mei Chen, Edith Ponceau-Lardie, Jean-Denis Bonan, Yolande Leclerc, Doc Moyle, Alain Yves Beaujour, Annie Merlin, Barbara Girard, Louise Horn, Olivier Rollin (as Olivier Martin)
written by Jean Rollin, Alain Yves Beaujour, music by Yvon Géraud, Francois Tusques
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Psychoanalyst Thomas (Bernard Letrou) convinces his best friends Marc
and Marc's wife Brigitte (Solange Pradel) to accompany him to what's
believed to be a vampire castle, inhabited by four creepy but beautiful
sisters who claim to be vampires. Thomas of course thinks it's only a
psychosomatic condition and he can heal the girls, and to do so he even
removes all the crosses which are supposed to guard the surroundings from
the girls attacking locals ... but he is only seen as a vampire
collaborator by the locals, who ultimately build a mob to rid themselves
of the vampires for good. Brigitte is found murdered, and as Marc suspects
the vampire girls behind this, he leads said mob. One by one the vampires
fall, while Thomas finds out their condition isn't psychosomatic at all
but an actual disease, and he lets the last vampire girl, whom he has long
fallen in love with, turn him before they escape. They don't get far
though and are killed by the locals. The queen of the vampires
(Jacqueline Sieger) arrives, has the traitor who has orchestrated the
whole affair executed, then orders her minions to see to it that Thomas
and his vampire companion never ome back to life again - but several of
her companions have gone rogue and they do just that, in hopes that Thomas
and a certain mysterious doctor will finally find a cure for vampirism. Marc
meanwhile has become a full-fledged vampire hunter, but the vampires see
to it that Brigitte is revived (as a vampire) to keep him distracted.
Still, Marc finds a way to poison all the vampires ... but breaks down in
tears when he realizes that meant killing Brigitte as well, and for good
this time ... On a narrative level, Le Viol du Vampire
certainly enough doesn't have very much to offer, and acting-wise the film
leaves quite a bit to be desired, too, while the budget most certainly
could have been higher - and yet, the film is regarded a cult item for all
the right reasons: Even though it features only occasional glimpses of
nudity, the film is sensuous as can be, its combination of pulp fiction
mainstays and lyrical filmmaking is quite fascinating, the camerawork and
very associative editing style prove Rollin's highly artistic vision, and
as a whole the movie just takes you into a weird parallel universe that's
as weird and bizarre, surreal even, as it's sexy and alluring. Truth to be
told, might not be for everyone's taste, but totally a must-see if you're
even only a bit into the unusual.
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