Rape of the Vampire is the debut of French director Jean Rollin, a two-part melodrama expanded from a 30-minute short, with most of the action apparently improvised (Rollin having lost his script three days into the shoot). The result is impenetrable, surreal and extremely hard going.
The first part of the film concerns four women living in an old château, who are convinced that they are vampires. Three Parisians - Thomas (Bernard Letrou), Brigitte (Solange Pradle) and Marc (Marquis Polho) - come to the countryside to try and cure the women of their vampirism, which Thomas believes is all in the mind.
The second chapter - shot by Rollin to bring the film to feature length - involves a vampire queen (Jacqueline Sieger) and her followers, and is pure nonsensical garbage that can be chalked up to inexperience, a lack of focus, and, quite possibly, mind-altering substances (hey, it WAS the late-'60s!).
As with every other Rollin film I have seen, there is plenty of nudity and unusual cinematography, and for many fans that will be enough, but I like to have something resembling a comprehensible plot to go with the boobs and avant-garde imagery. Not having a clue what was going on for most of the film led to my attention waning and the rapid onset of boredom.
2.5/10, rounded down to 2 for the migraine-inducing experimental jazz soundtrack.
The first part of the film concerns four women living in an old château, who are convinced that they are vampires. Three Parisians - Thomas (Bernard Letrou), Brigitte (Solange Pradle) and Marc (Marquis Polho) - come to the countryside to try and cure the women of their vampirism, which Thomas believes is all in the mind.
The second chapter - shot by Rollin to bring the film to feature length - involves a vampire queen (Jacqueline Sieger) and her followers, and is pure nonsensical garbage that can be chalked up to inexperience, a lack of focus, and, quite possibly, mind-altering substances (hey, it WAS the late-'60s!).
As with every other Rollin film I have seen, there is plenty of nudity and unusual cinematography, and for many fans that will be enough, but I like to have something resembling a comprehensible plot to go with the boobs and avant-garde imagery. Not having a clue what was going on for most of the film led to my attention waning and the rapid onset of boredom.
2.5/10, rounded down to 2 for the migraine-inducing experimental jazz soundtrack.