johnslegers
Because I've always been a fan of vampire stories and I like to experiment with different genres, I bought three Jean Rollin films. Even though this is - in my opinion - the best out of the three, I really don't get their appeal.For an erotic/porn film, the nudity is too scarce and tame. For a horror/scare film, there is too little suspense. For a drama, there is too little dramatic development. etc. Add this to the lack of a decent story line or decent acting and you really start wondering what the hell some of these reviewers are so excited about...They say Rollin is all about atmosphere, but I wonder what atmosphere they're talking about. I guess they're just talking about seeing naked women in a Gothic surrounding. If that's the case, they better find themselves a girlfriend/wife who's into the whole Gothic thing (like I did). It's far more worth it ;-)
slayrrr666
"The Shiver of the Vampires" is one of the better erotic vampire films around.**SPOILERS**On their honeymoon, Isle, (Sandra Julien) and Antoine, (Jean-Marie Durand) decide to stop off at her cousin's castle for a while. Finding that both her cousins, (Michael Delahaye) and (Jacques Robiolles) have both passed on, and soon afterward, she comes down with a strange illness that forces her into bed. That night, wandering around the castle, he witnesses two men who resemble her cousins alive and performing a black magic ritual with a strange women, Isolde, (Dominique) who later appears to Isle and attempts to seduce her. When he realizes that all of the inhabitants of the castle are a coven of vampires who want to initiate her into their group, he races to stop them before it's too late.The Good News: This is far better than it should've been. The film's impressive and continuous Gothic atmosphere is it's greatest asset. With the action mostly concerned with a large castle, filled with stone and rock, cobweb-laced furniture and all sorts of Gothic-influenced surroundings, including winding staircases, giant candles illuminating the proceedings, large, cluttered rooms, coffins in the middle of a ruined abbey, flowing dresses and much more to give off a real eerie feel to the setting. Taken place in a fog-covered graveyard doesn't hurt either, and the sequences inside, including the initial ceremony, some random dialog sequences, and a naked unconscious woman draped over a cemetery vault just a few examples of this. It has its occasional moments of surreal glory as well, including a vampire that sleeps inside a grandfather clock and giant ornate chimney places, only rises at midnight to the accompanying image of a female victim draped willingly around the clock waiting for her to awaken, the image of a female vampire wearing giant spiked black nipple caps to kill a troublesome woman, skulls in a goldfish bowl and the like. These surrealist images are seemingly inserted less with logical purpose in mind and more for the visual image they provide. They are wonderfully inserted and make the film that much more entertaining. The plot isn't that bad, and actually is pretty understandable. It's not exactly linear, but it's not that difficult to get an understanding of the film's motivations and intentions. The vampire plot is strong and well-defined, allowing for most of the best scenes to come from their appearance. Most of the rest of the time the film seems assembled in order to display as many women in a state of undress as possible. There are a large number of scantily-clad women in see-through gowns, a near-continuous stream of stripping for unnecessary events, a naked lesbian couple caressing on a fur blanket, a couple of seduction and sexual scenes and more, and is nicely integrated with the film artistically rather than being there for the sleaze appeal and it's a nicely different touch. There's also a really great pace on display, as something is always happening even if they don't make sense. It's a really great, underrated film.The Bad News: There isn't a whole lot wrong here. One of the main problems is that the film really fails to make the most of the connections drawn between vampirism and sex. Despite the great pain taken to set up the allure cast over the wife: she is mesmerized by the female vampire, nothing much occurs of the plot-line until she is led to a cemetery and the vampire bites her neck, the wife instantly collapses. The act of vampirism is reduced to a nano-second event with no eroticism other than the naked bodies on display. For a film containing vampires, that is a surprisingly small amount devoted to it's official status. The dream-like atmosphere maybe a source of frustration to some, as it's quite hard to get into and results in it being an acquired taste, but beyond these, the film isn't that bad at all.The Final Verdict: With abundant Gothic overtones, impressive scenery, lesbianism and only minor flaws, this is one of the better erotic vampires films around. This is certainly required viewing for anyone interested in the genre or a fan of the European Vampire films, and is a nice starting point for the uninitiated as well.Rated UR/R: Full Nudity, Violence, several sex scenes and Mild Language
rossaw
The interesting characters in this are a couple of guys who used to be vampire hunters but, after an "accident" (they got bit) have become unabashedly undead, and never had more fun. They dress somewhere between hippies and 18th century fops, and at one point lecture the protagonist on their "researches" which purport to explain the origins of devil worship in Europe in relation to the Catholic Church. It's all tongue in cheek. One the two guys smokes a pipe, and presumably it's not for tobacco.
There's elaborate sets and amusing action for something so low-budget. In the heroine's room there's a Dali-esque chair with a monstrous man-like thing behind it. In place of its stomach is a fish bowl with fish and a skull inside, and a closeup of the skull shows reflections of the burning fireplace in its eyes. The clock strikes midnight and a skinny lesbian vampire slinks out of the bottom part and starts putting her hands on the buxom heroine, who doesn't object. Not bad, eh?The music is good and actually enhances the action. Plenty of T&A, with slow pans over naked babes, a pair of deadly Madonna-like tit-spikes, and other good stuff. You can probably watch this while you balance your checkbook, but if you like cheesy low-budget horror there's plenty worse.
