One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Dreadfully Boring

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Jean Rollin was a master of the fantastique, the way that the French refer to a mixture of science fiction, horror and fantasy. What's the difference between fantastique and fantasy? The former is more concerned with the intrusion of supernatural phenomena into an otherwise realist narrative. In this genre, the supernatural may be met with doubt, disbelief and fear; yet it always exists.After a decade marked by working under a pseudonym in the porn industry to make ends meet, Rollin saw Fascination as an attempt to return to his roots. It's based on Jean Lorrain's Un verre de sang (A Glass of Blood), a poem about rich people drinking the blood of bulls in order to cure anemia. It's also a tribute to a French magazine that explored eroticism in art.In 1905, a group of wealthy women wait for bulls to be slaughtered so that they can drink their supposedly curative blood.A gang of thieves pursues Mark, who is trying to leave France for London with a bag of gold coins. He finds a secluded mansion in the mountains that is empty, save for two chambermaids, Elizabeth and Eva, who await the arrival of their Marchioness and her servants.The women, who are lovers, aren't afraid of Mark. Instead, they see attracted to him. Eva eventually sleeps with the thief, making Elizabeth jealous to the point that she puts a gun in her mouth.A shot rings out, but it is not Elizabeth's death. The thieves have found where Mark is hiding and have begun shooting at the house. Eva goes out to give the men Mark's gold. While they count it, a female thief demands her dress.Eva makes love to one of the thieves before stabbing him, then wiping out the rest with a scythe. Once the film tastes blood, it picks up in intensity and purpose. Eva returns to find the woman who stole her white dress, now glad in black and carrying the giant bladed weapon. Single frame close ups of their eyes, lips and blades show the difference between the women. While the thief was once in control and confident, now she is facing death. Her outstretched knife is tentative and finally drops as Eva laughingly decimates her, the former virginal white dress awash with blood as the camera pulls back from the drawbridge to show the carnage.Soon, the Marchioness later arrives, whom Mark refers to as the grand danger. She tells him that death often takes the form of seduction (and Elizabeth had said that death itself would be coming). If Mark stays — and she know she will — he'll be the only man there…except for Satan, of course.Mark jokingly says, "Midnight! Satan! Death!" as he finds the situation very amusing. Mark tries to take her by force, as she intimidates that he'd like to try, but she responds by biting his lip.Four more women arrive, excited at the possibility of Mark being at their annual reunion. They go to meet him as Elizabeth and Eva light a room full of candles. Mark asks if it's for the arrival of Death, but gets no answers.Read more at https://bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/10/11/fascination-1979

Taking a look round online for any info about French Horror films,I was intrigued to find out about a Horror movie auteur called Jean Rollin.Talking to a DVD seller,I was pleased to discover that he had recently tracked down a psychological horror title from Rollin,which led to me getting ready to start Rollin in the deep for the first time.The plot:1905-Running away with a bag filled with cash after failing to stage a successful kidnapping,Marc spots a castle that appears to be completely empty.With the towns folk chasing after him,Marc decides to rush into the castle.Searching around the place,Marc is delighted to not find anyone in sight.As he begins to relax,Marc hears a strange noise,and soon discovers that the castle contains 2 servants called Eva and Elisabeth,who say that they are looking after the castle whilst their employers are away in Paris.Pulling out a gun,Marc tells Eva and Elisabeth that they must not mess around with him,or he will kill them both.Taken by Marc's rugged appearance,Eva and Elisabeth begin to show their playful side,which leads to Marc dropping his guard.As all 3 of them start to become friends,Eva and Elisabeth give Marc the thrilling news that he will be the only man who will be attending a party that they are holding at the castle tonight,with Eva and Elisabeth announcing to Marc that the main guest of the evening will be death.View on the film:Opening with a shot of Eva and Elisabeth dancing on a bridge,above clear blue water,writer/directing auteur Jean Rollin gives the film an extraordinary mythical,very erotic atmosphere,with Rollin and cinematographer Georgie Fromentin expertly reflecting light off the actresses snow-like white dresses to building an enchanting Gothic Horror fairy tale mood.Along with the silky-smooth Fantasy appearance,Rollin and Fromentin also give the film a light satirical touch,as Rollin goes from showing the rich feed off themselves,To Marc's cash being covered in spots of blood.Featuring only 3 characters for most of the film,Rollin keeps the screenplay moving at a fantastic pace,thanks to Rollin placing Eva and Elisabeth's (almost) vampire Gothic Horror relationship at the centre,whilst using Marc's arrival to the castle to give the movie a tense rural Thriller backdrop.As the gusts to the party start to arrive,Rollin slowly reveals that the Marc,Eva and Elisabeth's care- free interactions actually contained a dark undercurrent,which leads to the movie delivering a deliciously sharp ending.Being given tough competition by being placed in between two beautiful actresses, Jean-Marie Lemaire shows that he is more than able to hold his own by delivering an excellent performance,with Lemaire showing terror to cut across Marc's face,as he begins to realise,that despite being the only one with a gun,Eva and Elizabeth are the real ones in charged. Walking around the castle in Rollin's distinctive dresses, Franca Maï and Brigitte Lahaie both give incredibly sensual,chilling performances as the enticing Eva and Elisabeth,which leads to Fascination being a truly fascinating experience.

A thief(Jean Marie Lemaire),on the run from fellow gang members,takes refuge in a château populated only by two young women—Eva (Brigitte Lahaie)and Elisabeth (Franka Mai).The man is seduced and lured to stay for a forthcoming soirée,while the young ladies-themselves indulging in lesbian encounters—turn out to be initiates in a cult of bourgeois women addicted to drinking human blood.Jean Rollin's "Fascination" is simply an awesome lesbian vampire flick.The pace is pretty slow,but there is plenty of sleaze and beauty to enjoy.The film is loaded with stunning visuals for example the image of a nude Brigitte Lahaie with nothing but her impossibly statuesque figure,cape and scythe moving down the bridge and over the moat to the castle or truly surreal scene of Eva and Elizabeth dancing on the bridge in matching white gowns while an old-style phonograph plays classical music.Overall,I deeply enjoyed this one and you should too,if you liked "The Living Dead Girl" or "Lips Of Blood".

Fascination is set in the year 1905 & starts (properly) when thief Mark (Jean-Marie Lemaire) double crosses a gang of crooks & runs off with a bag full of gold & the crooks in hot pursuit. Mark happens upon a large Château surrounded by water with only one bridge offering access, Mark feels this would make a perfect hiding place until the cover of night. Inside he finds two young attractive women, Eva (Brigitte Lahaie) & Elisabeth (Franca Mai) who just happen to be lesbians. Mark holds them hostage at gunpoint & has sex with one of them. Eva & Elisabeth try to convince Mark to stay for a mysterious reunion that they are having that very night, Mark sticks around, out of curiosity apparently, until the first guest arrives Helene (Fanny Magier). As four more female guests arrive it fast approaches midnight which seems to hold some significance that when Mark discovers what it is he wish he hadn't...This French production was written & directed by Jean Rollin & it didn't do much for me. While I respect other people's opinions that Rollin's films are artistic, dream like & visually stunning I don't think that about Fascination at all. Don't get me wrong there are some very nice shots & imagery in Fascination, Eva wandering around with a long robe & scythe being a particularly memorable scene, the pigeon loft scene is visually unusual & the Gothic Château setting is impressive & adds a great deal to the film, but overall I just felt it was cheaply filmed with Rollin lingering on shots & keeping his camera rolling for far too long, as a consequence at times this slows Fascination down to a virtual stand still. The one area that I do agree with the general opinion is that Rollin isn't particularly interested in story telling or a coherent plot which is a shame because if he put some of the effort that he puts in his visuals into a decent entertaining film than he'd have a winner on his hands. There is virtually no dialogue in Fascination & the plot is basic & somewhat predictable. One more thing I must state at this point is that there are no traditional Vampires in Fascination at all, no fangs, no stakes through the heart & no sleeping in coffins. There is some brief blood drinking but it's not for any sort of supernatural reasoning. I also found Fascination's exploitation elements lacking, maybe I was expecting too much but there is virtually no blood or gore & the sex & nudity seemed very tame, there is one lesbian scene & two sex scenes & that's your lot. Having said that these French women are very pretty & easy on the eyes. I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here but I just didn't find anything here to gain any sort of enjoyment from apart from some nice looking locations & a bit of nudity. Finally Fascination commits the fatal mistake of being boring & slow & at just under 80 minutes that's not a good thing to think, I can forgive almost anything as long as a film entertains me & Fascination simply didn't. I just can't imagine any regular modern cinema goer getting much from this arty mess.