Absolutely Fantastic

A Brilliant Conflict

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

"La Nuit des Horloges" was not the last film by Jean Rollin ("Le masque de la Méduse" was), but it sums up his visions in such a unique way that it surely is his testament as a director. Do not watch this movie if you are not familiar with many of his previous works, for it wouldn't make sense to you then. Rollin could be accused of vanity for creating "La Nuit des Horloges" as a homage to himself, but for the audience, it rather is a reflection of past years where many of the old actors appear again, for example Dominique from "Requiem For A Vampire", Natalie Perrey from "Lost in New York" and Jean-Loup Philippe from "Lips of Blood". In that way, it is a movie for fans in the first place, happy memories of graveyards and vampires, you do know what I mean. The important movies are still the ones from the 1970s, but this is the cherry on top. "La Nuit des Horloges" shows a young woman on the traces of writer and director Michel Jean (who stands for Rollin, obviously), and she finds items like the iron rose from "La Rose de Fer" as well as books, the strange mixture of pulp and poetry that was typical of Rollin's influences. Ghosts appear and invite her into the big clock to see more of Michel Jean's world. The lead role is played with sufficient gravity by Ovidie, a tattooed dark haired goth lady, and when I innocently scanned the net what other movies she did before, I found that her works, let's put it this way, are pretty much in line with Brigitte Lahaie's. Jean Rollin certainly had a concept there, like in everything else, and he will be missed.