recommended

One of the best films i have seen

just watch it!

From my favorite movies..

"Shivers of the Vampire" brings the groovy back. A pair of newlyweds, so newly wed they are still in gown and tux, visits an uncle's old castle. The uncles have recently been turned into vampires by the vampire woman who lives in the near-by cemetery. Despite the signs that something is afoot, like the uncle's mute female servants, the couple stays. The girl is immediately seduced by the lady vampire. The husband realizes quickly weirdness is about. Wackiness ensues. You know the drill.I think Rollin was aware of his formula. Despite the typically fast-and-loose story, he packs the film full of gorgeous images. The opening is long and almost dialogue free, as the two servants walk up a spiral staircase, bathed in red light. The opening credits play over fog billowing over a tombstone. The castle is decorated with bizarre statues, skulls, bones, and burnt-wood sculpted into human features. The vampire woman first appears nudged into a grandfather clock. Later, she shows up again, leaping out from behind red curtains. Color is hyper-stylized, as there are several late night walks into an orange and purple shaded cemetery. Rollin continues to dress his actresses in see-through shawls and it goes without saying that the nudity is abundant and often unexplained. The lesbian maids (Did I mention they are lesbians?) lunge around the castle in the nude and use an unorthodox method to wake the husband.Pretty pictures only do so much to make up for the maudlin pace. What does make up for that is hilarity. The musical score is composed of waa-waa-ing funky guitar riffs. The movie establishes it's goofy streak early when the female vampire rises from her grave, the stone moving in stop-motion and punctuated by animal screams. Upon hearing there's a library in the castle, the groom flocks to the room and is attack by psychic books. The obsessed (human) lover of the uncles is murdered with a bra fitted with metal spikes. Oh man, I haven't mentioned the crazy uncles. Dressed like fops, they ramble on about paganism, Christianity, goddess worship, while the camera spins around, as confused as the characters. The acting is more stilted then usual.Yeah, it's pacing falters by the end and there's plenty of vampires musing about what a wretched, unlovable species they are. The ending does feature an ironic take-down of the film's antagonist and that weird beach appears again. The film wasn't released in the US until the late seventies, with the new title "Strange Things Happen at Night." I actually prefer that title since it's far more evocative and also an accurate description of what's to come. This is my favorite of the director's films since "The Nude Vampire."

If you are a fan of the "Twilight" series of supposed vampire films, you will want to stay away from this. Or, maybe you will want to see what a real vampire film is all about.This is good work from Jean Rollin. It is a mixture of horror and art with some great surrealism thrown in. The long haired hippies add a nice contract to the Gothic settings. It may be Gothic, but it is painted with rich color and the rock music really applies.It is non linear, which tends to upset some folks, ad it doesn't make sense inn some parts, but the link between vampirism and sex is well defined.People pop out of the strangest places, and there is enough nudity to satisfy the most jaded.You do have to feel for poor Antoine (Jean-Marie Durand). After all, he just gets married to Isa (Sandra Julien) and along comes a hot vampiress to steal her away.

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 ;-)

Ultra low-budget outing from French sex director Rollin has even less plot and an even deadlier pace than his previous films, LE VIOL DU VAMPIRE (1967) and LA VAMPIRE NUE (1969). A newly-wed couple travel to a castle to meet the bride's cousins. It turns out they are vampires with a harem of bloodsuckers. Cheesy, pretentious with lots of nudity and almost no violence at all. Psychedelic rock score is ultra-bad. What you get is an attempt at creating atmosphere (fog, colorful lighting) and Rollin's trademark before-sunrise coast-finale. Stay away unless you are a die-hard fan.