Scott LeBrun From acclaimed cult French director Jean Rollin comes this interesting and enjoyable horror film, one that could best be described as an escalating nightmare. It seems that everywhere our heroine runs, she can't find safety. There's madness all around her, and no help in sight. Rollin keeps things continuously unpredictable, delivering some scenes that viewers are sure to find delightful. It usually wasn't Rollins' style to "frighten" his viewers, or to take his movies in a commercial direction, but he successfully does these things with "The Grapes of Death".Marie-Georges Pascal stars as Elizabeth, a young woman travelling by train to be with her fiancée. She encounters a young man on the train who's rapidly deteriorating, and who attacks her. Terrified, she goes on a long run to the nearby hills, trying to seek shelter and assistance from the locals, most of whom don't act very friendly towards her. It seems that these decaying people drank contaminated wine, during a festival, but she won't be aware of this for some time. Among the people that Elizabeth encounters are blind girl Lucie (Mirella Rancelot), a farmer, a crazed gal (stunning blonde Brigitte Lahaie) who tries to work out a deal with the zombies, and a pair of uninfected men - including Paul (Felix Marten) - out to eradicate the menace.Pascal is an appealing (and lovely) actress, who's able to gain our sympathies. Lahaie is an absolute vision, whether she's parading around in a white dress or stripping down to her birthday suit. Rollins' film doesn't have much in the way of story but makes up for that with a pretty good pace, a fair deal of tension, plenty of shots of the gorgeous French countryside, and even a little bit of political / social commentary injected into the dialogue. The music by Philippe Sissman is striking and the atmosphere is strong. The makeup effects are quite colourful, with multi hued grue dripping from and peeling off of peoples' faces. The best scene involves a decapitation and is sure to be remembered by the viewer.All in all, this is engaging entertainment and a decent starting place for those cinema lovers looking to check out Rollins' works.Seven out of 10.

HumanoidOfFlesh Chased from her train by a bloodthirsty madman sporting a face of decaying flesh young Élisabeth flees into the desolate and bleak French countryside.Unbeknownst to our heroine an experimental pesticide has tainted the region's grape harvest and all imbibers of the local vintage have been viciously mutated into deranged zombie-like killers.It's hard to classify "The Grapes of Death" as a zombie film,mainly because it features living people driven into murderous rage by contaminated wine.As the most of Jean Rollin's works "The Grapes of Death" is set in an eerily isolated and lifeless landscape loaded with empty fields,misty bridges and crumbling houses.There is a good deal of gore including particularly gruesome decapitation and lovely full-frontal nudity scene provided by Brigitte Lahaie.8 out of 10.

The_Void French director Jean Rollin is best known for his messy erotic vampire films, but Zombie Lake aside; he's actually a lot better at zombie films. Along with The Living Dead Girl, The Grapes of Death represents one of the few successes for the cult director. This zombie film stands out for its morbid and surreal atmosphere, and for the fact that, as zombie films go, this one is quite original. The title doesn't suggest a good film, but it refers to the movie's main plot point; namely, the fact that it's the French tradition of distilling wine that is to blame for the zombie outbreak. It's points like this that make the film profoundly French and despite the fact that France doesn't seem like the ideal country for a zombie outbreak; the plot and location blend together rather nicely. Naturally, the main character is female; and we follow her as she makes her way to her home town of Roubles; a wine producing estate. The journey turns awry when a man infected with the zombie virus boards the train, and our heroine finds her travel companion dead...and that's just the start of it! The plot takes the familiar Night of the Living Dead style idea of the living trying to stay clear of the dead, but Rollin makes the film his own with a fine variety of weird and wonderful characters, and it usually turns out that these are more dangerous than the zombie hoards. The rural setting provides a nice base for a zombie movie, as it's quite different from the usual urban setting, and this also blends well with Rollin's morbid atmosphere. The film is also very surreal, and the director continually gives the viewer the impression that there's something nasty lurking just around the corner. Many of Rollin's films feel cheap and nasty, but this one doesn't; the cinematography is beautiful, and the acting isn't too bad either; both of which give the film a higher quality feel than the plot, by rights, should have. The only time there's a lapse in quality is the awful commentary on French politics towards the end…but it's not enough to spoil it entirely. The film is quite erotic, and even though it's quite different to his usual stuff; you can still tell that it's Rollin in the director's chair. The ending is really good, and comes as quite a surprise; and I've got to say that I loved the final message; I agree, beer is superior to wine. Recommended!

michael.e.barrett I just saw this Synapse DVD last night and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I have to add a different perspective on the decapitation scene that everyone seems to enjoy. The most shocking and significant part of the scene is the crucifixion, but the head-chopping itself . . . well, it's about as believable as Herschell Gordon Lewis. It's one of those things where a limp, soft, human actress instantly turns into a stiff wooden or plastic mannequin coated with paint. You can even hear the wooden chunk of the hatchet going through! You can only laugh. And the editing of that scene looks like a hatchet was used there too. It's like the director or producer thought he needed a "money shot." That's the most unconvincing moment in the movie, the low point of an otherwise pretty decent, paranoid, nicely photographed nightmare with character touches and subversive elements.By the way, my favorite element is the fact that the baddies aren't real "living dead" zombies and they don't want to eat the living. They're just people with a disease that drives them mad, but they can be killed in any ordinary way and they don't get up again. That makes it a bit more like "The Crazies" or "Rabid" or "Blue Sunshine" than a traditional zombie movie.