jadavix The second Jean Rollin movie is a lot better than the first one, "Rape of the Vampire". It also has a misleading title: just as there was no rape that I could see in that movie, in this one I am not sure if there is even any vampires, and nor does the one the title presumably refers to ever get naked, though she does spend the whole movie in a see- through orange gown.There is also more story this time, more unsettling images, and more eroticism. These things add up to a better movie in my opinion.This one is something about a rich man who believes he has found a vampire and is trying to learn the secret of her condition. There is also a suicide cult who are apparently after the woman as well, though no great attempt seems to be ongoing to prevent them from getting their hands on her, nor do they seem that keen anyway.Even the "suicide cult" part of that is questionable. When we see a young woman supposedly commit suicide with the group, she does so with the most unconvincing gun shot I have ever seen. There is a sound effect, yes, but no attempt to make it seem that the gun has actually fired besides that. She doesn't even aim it at her head particularly well: the gun is angled upwards so that if it did fire, it would probably miss her brain.Aside from that, the movie benefits from its visual style more than anything. There are some beautiful babes in this one, particularly a black lady and two pig tailed sisters (whose hairstyles keep changing). The bits at the beginning with the girl wandering around and the guys in horse masks creeping up on her were generally scary and could have been great in a better movie. The ending is disappointing. We find out that no one in the movie is a vampire, but rather they're all mutants, and one day humanity will be immortal? What?Is that supposed to be scary?

chaos-rampant Rollin in his usual mode impresses with place, color, dreamlike reverie. His women are unappealingly scrawny and bland, but his teasing of the cinematic imagination works for me enough to want to step in his ether - his films feel much less constructed than what passes as sensual these days, the night air and architectural walls of the thing always feel real, the texture real. The film opens with a distraught 'virgin' being followed in dark streets by mysterious masked figures, everything in the film that is of that same somnambulist quality carries resonance and I would not dissuade you from watching. It really is fine in ways that you will seldom see in a horror film and that Kubrick bombastically killed in Eyes Wide Shut (it breathes here).But damn it all to hell, if he isn't utterly inept as a storyteller and ruins every pleasure of touch. I don't mean that he wants to confound logic, I like that he does. I welcome filmmakers of the sort - Lynch, Ruiz, Zulawski, those who tether you to narrative threads you have much less control of than usual then pull and leave you scudding through the shattered story-parts.It's quite the opposite with Rollin. Though the world feels real, the interplay of story dynamics is cartoonish at best. Every initially baffling element has to be explained in due time, and each explanation is dumber than a sack of rocks. He is not illogical in the sense that we cannot fathom more than bits of a deeply inscrutable world, quite simply he jots down a coherent story from a few absurd/fantastical elements then gives it to us in conveniently random ways.In this case, the movie about vampires is a horror show being put on, the vampires are only vampires because we believe they are. This is repeatedly stressed out for us.The point of all this is apparently the celebration of the rigor and 'purity' of youth, remember those where the Vietnam years, who in Rollin's garbled set of metaphors are equated with a mutant race of immortals.Rollin's problem is that he is not content to be a perfume master who seduces the senses, he wants to be a bit like the meditating mentor in this film, someone who promises initiation into the 'hidden dimension' of truths so he ends up being as silly.

Witchfinder General 666 Jean Rollin is admired by many of my fellow Eurohorror enthusiasts for his delirious visual elegance. I agree that Rollin's films are visually overwhelming. While I get why people admire this talent, however, I mostly do not find the style of Rollin's films sufficient to make up for the complete lack of a logic, continuity, or anything happening. The one exception is his great Zombie Gore film "Les Raisins De La Mort" ("The Grapes of Death", 1978). The prime example for Rollin's tendency to be stylish but boring is arguably "La Rose De Fer" ("Rose of Iron") of 1973, which is simultaneously one of the most visually elegant, and one of the most tiresome Horror films I ever sat through. It is not quite as bad with "La Vampire Nue" aka. "The Nude Vampire" (1970). The film is, once again, visually elegant and at least some events are happening in this film. However, they almost entirely lack any logic or tension.The storyline is (very vaguely) about a bunch of scientist who want to examine the secret of immortality, and a pretty girl who is immortal as long as supplied with blood. Luckily for her, there is a suicide cult of people willing to sacrifice their own lives in order for the girl to maintain her immortality. Why? - Because! Then there are many long sequences of typical Rollin nonsense. This is not to say that the film has no genuine qualities. As mentioned above, the settings and cinematography are highly elegant. The female cast members are very nice to look at, and some of them have exhibitionist tendencies. However, there's not even quite as much female nudity as one might expect in a Rollin flick called "The Nude Vampire". The two twin maids (played by twins Marie-Pierre and Catherine Castel), who are dressed up in nothing but a bunch of bizarre gold plates, are the most notable aspect of the whole film; apart from being lovely to look at, they also provide the film's funniest and most interesting moments.I cannot say that "La Vampire Nue" is a complete failure; the film has its qualities, and might be appreciated by fans of surreal stuff. However, even though I consider myself to be exactly that, I fund this to be rather tedious. Overall, this is worth checking out for Rollin-fans. When it comes to European directors associated with erotic Horror films, I will personally always prefer the great Spaniard Jess Franco, some of whose films may be nonsensical, but almost all of them highly entertaining. My rating of "La Vampire Nue": 4/10

lbworshiper Bizarre vampire/sex fantasy about rich brat Martin, who stumbles upon secret bourgeois-like society, which conducts secret perverse ceremonies in a mansion rented by his father. It turns out the members are protecting a female vampire from extra-terrestrial mutants! Rollin's second feature (following LE VIOL DE VAMPIRE) has occasional flashes of style but drags on and on and on, bordering on pretence due to low budget.