There are four sisters who live in a rambling mansion in the French countryside and are convinced they are vampires - indeed, so convinced are they that they have the local villagers believing it too, to the extent they think the young ladies are responsible for deaths in the area. Three visitors to the mansion are less won over by this, however, and they are led by a psychiatrist who wishes to dispel what he regards as a delusion, so plans to psychoanalyse the sisters to rid them of their vampiric persecution complex. But what if their feelings of victimisation are justified since they really are being persecuted? They can all hear a voice which informs them their supposed bloodsucking ways have made them the targets of hatred...
Although he had made a few short films and his first attempt at crafting a feature had fallen apart mid-production, it really all began here for French cult director Jean Rollin. The Rape of the Vampire, or Le viol du vampire as it was known in its native tongue, was originally intended to be a short subject as well but fate intervened and he was given a bigger budget (though not tremendously more substantial) to expand it to feature length. Which was all very well, but legend had it when he began shooting on the new footage he managed to lose the script, which was why while this started out with a spacey but able to follow plot, by the point it reached part two, it was completely incomprehensible.
Still, you didn't particularly watch Rollin's work for their cast-iron plotting, you watched them for that peculiar atmosphere and those lovingly crafted visuals, his eye for such things even under impoverished circumstances being something that never left him, and indeed were regular saving graces when experiencing his oeuvre. In this case, you could tell when the film was about to turn into utter nonsense as he had helpfully provided a fresh set of credits as the latter business commenced; after that, you were more or less on your own as the characters who had apparently met a sticky end mere minuites before were resurrected for no good reason you could see other than to extend the running time and proceeded to prance around throwing shapes, often while in a state of undress.
There wasn't any actual rape to be seen, just referred to, unless it was some metaphorical violation Rollin meant in which case it was all too appropriate, so what happened in that first half hour, though fantastical, was possible to grasp precisely what was going on as the sisters and the psychologists are laid seige to in the mansion by gun-toting yokels in a curious anticipation of Straw Dogs. The similarities ended there, though this was a fairly well-known film in France in its day thanks to the other legend it carried, that of being the sole film to opportunistically open in that nation as the May 1968 riots were well underway, with the consequence of becoming a hit more through there being nothing else to watch on a night out at the time than a great ad campaign or strong word of mouth.
Indeed, this would be just as likely to make an audience riot as no end of student protests if they had any wish to be offered some coherent entertainment. On the other hand, if you wanted to sit through a film capturing that oft-indefinable quality of a dream, then you would be more satisfied: just as reveries and nightmares did not have to make sense, neither did the parade of images Rollin and his team improvised over the course of their efforts. As what was soon to be usual with this creator, the great outdoors featured heavily - no need to build budget-sapping sets, after all - and the sight of the cast cavorting on the beach or in graveyards were evidently ones which resonated with this director, for they would be returned to across his body of work. By the point it has reached a sort of agitprop theatre on film, you may be rather tired of the lack of focus, yet there was no denying the man's way with a camera and his talent for casting attractive actresses who he would photograph most photogenically. As for the rest of it, a dog's breakfast is the kindest description.
A lifelong film fan, French director Jean Rollin worked consistently since the 1950s, but it was his horror films that would bring him most attention, starting with Le viol du vampire in 1968, a work that caused a minor riot on its initial showings. This showed Rollin the way to further dreamlike entertainments, often with a strong sexual element. Other films included Le vampire nue, Le frisson de vampires, Les Raisins de la mort, Fascination (often regarded as his masterpiece), The Living Dead Girl, Zombie Lake and a number of hardcore porn features. He was working up until his death, with his latest Le Masque de la Meduse released the year of his demise.
