I don’t think I can quite say that Lips of Blood is Jean
Rollin’s best movie, but I can say that it is probably the Jean Rolliniest
movie he ever made. All the director’s
trademarks are here: Decrepit castles,
beautiful women in sheer negligees, vampires, and straightjackets. It also has a real waking nightmare vibe about it that gets under your skin.
While everything might not always make logical sense, there’s a dreamlike
quality to the picture that encourages the viewer to forgo things like “logic”
and “sense” and accept it on its own terms.
Frederic (Jean-Loup Philippe) goes to a party and sees a
photograph that dredges up a long-repressed memory. He remembers meeting a beautiful woman at a
castle when he was a child and soon becomes obsessed with finding the place and
tracking down the woman. Despite
repeated warnings, he finds the castle and winds up awakening a cult of vampire
women.
The mystery takes its time unfolding, but it does so in a
suspenseful and satisfying way. Lips of
Blood is slow movie, though it’s never boring.
It’s artsy without being pretentious.
While it contains a lot of exploitation elements, Rollinshandles all
the naked vampires and nude photo shoots in a tasteful, elegant manner.
He also has fun with the surreal, dreamlike imagery. The scene where our hero finds a bat in a
coffin is memorable and the scene where a coffin is slowly swept into the sea
is particularly haunting. While it’s not
always successful and the pacing can be frustrating at times, it’s still worth
a look for both the casual horror viewer and Rollin fans alike.
AKA: Suck Me,
Vampire.
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