The Shiver of Vampires (1971): Groovy Jean Rollin

I'm still working my through the the Jean Rollin vampire movies on Netflix. Last night I watched The Shiver of the Vampires (1971). If you like groovy and vampires, you'll like this.

The plot is one of my personal favorites.

Honeymoon couple stops off to see family they haven't seen in years. They arrive at the isolated place of residence to find things are not as they expected. (!)  Things are odd. The family members are strange. (!) One of the honeymooners wants to leave. The other wants to stay. Tension increases. Weird things happen.

In this case, the weird things happen in French with subtitles and are done by frequently topless women. Unfairly, the men are not much to look at. Unless you have a thing for red and purple velvet.

My favorite moments:
  • The bride groom has to go chase some girls who'd just climbed into his bed naked and then run off. He first ties on a sweet, sheer floral scarf and _then_gets the gun out of the box.
  • The same man must fix the car. He first ties on pale yellow neckerchief and_then_fixes the car.
  • A woman vampire is complaining to the other two male vampires. She says she does all the work. The other two, she tells them, are bourgeoisie vampires.
  • The same woman vampire rises up from nowhere several times. Once from a clock. Once from a fireplace. Once from a fountain. You get the idea. Things don't make sense.
Serious note. The use of color, lighting, and camera angles in awesome.  Go watch it.



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