Jean Rollin could be so obsessed with the dreamlike erotic gothic atmosphere of his movies that the narrative often came second. Requiem For A Vampire sees him at his laziest, the French film-maker putting very little effort into a script that was purportedly written in one day and feels like it: the plot is extremely thin and there's virtually no dialogue, the two main characters not speaking until almost an hour into the film. This makes for a very strange experience, one that I found it hard to remain fully focused on until the end.
Things start out interestingly enough, with a car chase and shootout, as two attractive young women (Marie and Michelle, played by Marie-Pierre Castel and Mireille Dargent) and a male friend are pursued by the police through the French countryside (we later learn that the girls killed a man at a New Year's Eve party, which explains why they're dressed as clowns). The trio escape the authorities, although the man is shot and dies soon after. Setting out on foot, the two women wander the countryside, steal food and a motorcycle, and take refuge in a graveyard (where one is almost buried alive by oblivious gravediggers). Without a single word uttered, all of this is suitably gloomy and atmospheric and will no doubt satisfy most Rollin fans, but things go downhill after the pair chance upon a château, home to a nest of vampires who need the young virgins to perpetuate their race.
At this point, the film descends into routine Euro-sleaze, with a naked lesbian clinch between the girls, some nookie between blonde Marie and obliging stranger Frederic (Marie's thereby scuttling her chance of becoming a vampire), an orgiastic rape scene in which the bloodsuckers abuse naked women chained up in the château's dungeon, and a spot of torture as Michelle is forced to flog her friend. Somehow, Rollin manages to make all of the sex and violence extremely tedious and the final twenty minutes or so are a real test of one's patience.
Visually, the film looks great, with some striking imagery, although Rollin does overdo the coloured gel lighting at times, and the local animal hire place was clearly out of vampire bats so the director makes do with fruit bats, which don't really have the same effect.
Things start out interestingly enough, with a car chase and shootout, as two attractive young women (Marie and Michelle, played by Marie-Pierre Castel and Mireille Dargent) and a male friend are pursued by the police through the French countryside (we later learn that the girls killed a man at a New Year's Eve party, which explains why they're dressed as clowns). The trio escape the authorities, although the man is shot and dies soon after. Setting out on foot, the two women wander the countryside, steal food and a motorcycle, and take refuge in a graveyard (where one is almost buried alive by oblivious gravediggers). Without a single word uttered, all of this is suitably gloomy and atmospheric and will no doubt satisfy most Rollin fans, but things go downhill after the pair chance upon a château, home to a nest of vampires who need the young virgins to perpetuate their race.
At this point, the film descends into routine Euro-sleaze, with a naked lesbian clinch between the girls, some nookie between blonde Marie and obliging stranger Frederic (Marie's thereby scuttling her chance of becoming a vampire), an orgiastic rape scene in which the bloodsuckers abuse naked women chained up in the château's dungeon, and a spot of torture as Michelle is forced to flog her friend. Somehow, Rollin manages to make all of the sex and violence extremely tedious and the final twenty minutes or so are a real test of one's patience.
Visually, the film looks great, with some striking imagery, although Rollin does overdo the coloured gel lighting at times, and the local animal hire place was clearly out of vampire bats so the director makes do with fruit bats, which don't really have the same effect.