Lips Of Blood — Lips Of Blood( UHD & Blu Ray)
Lips Of Blood was the 11th film made by French director Jean Rollin. The mid-1970s feature takes in some of the more generally creepy & haunting moments from the director’s filmography- with it being a vampiric-tipped thriller/ mystery set in then-present-day France. Here from Powerhouse, as part of their ongoing series of reissues of the directors back catalogue is a reissue of the film- either coming as a UHD or Blu-Ray set- featuring a new 4k scan & commentary, as well as a few archive extras.
Lips Of Blood (aka Lèvres De Sang) appeared in the year 1975, and it was the last horror-focused film he’d make until the end of the decade- as he spent the rest of the decade releasing hardcore porn under the pseudonym of either Michel Gentil or Robert Xavier. Lips Of Blood was co-written by Rollin, and Jean-Loup Philippe- who also plays the male lead in the film.
The film kicks off in wonderfully eerier fashion- as we see a white van pulling up in a nighttime street- outjumps two men, and a veiled woman. They start unloading a series of white sheet-covered bodies- these are taken down through a large cemetery, down into a hidden crypt to be placed in coffins- where one of the bodies suddenly creepingly starts breathing- this is all backed by a line of darkly atmospheric & minimal piano music. As the group leave the crypt, they place a large metal crucifix at the door.
We then jarringly shift to a rather groovy party- where folk are lounging around chatty & drinking, while upbeat piano-led jazz plays. One of the party’s guests is Frédéric (Jean-Loup Philippe) a thirtysomething man, with blond shoulder-length hair- he suddenly notices a photo of a seaside castle, and this triggers a flashback which sees his eleven-year-old self going up to the castle in the middle of the night. Here he meets an around sixteen-year-old girl- who has a rather pale & forlorn quality- she pulls him into the castle to sleep on the floor with him, waking up just before dawn to go home to his parents.
The film largely follows Frédéric obsession with the photo & trying to find out where the building is. He tracks down the flirty female photographer who took the picture- but she says she’s been told to keep the location secret- which of course pulls us deeper into the mystery. As goes nocturnally roaming around the city- visiting an underground abandoned aquarium, a large cemetery, and nighttime streets which seem to dart with spectres from his past. Added into the mix we have two twin blond female vamps, flirts of nudity, and of course a ton of creepy atmospherics.
I’d say Lips Of Blood is one of the more formally plotted and unfolding of Rollin films- with less of his art-house tendencies in place- so it will appeal/ work with mainstream Euro-horror fans. Sure, it does become slightly more arty in it's resolve- but there is a decidedly haunting undertone to it too.
Acting-wise Philippe is very believable as the obsessed Frédéric- with one shifting throughout the film wondering if he’s genuinely mad or is it all really happening. The small supporting cast is largely good to passable- though I did find the blond vampire twins do rather overplay things at points- thankfully they don’t have a huge amount of screen time.
This new release features a 4k scan- this is nicely clean & crisp through, with even the nighttime shoots full of definition. On the new extras side, we get a commentary from genre-film experts and authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman. They begin by talking about how the credits we see in the print are the original French ones- which apparently hadn’t appeared on all versions. We find out the film didn’t get a release in the UK & US until the 1990s when it got grey market releases. They discuss the opening scene and how it nicely subverts the normal tropes. We find out this was Rollin's favourite story of any of his films, and that the boy in the film's flashback is his own son- with the scene he’s in pre-dating the concepts in Let The Right One In. They talk about how France has made only a few horror films over its history, and why this might be. We find out the girl playing the lead was nineteen when the film was made- going on to do a few other genre films, before later becoming a social worker. They discuss how the film was made under the working title of Jenifer. Later on, they talk about the impressive lighting on the castle ruins, and how the film had one of the director's larger budgets. They discuss the beach on the film, and how it appeared in a few of his films. They talk about the film's ending, and much more. Another excellent track from these two.
The other new extra on the disc is Buried Dreams (9.06) which finds author and film historian Virginie Sélavy giving a critical appreciation of the film. She talks about the 1928 story by Lord Auch that influenced the film. The use of white dresses in this & a few of the director's films. And locations- some of the Paris street locations were due to be knocked down just after the filming. So again, most interesting.
The remainder of the extras are a mix of archive & updated archive material. We have: Jean Rollin Introduces ‘Lips of Blood’ (3 mins). Living Memories (10 mins) interview with Rollin. This Beach That Follows Me (25 mins) Rollin reminisces about the beach in Dieppe and his many experiences filming there. Fantasy Life (16 mins) interview with actor and co-writer Jean-Loup Philippe. Early Impressions (11 mins) interview with actor Serge Rollin. Sibling Rivalry (11 mins) interview with actor Catherine Castel. Exceptional Poetry (11 mins) interview with actor and script supervisor Natalie Perrey. There’s an original theatrical trailer, and Image gallery: promotional and publicity material, and behind-the-scenes
The finished release takes in an eighty-page book- this features a new essay by Maitland McDonagh, archival writing by Jean Rollin on the making of the film, archival interviews with Rollin and actor Annie Brilland, an analysis of Suck Me, Vampire, the hardcore film Rollin made using scenes from Lips of Blood, and full film credit.
Lips Of Blood is most certainly another highlight in Rollin’s body of work. So it’s great to see it receiving this new release, with a classy 4k print, and a great selection of extras. Here’s looking forward to the next in Powerhouse's reissues of the director’s work.