Requiem For A Vampire — Requiem For A Vampire( Blu Ray/ UHD)
Requiem For A Vampire was the 5th film directed by French cult director Jean Rollin, and his 4th vampiric-influenced production. It’s a film that rather defines and clarifies his ideas and themes well- with moments of creepy gothic unease, fanged threat, and more leering/ at points nasty sleaze- as well as darts into the crime thriller genre. Here from Powerhouse Films- who have been reissuing the directors' work is a release of the film- coming as either a Blu-Ray or UHD disc. Taking in a new 4k print, a selection of new and archive extras, and an eighty-page booklet.
Requiem For A Vampire (aka Requiem Pour Un Vampire, Caged Vampires, Dungeon of Terror, Virgins and Vampires) appeared in the year 1972. With Rollin been both the film's director and writer. It was largely filmed around two locations- a large Chateau/ castle, and an old/ isolated country cemetery.
The film opens in a surprisingly tense and pacy manner as we see a travelling car-bound gunfight going on- with two women dressed as clowns and their male getaway driver firing at the authorities as they are chased down country roads. The driver is shot, just as they pull off and hide- leaving the women to burn the car and set off on motorbike and then on foot.
The two female leads are blond Marie( Marie-Pierre Castel) and brunette Michell(Mireille Dargent), and both initially wear clown costumes- both having pigtails. For the first quarter of the film, the pair roam the countryside- careful not to be seen- coming across the rural graveyard- hiding first in the overgrown/ bent ornate iron fences of the graves, and in the freshly dug graves themselves. Then their clown paint is washed off, and normal clothes are found- before they come across the Chateau/ castle.
As they start to investigate the inside of the red and green lite castle interior, they discover a cult revolving around the last living vampire. It’s made up of leering and naked female flesh-fondling henchmen, caped older/ authoritative women, those halfway between vampire and human, and a fair few real bats.
For much of the film's runtime Rollin manages to create a keen feeling of both dread-filled mystery/ and sleaze-tripped gothic unease. Impressively for most of its hour and twenty-six-minute runtime, there is little or no dialogue- yet a story is told, and one is left very much engaged by the whole thing.
I guess Requiem For A Vampire does embrace more formal exploitation elements than some of Rollin's output- with the more leering sleaze- which at points includes chained/ naked rape. And fleeting moments of blood and violence/ crime-thriller tropes. Yet Rollin still creates a great feeling of timeless dread and vampiric mystery/ unease.
Moving onto this release, we get two presentations of the film- Requiem Pour Un Vampire, the original French-language version; and Requiem For A Vampire, the English-language version. Both of these feature a classy & crisp new 4k scan- which has wonderful detail/ clarity - with the colour-lit moments coming off as wonderfully chilling and surreal.
On the extra side of things, we get a nice selection of new and archived things. First off on the new side, we have a commentary from film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson- and as we’ve come to expect from these track pros- this is a very well-researched and entertaining affair. They open up by commenting on the pulp action-focused beginning of the film, and we find out the production got in trouble with Interpol when the car they used was left overnight with broken windows and fake blood on the back seat. We find out it was Rollin’s favourite film- he liked the way the story felt like it was told by a child. They discuss the score, talking about the different versions released, and other Rollin scores they like. They talk about the bold discussion of using little or no dialogue and discuss how Rollin films feature flat/ rather unmemorable male characters. They chat about the often-made comparisons between Jean Rollin and Jess Franco. They point out a few background details and the clarity/ depth of the colours in this new print. Later on, they discuss how Rollin’s approach to eroticism was rather controlled and stylized- never getting too close, or detailed. They point out a few framed-like picture shots in the film, and the often lack of sense and logic. And of course, much more- so a track I’ll most certainly be revisiting down the line.
Otherwise, on the new side Les Frissons d’un requiem (39.05) French in-depth doc on making the film by Rollin’s personal assistant, Daniel Gouyette, featuring interviews with key Rollin associates Jean-Noël Delamarre and Natalie Perrey, and film expert Daniel Bird. The Poetry of Strangeness (7.15) this finds author and film historian Virginie Sélavy discussing the film. We find out its original title was Virgins And Vampires, but this was changed by the film’s producer. She talks about how the film grew from two scenes the director had in mind- two clowns running away in the countryside, and someone playing a piano in a cemetery. She discusses the film's main location, and how Rollin was trying to create a feeling of poetic strangeness with nudity. She touches on how one of the vampires’ challenges gender issues, and how the film has a more melancholic tone than other vamp films.
On the archive/ newly edited archive material, we have the following: Selected scene commentary from Rollin (21.05) a 1998 intro to the film by Rollin (4.45). In A Silent Way (7.46) interview with Rollin, where he discusses Requiem for a Vampire, a personal favourite of his films. Queen of the Underworld (8.22): an interview with actor Louise Dhou. A Pastoral Dalliance (3.12): an interview with actor Paul Bisciglia. The Last Book (8.44): an interview with Rollin, in which he talks about his work as an author and reads from one of his short stories. Alternative ‘clothed’ sequences. Original theatrical trailers. Image galleries: promotional and publicity material, and behind-the-scenes photography.
The finished release comes with an eighty-page book with a new essay by Maria J Pérez Cuervo, archival writing by Jean Rollin on the making of the film, an archival interview with the director by Peter Blumenstock, an extract from the film’s press book, an English translation of Rollin’s story ‘The Last Book’, and full film credits.
If you’ve never seen a Rollin film, I’d say Requiem For A Vampire is a great introduction to the director's distinctive take on filmmaking. And even if you have seen/ have this in an early edition- it's well worth picking up this new release- with its classy new 4k print, a fine/interesting selection of extras, and of course the eighty-page book.