Lips of Blood (1975)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Jean Rollin describes this as his best written film, but not his best screenplay. The reason for this is that a week before filming commenced, one of the producers decided not to be involved, and withdrew his funding. This meant that instead of four weeks filming allocation (already a pretty tight deadline), there was now only budget for three.So it is a surprise that this is as good as it is – and it is very good! It isn't flawless, of course. The vampires, although very effective, backlit in the distance, traces of blood on their lips, lose their effectiveness when close up due to the outsized fangs being a little too large (a common problem in Rollin's films, but not his first, 'Rape of the Vampire', in which the fangs were more subtle and effective) causing the actresses to appear to smile to reveal them.Also, at the end, when two vampires encase themselves in a wooden coffin that goes floating off to sea, it is worth remembering that running water is deadly to such creatures, so the hope is that the coffin is sealed. And yet I regret criticising that, because – as with all films by Rollin – the whole project is written and directed as a kind of dream-like fairy-tale, not bound by the limitation of rules, even vampire lore. Indeed, the scene at the end, typically filmed on 'Rollin's beach' is one of his best known, and is poetic and effective even now, fusing perfectly 'the beauty of obscenity'.So too, is the death scene of the Castel twins (featured on much of the accompanying merchandise). Despite being well known to fans of Rollin, Marie-Pierre and Catherine only appeared in two films together. This isn't quite as effective use of them as in the earlier 'The Nude Vampire', but they are still seductive and mesmerising and ethereal and sinister, all at once.The central performance by (co-writer) Jean-Loup Philippe as Frederic is very strong. Indeed, 'Lips of Blood' features one of Rollin's strongest casts. Frederic's ultimate decision at the film's close is a satisfying twist and once again successfully blurs the line between 'good' and 'evil', much as 'Dracula's Fiancée' did 22 years later.The locations are stunning and lovingly shot. The camera lingering over the enticingly-lit castle, with the (presumably dubbed) sound of whistling wind and thunder, accompanied by eerie flute music, is as atmospheric as anything from a big budget extravaganza. Kudos, also, for doing something very rare in vampire films (especially at this time) – actually using real bats. If this hugely impressive picture was done with a truncated budget, I truly wonder what could have been achieved were Rollin fully funded.Alongside 'The Iron Cross', this was the French director's least successful picture. Agonizingly, to bring it into profit, Rollin re-edited his work, adding scenes of a pornographic nature and renaming it 'Suck me, Vampire.' Yes, truly. Needless to say, the new version was a lot more profitable.

This erotic vampire film features a young man on a strange quest after recognizing a castle on a poster. He seems to remember the castle from his childhood and eventually finds it with the aid of a strange woman dressed in white.Where does Jean Rollin get his locations? Because I am pretty sure he used the same fence in the water from a previously film. Is this his own private shooting set? Or what? Also, for those of you who have seen the many naked women in his films and were asking where the naked men were, this might be the film for you. I mean, there is only one, and you have to squint, but he is there.

"Levres de sang" is one of my favorite Rollin movies. The French cult director often was strong on the visual side and created a dense, dreamlike atmosphere, in this case especially in the dark, deserted city streets, but "Levres de sang" also has a good story to tell about a voyage into the subconscious, a quest for love and death. Briefly, a young man rediscovers traces of his forgotten childhood: the familiar ruin of a castle a photographer has taken pictures of, a mysterious woman in white he believes he met many years before... and vampires who protect him, or so it seems! Needless to say that Rollin always had gorgeous (vampire) women in his films, but here also the male actor Jean-Loup Philippe deserves mentioning. He fills his role with the restless energy of a young Bruce Dern, almost the typical 70s rebel with a cause. A mesmerizing movie not to be missed!

Lips of Blood has a languid quality that could've registered as decadence had it been made with any wit whatsoever, but instead of wit the movie offers us this vapid literal-mindedness. The movie is played with such soft-core-porn straightness that it's impossible not to snicker at it. Director Jean Rollin is sometimes described as a fantasist, but his fantasies are strictly pedestrian. Who but a teenage Goth-nit-wit could find anything to savor in this somnambulistic tale of a pale guy with bad hair being menaced by some half-naked chicks with dime-store vampire fangs? The movie requires more than suspension-of-disbelief, it requires suspension-of-intellect.It's striking how amateurish and bereft of energy this movie is. Cult directors like Rollin are usually at least capable of some halfway decent staging, but there aren't even any images that stick with you, any trashy-iconographic moments. The problem is that Rollin himself doesn't seem all that charged up about his fantasies. Directors who deal in this kind of fetishistic material are usually at least somewhat interested in the subject-matter, but judging by this film Rollin could care less about vampires. The scenes all seem to plod on for hours with nothing happening, the cutting so flaccid that it's like we're being encouraged subliminally to nod off. Not a bad idea considering the display of cinematic indifference being carried out before us.