The Rape of the Vampire (3½ Stars)

This 1968 film was the first full length film made by French director Jean Rollin. Maybe we can excuse him for packing a five-hour plot into a 90-minute film. So much is going on, and there are so many characters that it's difficult to follow all the details. But let's try to summarize it:

Four sisters have been living in an old French castle for 500 years. In the old days noblemen used to practise their swordsplay with them because they knew the girls would stay alive if they were stabbed. They are hated by the superstitious villagers. Fifty years ago the villagers attacked them, raping one of the vampires and blinding another.

A psychiatrist and his two assistants visit the castle to persuade the sisters that they aren't really vampires. He proves to them that they can't be harmed by sunlight or crosses. He then asks one of the sisters to bite him as the final proof, but this turns him into a vampire. The villagers attack the castle killing all the vampires... or so they think.

After the slaughter at the castle a vampire queen arrives from overseas. One sister is saved after an operation in a private clinic where the surgeon specialises in treating vampires. Another sister and the psychiatrist are revived when blood from a corpse drips onto them. At this point it becomes confusing. The vampire queen is planning a wedding which will somehow assure the ultimate victory of vampires over mortals. The surgeon is betraying the queen by searching for an antidote to turn vampires back into mortals. I won't even talk about subplots which run alongside, distracting us from the final battle between the vampire queen and the surgeon.

Is it a good film? Yes and No. It's very artistic, and we see examples of the psychedelic imagery that Rollin uses to perfection in his later films. But the plot is much too confusing. Rollin could have made it a better film by throwing out half of the characters and the minor plotlines. Even the rape itself, after which the film is named, is irrelevant to the later happenings in the film. Rollin fans, such as myself, will want to have this film in their collection, but his later films are better, such as "The Nude Vampire" (1970), "Lips of Blood" (1975), "Two Orphan Vampires" (1997) and "Dracula's Fiancee" (2002).

But Jean Rollin's career is now over. He passed away on December 15th, 2010. He was a unique artist of cinema who can never be replaced. Rest In Peace.