Grapes of Death (4 Stars)

Jean Rollin is best known for making vampire films. This was his only venture into the zombie genre. However, it retains all of his usual trademarks, such as beautiful scenery, psychedelic imagery and beautiful naked women. In some respects it could be argued whether the creatures really are zombies, since Rollin defines his own parameters. But then again, Rollin's vampire films all redefined the rules based on his current mood when shooting.

Elisabeth and Anna travel from Paris to a small village called Roubles in the middle of a wine-making area in the mountains. Maybe someone with a knowledge of French geography could tell me where this is. South or central France? Elisabeth is going to meet her fiance, Michel, while Anna is merely taking a vacation. Anna is killed by a zombie who boards the train shortly before reaching their destination, so Elisabeth stops the train and runs for her life. She soon finds out that almost everyone in the area is a zombie, due to the wine being infected after the grapes had been sprayed with a new pesticide.

The film is full of typical Rollinesque elements. When Elisabeth is lost in the mountains a blind woman has to guide her to the nearest village. Blind women are common in his films. The female zombies have less marks than the males, retaining their beauty despite small scars. In fact, the "queen zombie" (played by Brigitte Lahaie) claims to be infected, but she has no marks at all and acts like a normal person. She strips naked to lure the zombie-killers to their deaths.

This is a difficult film to rate. Maybe 4 stars is too generous. The film is chaotic, and it ends with a seemingly illogical twist. But I'm sure that anyone who enjoys Jean Rollin's other films will enjoy it.