The Shiver of the Vampires (4½ Stars)

This is my horror film #11 for October. It's a film made in 1971 by the undisputed king of vampire films, Jean Rollin. This was his third vampire film after "The Rape of the Vampire" and "The Nude Vampire". The imagery is stunning from beginning to end. In this film he also experiments with psychedelic music that sounds very mid-60's-ish. As far as I remember this is the only film in which he used this type of music for the soundtrack.

Antoine and Isle have just got married. Isle is still in her wedding dress. They're driving to Italy on her honeymoon, but Isle wants to make a detour to the castle where her cousins live, who she hasn't seen since she was a young girl. She has vague memories of them being strange but interesting. Later in the film we find out the reason for their strangeness: they are vampire hunters. Or at least they used to be. Since Isle last saw them they failed to kill a vampiress and have become vampires themselves. They now share their castle with three vampiresses.

Isle is obviously an old-fashioned girl who has remained a virgin until marriage. The marriage is never consummated. On the wedding night she leaves her husband to follow one of the vampiresses, who then becomes her lover. Antoine then has to fight to win his wife back.

This is a film that you will either love or hate, like all films made by Jean Rollin. The plot is complex and not easy to follow. With the exception of the two cousins, the vampires hardly speak. The strength of the film is in the visual beauty and the moods created. It takes place in a beautiful castle outside a beautiful village and surrounded by beautiful scenery. And the beautiful vampiresses frequently lose their clothes. I consider Jean Rollin to have been a genius. His films can't be easily categorised because nobody else has ever made films like him.