The Dark Side 'Rollin' Double Thrill Collection

I have to admit straight away that I've never been a fan of Jean Rollin's work - pretentious, arty and far too airy fairy for my taste buds but with the release of 'The Dark Side' magazines first foray into the DVD market I really couldn't resist giving the guys work another visit. Having been a long admirer of Allan Bryce's work with his 'Dark Side' magazine I was thrilled to hear that he was plunging into the DVD producing market and although I was slightly off put by the news that Rollin was to be the first selection for release I was lured in completely by the fact that this debut DVD was two include two full length features and a whole bundle of extra features - what DVD horror fan could resist? But what of the films themselves...

First up we get Rollin's very popular (and perhaps his most widely seen) 'Fascination'. The film opens with three immaculately dressed women gathering in a blood drenched slaughterhouse to sup on some fresh ox blood. As one of the ladies rubs the blood seductively around her lips their male host chastises her as this is supposed to be a serious remedy for their alleged anaemic condition. We then cut to a gang of surly thieves who after a successful robbery are discussing with their suave ringleader the plans for their newly acquired gold pieces. After attempting to hoodwink his common lackeys the savvy ringleader runs off and heads towards a nearby gothic chateau to hide until nighttime to elude his pursuing and now irate colleagues. Inside the house he comes across its two female inhabitants, Elisabeth and Eva (the very beautiful Brigitte Lahaie), who find his attempts at crooked masterfulness simply amusing as they turn on their girlie lesbian charms. Eva though starts to become smitten with their criminal guest and tries to warn him to leave the house before night falls, but with his ex gang members waiting outside this is a prospect he doesn't desire. Well, if you had the choice of heading outside to your potential doom or kicking back with Brigitte Lahaie and her chum what would you do? But there is a lot more to these two than meets the eye and as the film progresses we discover that Eva was right to try help him flee as the bodies start to pile up and the kinetic sexual energy rises also!

Before watching this latest release of 'Fascination' I must admit I'd found it on previous viewings many years before dreary and uninteresting but this time round I actually found it quite interesting viewing albeit still not a great movie by any means. My feelings on Rollin's work still haven't changed in all these years (I even walked out of the torturous festival screening of 'La Fiancée de Dracula' a few years back) and find all his movies to have an annoyingly pretentious arty air to them, in particular his obsession with girlie lesbo antics often leaves me cold. But 'Fascination' does actually have some nice stuff going for it, as well as a very welcome smattering of blood the fact that (the scythe welding) Brigitte Lahaie is present helps things no end, getting her clothes off at every opportunity and making out with all and sundry doing what she has always done best.

The fully uncut print looks amazing, a very clean sharp anarmorphic widescreen print with the original French audio and optional English subtitles. And for 'Fascination' alone there's some great extras in the films own sub-menu section: you'll find the films theatrical trailer, a lengthy interview with the gorgeous Brigitte Lahaie (discussing her involvement in Rollin's work) and two still galleries - the first being centred around the film itself (movie images and video art/promo material) and the second looks specifically at Lahaie with some great images including some from her work in the adult movie scene (though sadly none from my own favourite Lahaie film 'Parties Fines').

You would think that any company releasing a new anarmorphic release of 'Fascination' with as many nice extras would be more than enough for one disc but not here. Amazingly we also get offered another disc's worth when you head over to the second sub-menu for the other Rollin's feature 'Requiem for a Vampire'.

The film opens with young female robbers dressed as clowns (as you do) feeling the pursuing police following their latest robbery, shaking them from their tail the two retro jailbait girlies rob a roadside caterer (in a scene reminiscent of the work of Benny Hill!) and hide out in a nearby gothic château (recognise an ongoing Rollin theme here?) After some minor lesbo virgin fumbling, the girls fall into the hands of a local group of wannabe vampires who worship an old dying blood sucking count. You see this old count is in fact the last in a long line of vampires that is hoping to see his bloodline continued and with his faithful entourage in tow see the girls as potential additions to the clan (that is once they've shaken off the 'virgin' thing!)

'Requiem for a Vampire' like its double bill counterpart is again a mixed bag of genre viewing, in truth I found this one to be slightly more intolerable than 'Fascination' due to two key factors. Firstly, the virtually dialogue free running time drags along at a pace that's almost worse than getting your teeth pulled with not really much happening apart from folk wandering around aimlessly. Secondly, the two female leads typify for me Rollin's own fascination with what looks to be a bizarre obsession with young jailbait virginal girls indulging lesbo canoodling which seems to be his way of sating his own personal fantasies and let's face it, although Rollin is indeed a fine director he seems far more interested in this sorta thing than the actual blood and death horror genre. The one saving grace for 'Requiem' though is the old count himself, although laughably the vampires all have fangs that look as though they have been cut out from cardboard, the old vamp has the best lines (and background plot) of the film saving it from being a nothing but a test of endurance. In a way the old count character seems to be slightly mocking of the whole fake vampire thing in a pseudo commentary that reflects nicely on the real life goth vampire scene.

Again the anarmorphic widescreen print of 'Requiem for a Vampire' looks great (in fact like 'Fascination' has probably never looked better), though this has been slightly trimmed by the BBFC (of a short bondage sequence) the image is impressive and sharp throughout with the option of watching the film in either its original French language (with optional English subtitles) or dubbed into English. Extras wise you get a nice theatrical trailer and a tasty stills gallery selection of film images and promotional material from around the globe.

So it may be quite obvious that I'm in no way a big fan of Rollin's work but with this DVD debut from 'The Darkside' I've found a very worthwhile release that I'm surprisingly very pleased to have in my collection. Not only do you get two gorgeously presented anarmorphic prints of two of Rollin's movies (with a host of extra features) you also get so much more!

On the discs main menu screen you can select to watch a short intro sequence for this release by 'Dark Side' impresario Allan Bryce (obviously filmed on home video in his living room) where he discusses Rollin's work, it's nice to get to see Allan in action and not the old stock picture he has been using for years within his magazine editorial. There's also a nice sub-menu section for 'The Dark Side' magazine where you can access a still gallery of cover images for most of the magazines long run (with ordering details) as well as a section of the 'Dark Side' book line (all of which are excellent by the way) and an old advert for the mag (which is reminiscent of the sort of cheap ads you used to see in local cinemas back in the 70's).

But it is with the further 'Documentaries' sub-menu that this disc really comes to life. Here you get three (yes three) further lengthy documentary programmes that contain everything you'd ever need to know about Jean Rollin, his career and work. Firstly there's the excellent (and perhaps best of the bunch) 'Eurotika!' documentary 'Virgins and Vampires' (here kindly supplied by Mondo Macabro main man Pete Tombs), then there's a nice 35 minute documentary by Scooter McRae called 'Bloody Lips and Iron Roses' which may be familiar to folk that have Synapse's fine 'Grapes of Death' release and finally there's a half hour interview segment with both Jean Rollin and Brigitte Lahaie. So that's around another 90 minutes of further bonus viewing that even for a non-fan like myself found a fascinating insight to Rollin's surreal work. Easter egg fans will also be pleased to root out the hidden 'Grapes of Death' segment that includes both the French and German trailers for that particular movie.

Sure I'm no fan of Rollin's work but this stunning DVD debut from 'The Dark Side' has to be both fully congratulated and supported for its gutsy endeavour alone. Rollin fans will positively wet their pants at a release such as this and for the casual viewer like myself it's too alluring a package to miss out on. If you've not yet discovered the world of Jean Rollin then here's your perfect starting point, a simply fantastic disc and amazing value for money - just a shame about Rollin's work.

Review by Alan Simpson

'The Dark Side 'Rollin' Double Thrill Collection' can be ordered direct from The Dark Side by clicking here.