Las uvas de la muerte

THE GRAPES OF DEATH is Director Jean Rollin's gory, gushy chemical-zombie movie. Far more grim and gruesome than most Rollin offerings, there's less nudity as well. There are no real instances of surrealism or metaphysical irony here. This is a straight horror film. The title comes in, since the trouble starts in a vineyard where pesticides turn a man into a murdering monster who attacks a passenger train. A female survivor finds herself at the very same vineyard. More terror ensues. One of Rollin's best efforts, complete with some actual chills. Great, bloody fun for the fear freak!...

Fans of Jean Rollin will not be disappointed. This film capitalizes on many of the staples that make his films unique. There is a pretty gal traveling all over the French countryside facing peril, atmospheric and lingering cinematography, a quirky soundtrack, breasts, a tragic love story, and plenty of surprises to keep viewers guessing. Add the special appearance by the lovely Brigitte Lahaie and you've got a winner, but certainly lacking the cohesion (though wildly subversive and surreal -- though not so bizarre as Jess Franco's pictures) and tension of some of his more successful ventures like La Morte Vivante (The Living Dead Girl), Requiem for a Vampire, The Shiver of the Vampires and others.

Jean Rollin's "Grapes of Death" is a refreshing living dead poem, and an effective low key horror film from France's gentleman auteur.

After Elizabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal) encounters a rotting man and the corpse of her traveling companion on a deserted train, she flees into the countryside where she must battle a plague of the sad, tortured dead. The "grapes" of the title relate to the cause of the spreading problem.

Rollin's films have always found horror and dread in rural landscapes and crumbling architecture; in "Grapes" the fascination with these elements continues and is intensified by suitably evocative photography. Despite some ropey focus and action sequences that don't quite cut smoothly, this is the director's most technically polished work and an important addition to French "cinefantastique".

Although the plot line bears some similarity to Romero's "The Crazies" and the visuals pre-date the recent dead-on-arrival French "Revenants" (see review), Rollin does not run this show along traditional genre lines. Instead, he has the heroine Pascal encountering a blind woman who is oblivious to the contagion and a recluse (Brigitte Lahaie) who may be her savior in a white nightie. Elizabeth's final reunion with her boyfriend has a sad, tragic quality that becomes, like the rest of the film, quite surreal.

There is sporadic gore and the violence is shockingly sudden in parts, but Rollin's trademark dream-like pacing and social commentary are there to be enjoyed and appreciated.

A bleak gallic version of 'Night of the Living Dead', except that this time the victims remain horribly sentient and resemble lepers rather than zombies.

The makers probably had the outbreak of mass psychosis at Point-Saint-Esprit in 1951 in mind (which was caused by ergot in the local bread rather than pesticide in the local wine as depicted here).

I saw this for the first time recently. The film's gore may remind viewers of Fulci. The settings may remind of Who Can kill a Child and Tombs of the blind Dead. The film has lingering shots of oozing stuff n nasty ulcers, it has nudity, a decapitation n hell lottuva weirdness. Dont worry about the oozing ulcers, we have porn actress Brigitte Lahaie, who doesnt hesitate to undress. In one scene a woman is shown wearing a red shirt n the next she is shown wearing a braless gown. The best part about this film is Jean Rollin's exquisite cinematography and surrealistic atmosphere throughout.