La vampire nue

Following a strange encounter with a young woman, Pierre (Olivier Martin) begins snooping around the location where he last saw her and quickly uncovers a mystery leading all the way to his own father. See, Pierre's dad has kidnapped this vampire girl and is using his company in order to try to find out the secret to her immortality. This is director Jean Rollin's second vampire film but the first one that I've witnessed. I'm not sure it is entirely successful, but it clearly establishes some Rollin motifs. I did enjoy the dream-like staging even if it has a slumber-like pace at only 81 minutes long. As always, Rollin has a keen eye for the ladies and everyone here is downright gorgeous. Especially of note are the twin servants, played by real life twins Marie-Pierre & Catherine Castel. Rollin also has an equally good eye at catching some great images and the final half hour set in a picturesque château in the country features some really striking bits. Of course, you know he is going to work that beach in there too and the last few minutes feature that famous location (plus a dimensional jump and twist that reminded me a bit of PHANTASM).

Ahhhh... the title of the film cheapens it so much.

I watched this largely because the BFI endorsed it and I was looking for a cheap, silly 70s horror, much in the vein of Dario Argento. By and large, that's what I got. Great.

I was however, pleasantly surprised, that it tried to be a bit more than just a slasher/vampire film. There was a story to it but unfortunately, that story was a bit incoherent and ill thought through to really appreciate. It had roots but just, didn't exactly sprout.

A film with potential but in the end, I think they just accepted their place among the vast collection of horror B-Movies of the time.

Worth a watch at 1 in the morning but not a main feature film.

From the title and the opening sequence of 'La Vampire Nue' it looks like you're in for a dreamlike erotic nudie vampire flick ala Jess Franco (which is not a bad thing mind you!). Very quickly though it metamorphoses into something more complex, and difficult to categorize. The mysterious and sensual title character played by Caroline Cartier actually has very little to do on screen, but is the key to the mysterious events involving scientists studying immortality, and a surreal suicide cult. A young man discovers his father is somehow involved in a secret society who favour animal masks and (apparent) murder. When he investigates he finds that not everything is as it seems, and that the enigmatic, mute beauty at the centre of it may hold the key to the future of mankind's evolution. A very strange, poetic and unique piece of 60s exploitation, quite unlike any other. I was fascinated by the whole thing. Highly recommended to fans of the offbeat and unusual.

Pierre Radamante (Olivier Rollin) tries to help a beautiful young woman (Caroline Cartier) who is being pursued by people wearing creepy animal masks and brandishing guns. Pierre is unable to save the woman from being shot and captured. He follows the masked people to their headquarters- a club where his father, Georges (Maurice Lemaître), is a member. Pierre sets out to discover what is going on inside, and finds out that his father and his associates are experimenting on the beautiful woman: they believe she is a vampire and that, through her, they will be able to achieve immortality.

Jean Rollin's The Nude Vampire doesn't deliver on its title: she's never actually nude, always draped in one of the director's trademark pieces of coloured chiffon, and she's not even a vampire. What the film does deliver are plenty of seriously strange and surreal sequences, none of which make much sense, but which are so totally bizarre that the film still proves a fairly entertaining experience. The random weirdness includes a woman in a red wig and plastic nipple cones dancing to bongo drums, women with white faces, bindi dots and blue nipples, a pair of twins who dress in identical bizarre outfits, an artist's model who busily fondles her breasts, Georges' bizarre collection of mutilated toy dolls, rituals involving sacks placed over the head, and a suicide cult. But Rollin saves the best for last, the final scene (which takes place on the same beach that is in the majority of his films) involving inter-dimensional mutants who are the next step in human evolution.

The whole film is summed up perfectly by an exchange of dialogue between a couple of Georges' associates: "Do you understand any of this?" says the first guy. "Not really," comes the reply. It makes me suspect that Rollin knew what an incomprehensible mess this really was.

Bizarre vampire/sex fantasy about rich brat Martin, who stumbles upon secret bourgeois-like society, which conducts secret perverse ceremonies in a mansion rented by his father.

Let me say, this is a prime example of style over substance. While I am sure there is substance here (most of which does not make any sense), that is overshadowed by colorful costumes, strange alien vampires and just an array of unpredictable moments -- many connected in some way to nude women.

Best part of the movie? The chicks falling down the stairs. While one twin takes it pretty seriously, the other one is determined to reach the bottom step, even if she has to keep pushing herself. Sure, it does not look natural, but it got me chuckling a little.