Les démoniaques

I have a problem with Jean Rollin films. Despite all the stylish surrealism, great French locations and nudity I still find his films incredibly boring. I do appreciate Rollin's persistence of vision throughout his string of poetic sex/horror exploitation films through the 70s (clowns, castles, twins, beaches) but my mind begins to wander during his films and this is no exception. The plot follows a dream logic known only to the director with too much time spent watching these sailors fight, rape or just sit in a bar. The one female in the sailor gang really does inject some gusto into the her part though.

If you are here for the rape, you have wasted your time. The scenes are a joke. Even worse, the supposed killing of the two girls (Lieva Lone, Patricia Hermenier). The acting was atrocious.

Now, if you want to see Joëlle Coeur (Fly Me the French Way, Seven Women for Satan) fully naked, and engaging in sex with John Rico, that's a whole other story.

The Captain (Rico) hardly has time to enjoy the aftereffects when he is visited by apparitions of the two girls. Maybe it was just the booze.

The girls do eventually reappear only to escape and find an old castle guarded by, believe it or not, a clown. Not a court jester, but a clown. Strange.

They go through the transformation to become demoniacs, and, I am glad to say, sex is part of the transformation. Yes, there is the usual mumble jumble ritual, but there is also orgasm.

Don't expect a lot of gore in this film. It really doesn't make sense in a lot of scenes. You'll see what I mean. I think Rollin may have been trying to make an art film instead of a horror film.

It is a shame that Lieva Lone and Patricia Hermenier did not stick around to do more films, but another chance to watch Joëlle Coeur is always worth the time.

Demoniacs, The (1974)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Four crooks (three men, one woman) work as "wreckers" as they lure ships to the shore only to make them crash on the rocks so that they can loot them. The latest ship had two beautiful women (Lieva Lone, Patricia Hermenier) wash up on shore so they're raped and eventually killed. The two women then sell their souls to the devil so that they can come back and kill those responsible for their fate. This French-made horror tale isn't the best that director Jean Rollin has to offer but there are enough interesting moments to make it worth viewing to fans of his. Those unfamiliar with the director will probably want to start elsewhere because while this has some good stuff in it, at the same time you can't help but be disappointed that it's not better. The biggest problem with the film is that the 95-minute running time seems a lot longer and there are way too many scenes where nothing happens except people just walking around doing nothing. There's no point of them walking around as it adds nothing to the story so it would have been best had the director just edited these out. I'm not sure if he was under pressure to release a film at a certain length but his slow style certainly doesn't help here. Another problem with the film is that it never really seems to know what it wants to be. Is it a ghost story? Is it more concerned about the sex and nudity? When the Devil does show up and make his deal nothing really plays out as you'd expect. There's even a bizarre clown thrown in for some reason. Perhaps Rollin just thought clowns were scary? The best thing going in the film are some of the performances by the beautiful ladies. I thought both Lone and Hermenier were very good playing the roles of the dead girls. The film certainly doesn't ask too much out of them except, for a time, to be scared and at other times being "death" like and they do this just fine. The real scene-stealer is Joelle Coeur as the beautiful but deadly female wrecker. She's certainly very fun in the role and her beautiful body really doesn't hurt either. Fans of Jess Franco will want to be on the lookout for Monica Swinn but I was unable to spot her. Being a Rollin film one can expect all sorts of nudity and we also get some mild gore but nothing strong enough to keep horror fans interested. The low-budget seems a lot smaller than most of Rollin's work and one can't help but wish a little more was done with the story.

Dear oh dear. It might be easy to take cheap swipes at M. Rollin, but this looks likes such an amateurish effort. Terrible acting, contrived and sloppy action, meandering plot, cheap props. I hate to twist the knife, but it certainly breathes new life into the expression "Z-grade".

The video blurb looked so promising - two girls raped by wreckers, take refuge in an abandoned abbey where they make a pact with the Devil to seek revenge. But Jean Rollin seems determined to disappoint. Way too much time is spent on watching people walking long distances, or labouring blindingly obvious plot developments (the psychic brothel madam excels at this!)

There is not nearly enough skin to compensate for having to sit through this, though some spiritied sex scenes do capture the attention. The biggest draw of the film for me was the female member of the wrecker gang (character Tina). I wish I knew who the actress was. Gorgeous, spirited, and great without clothes! Shame she can't act, but I may excuse her. I have a soft spot for beautiful girls who get sexually aroused by wicked deeds.

Bizarre points include the Devil's two attendants - a female clown, and a Rasputin look-a-like. And never did so much plaster statuary give its life for a movie!

In summary, only rent this video for the gorgeous female wrecker, fast forward through the rest.

(1974) The Demoniacs/ Les démoniaques (In French with English subtitles) PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR

Written and directed by Jean Rollin introduces viewers to four "wreckers" of Le Capitaine (John Rico), Paul (Paul Bisciglia), Tina (Joëlle Coeur) and Le Bosco (Willy Braque). And while they are salvaging a chest they pull from the beach, two blondes while wearing their nightgowns suddenly appear that look like they appear coming from the wreckage. The four of them then assault the two women before they kill them. And while the captain is drinking at a pub, he then sees images of them, before he is then informed that the two women are not dead but are still alive. They then go a stalking rant, especially Tina, and the two blondes continue running until they stumble onto the cursed ruin as they are greeted by a clown faced woman (Mireille Dargent). And she then introduces them to a L'exorciste Chadron (Ben Zimet). And it is him who introduces them to Le Diable (Miletic Zivomir) who is locked in a cell granting them powers to that they can exact their revenge. The only downside is that it last only until after the following morning.

If there is a reason to watch Jean Rollin movies and that is the nudity, that may be deemed too much for Hollywood censors and labelled as X rating the same as many soft core adult movies except that anyone to have seen this the make out and assault scenes looked fake and unconvincing. And out of all the women shown on this particular movie Tina happens to be the best looking one. I agree with the few reviewers who said that the movie starts out well, but then Rollins gears to boredom as it looked as if he made this movie as he is going along since it was supposed to be a film and not as a 45 minute stint. I can probably look at actress Joëlle Coeur nude all day and Rollins can only do this for so long. And anyone who were to look at her filmography, it does not appear Les Demoniacs is the only movie she is naked on.