Les démoniaques

A group of shipwrecked sailors brutally rape two young woman and the woman re-emerge after making a pact with the devil to get their revenge.

More of the same from Jean Rollin. The music is improved here, but the plot makes practically no sense. Some people have tried to defend the film by saying it should be seen as an "art" film. Rollin does indeed have a unique view of art.

If you want to see more of the same nude women and pointless sex scenes, this is for you... but as far as plots go, this is not one of Rollin's stronger films. But it does have a clown... so, I guess that might be good?

A Jean Rollin without vampires, but not without mediocre performances, naked skin, sometimes unbearable sexual violence, leisurely minimal plot progression and a gothic atmosphere. As always in the 70s creative phase, this looks largely well filmed, but clearly sets itself apart from the mainstream with its choice of themes, tastelessness and outlandish ideas. In 'Les Démoniaques', a ghost story and a rape and revenge plot mix to create a surreal horror tale. It is clear at all times that the work originates from a time of creative freedom and that one or two substances were probably involved. Rollin is and remains a genre of his own, a thoroughly talented artist who suffers from his strange world of thought and limited staging resources. A confused poet with a fragile pen who constantly blurs the boundaries between magic and rubbish.

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.

The first scene on the beach with the young girls rape and attack is very good and the next one in the bar with them appearing as ghosts too... Unfortunately the movie doesn't go on like that all the time. There are good and bad moments but the scenes of nudity with Joelle Coeur are erotically very good. The story of the demon in the ruins doesn't appear very clear, nor does the clown's and the ruin's keeper destinies... But all in all there is a good atmosphere even if some scenes are a bit too long and some of them are great, like the one where the religious statues fall one after each other on the ground. Jean Rollin knows how to mix sex and horror, as well as many other authors of that 70's era. A good moment but that movie could have been better again...

This is not one Jean Rollin's greatest works, but it does have one shinning light, Joelle Coeur, the gorgeous female wrecker. Like all of Rollin's films (that I have seen) this one is full of all his artistic visions, but for some reason the film still seems slower in it's pace and is a little more difficult to get into. Like all Rollin's film it's worth watching, but in this instance, only for the gorgeous Joelle Coeur.