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Fascination | Year: 1979 Classification: Foreign Film - French Directed: - Jean Rollin Rollin's finest! 7 female bloodsuckers descend on a chateau One of, if not the best Rollin flick. Rollin films are either real good (Fascination, The Shiver of the Vampires) or real bad (Night of the Hunted, Requiem for a Vampire). This one is superb. It goes above and beyond his other films in almost every aspect: plot (comprehensive and fluid all the way through), character development, character dialogue (yes, even Brigitte Lahaie has more than 5 lines in this movie), the true horror element (definitely his scariest and eeriest film), and suspense. The confrontation scene between the scythe wielding Lahaie and the female thief is very stylish and effective! In fact, Lahaie does very well in this movie, far above and beyond her awful turn in Night of the Hunted. I hated her in Night of the Hunted, loved her in this. A couple of down notes though, about the DVD. The quality of the transfer is not very good, with marks and splotches flying by in several scenes. Also, this isn't the DVD makers fault, but the theatrical trailer has several scenes which were really not in the film. I mean they were all scenes that were in the flim, but they were shot differently for the trailer. It seems Rollin used different takes for the trailer. Weird. Overall, the movie gets 5 stars, while the DVD quality would get only aobut 3 1/2. This film is scarier, wittier, more suspenseful, more original and more entertaining than any horror film I've seen released in the past 10 years. They simply don't make them like they use to, and probably never will. Fascination fascinates Okay, Jean Rollin is far from a great director, I suppose. He's really inept in some respects. For instance, the "action" and gunplay scenes at the beginning of this film are very amateurishly shot and staged. BUT (as Pee Wee Herman says, everybody has a big but) . . . Rollin is brilliant at creating a hypnotic, dreamlike atmosphere, and he has a real feel for surreal imagery. Rollin's a true original, his films truly aren't like anyone else's, and I award big points for originality. Fascination has basically no plot. A criminal on the run hides out in an old chateau and ends up the victim of a strange blood-drinking cult of women. That's about it. But believe me, you haven't lived until you've seen a half-naked Brigitte Lahaie wielding a scythe. Lahaie is a wonderful film actress. Besides being unusually sexy, she's blessed with real screen presence. If you're open to unconventional films, you owe it to yourself to check out Fascination, or any Jean Rollin films other than Zombie Lake. Eurosleaze classic Jean Rollin is a name instantly recognizable to hardcore horror genre fans, but meaningless to nearly everyone else. That is too bad because this French director concocted some of the sleaziest, most unusual films ever made during the 1970s and 1980s, films usually imbued with hypersexuality and bloody violence. I have often tossed Rollin's name around in impolite company with seeming aplomb even though I had never seen even one of the man's films. You read enough plot synopses about someone and you start to feel as though you know every intimate detail about their work. What I did hear from others about this director oftentimes did not bode well. He is apparently well versed in schlock filmmaking--which in and of itself is not a problem with me, a true lover of bad cinema--but several of his films continue to draw raves from a selected minority of genre fans. Well, I finally sat down with a Jean Rollin film, his 1979 effort "Fascination," and was pleasantly surprised with the results. As I viewed the film with a growing sense of intrigue, I began mentally composing a list of other films from this director that I should watch in the near future. "Fascination," set in rural France sometime in the early twentieth century, is a story about vampires. Initially, this plot did not interest me. Vampire films have been done to death over the years, and I rarely express any interest in this popular mainstream staple. I plunged ahead anyway. A gang of criminals roams the countryside, waylaying and robbing hapless travelers who happen to pass by. Simultaneously, at a nearby castle, a group of women who regularly drink blood in order to stay young plan a very special nocturnal gathering. These two seemingly diverse events converge in the form of Mark (Jean-Marie Lemaire), the leader of the band of robbers who suddenly decides to double cross his companions. In the ensuing chase, Mark barely escapes with his life by seeking refuge in the aforementioned castle. As his partners in crime lurk outside, Mark meets two young, beautiful women named Elisabeth and Eva in the castle (Franca Mai and Brigitte Lahaie respectively). At first, he holds them hostage, but he slowly lets his guard down as he gets to know these two on a personal level. Elisabeth and Eva keep mentioning a mysterious gathering of women about to take place in the castle this very evening, but Mark is too busy fending off his enemies outside to take much note of this talk. When the other women do show up, the criminal takes great joy in playing games with these enigmatic ladies. The conclusion of the film has several interesting twists and turns, but it is sufficient to say that several members of the cast meet their doom by the time the credits roll. What I liked best about "Fascination" is the style. If I had to choose something to compare with Rollin's film, I would say Paul Morrissey's "Blood for Dracula" and "Flesh for Frankenstein" most closely resemble "Fascination." The set pieces Buy Fascination at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Fascination Search with the Priority Search Engine on Fascination This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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