The Shiver of the Vampires

Overbaked, maudlin, slow, laughable and, if you're in the right mood, sort of awesome. It's like a My Dying Bride album morphed into a french sexploitation/vampire-flick with ridiculous pretentions of philosophical depth. With lesbians, skulls and blood.

It's been a while but I can recall a slow paced film, and one loose on plot, oh, and plenty of naked bodies.

Strange visuals and interesting atmosphere can't save this slow, boring mess of a movie. This was my first Jean Rollin film and it might just be my last.

Damn this is stupid. Nail-the-camera-to-the-ground direction. I'll also never forget the moment where the vampire breaks in on the naked woman and the latter doesn't look even remotely scared even when touched. I guess Rollin and the boys counted on the target audience for this sort of thing never looking at the gal's face. Utterly pathetic

I liked the visuals and atmosphere, even if the direction itself was a bit staid at times. Lots of scantily clad women roaming around holding candles, and some bizarre observations and conversations between the characters held the interest, but it was a wee bit slow and daft to be truly memorable. It definitely had some style and charm, though.

Not only do you get Durkheimian insights into religious life as well as playful eroticism (Sandra Julien is very becoming), but also a killer soundtrack by Acanthus. It’s a lot of (depraved) fun!

There certainly isn't much of a plot here. It's a colourful film with some startling imagery, like a nude vampire emerging from a grandfather clock. and a groovy psychedelic rock score. It also has a lot of ponderous scenes with the vampire cousins pontificating endlessly. The latter had a marked tendency to overcome the former for me.