Stevieboy666 A dashing young thief makes off with some gold coins and takes refuge in a stunning chateau, seemingly occupied by two beautiful women. But being a horror movie (and a French one at that!) things are not what they may seem.. I am no expert on Jean Rollin but I have seen a number of his horror movies, all of which I have enjoyed, and this one is probably the best. Plot wise it's pretty basic and perhaps a tad slow but is broken up by welcome sex scenes, for which Rollin is renowned. It stars a bevvy of beautiful women but Brigitte Lahaie is simply stunning, with and without clothes. Worth watching for her presence alone. It is also beautifully filmed, great use is made of it's main location, giving a nice dream-like gothic look. And the vampires are not your typical ones either, giving the film more credibility. Some horror fans may find it slow but it had me captivated and I will certainly being watching it again. I saw the UK Redemption release, apparently passed uncut. However the trailer in the disc's extras actually showed more nudity, not present in the film. I'm a little confused by that but live in hope that there may be a more "explicit" version out there! essential viewing for fans of Euro horror.

Bonehead-XL Highly regarded by hardcore Rollin fans, "Fascination" is a break from the arty vampire flicks he's best known for… Sort of. The director actually seems more interested in telling the story then nudity and pretty images. It's by far the most polished of his films I've seen.Which isn't to say it doesn't feature his trademarks. In the late 1800s, a thief swipes some coins from his fellow thieves. Despite the female tempting him with her heaving bosoms, he continues into the forest with his loot, the others in pursuit. Eventually, he comes to an isolated lake-surrounded château, home to two mysterious women. The girls immediately manipulate the guy, doing everything they can to keep him there until midnight. The girls, lesbian lovers and master seducers, keep whispering about a mysterious ritual. What does this have to do with the opening scene of a woman drinking ox blood for her anemia? It's a highly erotic film. I counted three sex scenes and there's far more nudity. The girl, locked in a room, enjoy each other's company, caressing one another's backs and suckling each other's breasts. A pretty hot scene, especially since Franca Mai and Brigitte Lahaie are gorgeous. Eva, the blonde, seduces the young man into another stimulating scene and, later on, she is forced into servicing one of the other thieves in a stable. Despite being more plot-focused, it's still fair to say the film crosses over into soft core porn.The horror elements slowly work their way in. The most famous scene involves Lahaie, clothed only in a black robe, swinging a giant scythe, an eroticized version of the Grim Reaper. Murder shows up more then once, bloodily slashing through the subplot. Once night falls and black fog rolls over the lake, a cult of women appear and the movie turns out to be a vampire story after all, of sorts. So if boobs are distracting and you're wondering when the horror will show up, be patient.A woman in white standing in butcher's shop, the walls and floors covered with blood, is the first striking image. Eva writhes on the bridge in a see-through pink dress. Faces, half-bathed in shadow, peer around a wooden plank. So, no skimping on the visuals. What there isn't any of is funny camp or over-the-top pretensions. That's good and fine and probably makes the movie highly accessible, but it also makes it a little less fun. Mai and Lahaie both give good performances and Rollin keeps his embarrassing tendencies under wrap. I can certainly recommend "Fascination." But I actually think I like the director's work better when he's trippier and goofier. We'll see how that opinion evolves as I continue my journey.

chaos-rampant Sooner or later anyone doing the rounds of horror is confronted with Rollin; the sensually paced, purely ephemeral wanderings around mansions or cemeteries, at least in his better films, pale naked skin dripping with blood, almost always. It is relatively easy to deal with them, with none of the hard anchors in story or characters one either concedes to dream with him or not.So yes, largely nonsense in conventional terms, here about a man who is stranded in a secluded château with a host of beautiful women who are waiting for midnight to perform a mysterious ritual, but attached to a poetry of images.The frequent comparison is to Jess Franco; but whereas Franco at his best intuited feverish images that always seemed to zoom at the verge of cacophony, Rollin exhibits painterly control over his. His gaze is methodical, attuned with the aural qualities of film; notice here for example how the winds howling outside the mansion stop and start every time someone opens a door.It's simple really, the ritual a tone poem about the unveiling of naked beauty. The twist, if it can be called that, is that what we expect to be vampires imbued with some supernatural capacity are only women lusting for blood. The man - our surrogate viewer in the midst of beauty - is lusting himself and so concedes to be part of the dream.

MARIO GAUCI This is the seventh Rollin film I've watched, after THE IRON ROSE (1973; still his finest work), THE DEMONIACS (1974; the least among his vintage efforts), LIPS OF BLOOD (1975; another good one), THE GRAPES OF DEATH (1978; not bad), THE LIVING DEAD GIRL (1982; one of his most compelling) and Fiancée' OF Dracula (2002; an unsatisfactory hodgepodge of ideas). This unusual 'lesbian vampires' film – of which the director made quite a few, though the only other such title I'm familiar with is the above-mentioned (and slightly superior) LIPS OF BLOOD – evokes much of the same atmosphere, not only of Rollin's work but of that of Jess Franco as well. In fact, the scenes depicting a scantily-clad Brigitte Lahaie walking the castle grounds (albeit armed with a scythe!) in search of victims brings to mind Lina Romay in the Spaniard's own (rather dismal) FEMALE VAMPIRE (1973)! One of Rollin's traits seems to be that of throwing modern-day characters (in this case a handsome but dumb crook) into essentially Gothic i.e. uncanny surroundings (the annual reunion at the château by a bunch of lovely ladies). The thief believes their mysterious activities to be of a sexual nature and decides to stick around, despite being warned by the two girls who came to the venue beforehand in preparation for the 'ceremony' that the only other male likely to appear is none other than Satan himself! Having the jaded aristocracy of another era indulge in odd rites (such as drinking ox's blood to treat anaemia!) is an intriguing notion – a group of depraved female members, then, decide to take the cure one step further and periodically resort to the intake of human blood (the revelation isn't all that surprising, but nicely handled just the same).An 'unexpected' development results when it's time to do in with the young man (his criminal associates, who were actually pursuing him after he ran away with the stash of gold, had already been swiftly dealt with by Lahaie's scythe). Though the latter had already been sexually involved with him, her companion believes she has fallen in love and, when the leader of the 'vampires' dispatches Lahaie to eliminate the thief, the other girl shoots her instead! Lahaie stumbles outside to the passageway and, with the spilling of the girl's own blood drawing her 'anaemic' cohorts, they feast on her indiscriminately! The thief pleads with his savior to flee the cursed place together – but, on relating to him their back-story, she realizes that the 'call of blood' is too strong for her to ignore… Inevitably, the film has all the trademarks of Rollin's style (and, by extension, the whole "Euro-Cult" vibe): lethargic pace, an effective score and – it goes without saying – plenty of naked women (even if, save for Lahaie's unmistakable looks, most prove interchangeable due to the film's essential dearth of characterization!). All of this ensures a haunting and often beautiful piece of work though, not necessarily, a fulfilling {sic} one; by the way, the DivX copy I acquired (which also regrettably displayed brief instances of pixellation) bafflingly omitted any form of credits either at the start or the conclusion – not even the film's very title is anywhere to be seen