Customer Reviews

Lips of Blood

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've just begun to explore the Euro-horror genre, with Lips of Blood being one of the best so far. Interesting visuals (including attractive semi-nude female vampires), effectively somber mood and pacing, and a strong element of mystery, all serve to make this Rollin film worth seeing. However, if you are really into lots of gore and sex in horror films, this is one to skip.

-The quote is from the film...

LIPS OF BLOOD (1974) is Jean Rollin's best film.

Like Jess Franco, Rollin is a flawed genius. In the films of these two unusual directors, we see infrequent flashes of brilliance mixed with mediocrity. In this particular film, the flashes of brilliance win out over the lesser powers.

The cinematography is very good. The haunting Paris night scenes (both in cemeteries and in dilapidated urban areas) are particularly effective.

Rollin's screenplay is also good: a strange admixture of a psychoanalytic probing into the lost memories of a rather pathetic and emotionally numb man (who lives with his mother) with the bizarre element of the secret of vampirism as it has impacted upon his early life.

There is an excellent segment of the film (reminiscent of NIGHT OF THE HUNTED) in which the rather disturbed mother has her son abducted and taken to a private mental hosptial for electroshock "therapy" rather than uncover his family's true history.

Interesting original score.

The DVD does not offer any extras (apart from a gallery of stills and a filmography of Rollin); this shortcoming is offset by the excellent transfer of the original print of the film. Very fine detail and rich colour.

Redemption has released the definitive version of Rollin's most haunting film of his repetoire. The Image Entertainment release of many years back had scratches and soundtrack noise. Not this one. Never has there been a more haunting vampire tale filmed than this gem. If you are looking for a fast moving gore fest, look elsewhere. Watch this artistic genius wave his 1970's brush across your high def monitor and make you yearn for surrealistic filmmaking such as this. Nobody does it better.

one of the best of it's kind. if you know rollin's work and appreciate it but haven't experienced this one then do yourself a favor and definitely give this one a look. if you don't know rollins then you should be warned that this is not just your typical horror flick. nobody does it like jean rollin and for fans this one delivers!

Jean Rollin is a name instantly recognizable to hardcore horror fans, yet meaningless to nearly everyone else. This ignorance is quite unfortunate because the French director concocted some of the sleaziest, most unusual films ever made during the 1970s and 1980s, films usually imbued with a disturbing mix of hypereroticism 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. After watching the phenomenal "Living Dead Girl," I finally stumbled over one of the man's lesser efforts.

"Lips of Blood" introduces us to Frederic, an urbane French guy who looks a lot like a young Richard Wright from Pink Floyd. At a party overflowing with Eurotrash, a small poster depicting a heap of ruins out in the countryside happens to catch his attention. As he stares at the picture, he flashes back to an unusual experience he had at the age of twelve. One night he wandered to the gates of this castle whereupon he encountered an attractive French girl with a Joan of Arc haircut named Jennifer. The two shared a platonic doze but somehow fell in love. After Frederic left the castle, he never saw either the building or the girl again. He forgot all about her until the poster reminded him of that halcyon evening long ago. He immediately confronts his mother, who is also at the party, about the event. She acts strangely about what he says but denies any knowledge of it. Enraged, Frederic begins a quest to discover if what he remembers really happened or if it is all a dream. Sure enough, he begins seeing an apparition of this girl, an apparition that appears and disappears at random. Frederic tries to pry information about the location of the castle from the photographer of the picture in the poster, but to no avail. Will he ever find what he's looking for?

Yes, he does find the place much to the chagrin of his mother and others. It turns out that the whole thing deals with a bunch of nubile vampires locked away for eternity, some in Paris and another one at that castle. Frederic inadvertently lets a few of them out, at which point they begin preying on the inhabitants of Paris. These vampires are not your normal, everyday draped in black pasty-faced blood drinkers. Oh no, these female Dracula types wonder about in diaphanous gowns charming the male population with their wares prior to delivering the fanged coup de grace. Moreover, the girl Frederic remembers plays a greater role in the larger group of vampires. The conclusion to the film constitutes the cheesiest vampire hunt I have ever witnessed. Imagine a bunch of shaggy French guys walking around after female vampires as they clutch stakes. Walking! Not running, not slinking, but walking! The vampires, for their part, are the wimpiest vampires in film history. Instead of exploding into a murderous rage, or at least turning into bats, they shriek with terror when they see these guys carrying stakes and run away. Harrumph, I say! There's a surprise after these scenes that I won't spoil for you except to say it's a bit silly. But silly is this film's middle name.

"Lips of Blood" is a cheap and cheesy piece of enjoyable schlock. If you must absolutely see it no matter what the cost, prepare to be underwhelmed. Most of the film consists of these long, pointless tracking shots of urban slums or the countryside. Rollin films his characters walking or running for what feels like hours. By the way, what's up with Paris? I thought people called this place "The City of Lights." Not in "Lips of Blood," where nearly every cityscape lies clothed in darkness. Maybe the French power workers were on strike the week Rollin made his film. At least the picture quality is good enough to discern what's going on in the dark. And speaking of picture quality, "Lips of Blood" definitely has that distinct Rollin look and feel. It is the sparse atmosphere of this movie, along with the French women, that ultimately turned my frown upside down. Yep, I liked the movie well enough even though almost nothing interesting happened. Whether you like it or not will depend on your tolerance level for slower pacing, cheap set pieces, and ridiculous acting.

Redemption's DVD contains the usual racy introductory footage, a Rollin filmography, and nothing more which is surprising considering the "Fascination" and "Living Dead Girl" discs had stills and trailers. In French the film's title is "Levres de Sang," and while there is a bit of the red stuff on a few pairs of lips, there's not much else to see. Rollin fans will want the disc, but the uninitiated should probably check out "Fascination" and "Living Dead Girl" first to see if this filmmaker is their cup of tea.

Lips of Blood is the story of one ugly (I'm talking Masculine Medusa) man searching a suddenly nightmarish world (inhabited by vampires and their sadistic hunters) for the mysterious woman he met, and fell in love with, as a young boy. There are some truly gorgeous moments in this (a dead photographer sprawled out in an aquarium display is a masterpiece of stylized blocking) and some that are just plain weird (a naked vampire shouting nonsense at the edge of a cliff). Recommended for those who like horror surreal and moody. Those who want action and/or plot are better off looking elsewhere.

This run-of-the-mill slice of 70's exploitation declares its style early on when one of the female leads comes down the stairs stark naked saying "Now where did I leave my skirt?" Nudity in abundance is the purport and it sets out to deliver, ensuring that skin is amply displayed as the loopy gothic plot unspools.

It's locked solidly into the style of the genre. The acting is oppressive, the special effects consist mainly of blood capsules, and the plot is a contrivance to hang the nudity on.

It's of passing interest that the cast includes some losers of French X-rated movies in supporting roles.

of the jean rollins dvds i've seen this is the best , the picture quality is fine. I've got no problem with Jean Lou Philippe, I watched it in French and couldn't understand a word, but there is not much talking anyway. The streets of paris are bathed in a blue light and the castle shots are nice. The woman in white has a hella good body too.

If it's fangs and lots of blood-drinking, this is not your film. Most of the vampirism is very understated... the vampire stalks a prey and turns back to camera to feed; that sort of thing. Be warned: the cover art is not taken from the film.

Levres de Sang/Lips of Blood...
A man recalls an experience as a boy at a castle when he meets a hauntingly beautiful woman. Somehow he's only reminded of this upon seeing a postcard of the castle. He then seeks to track it down, called on by visions of her. His mother tries to stop him, but he eventually is reunited with his pale ageless love.

Rollin later re-edited this film, inserted lots of hardcore porn, and re-released the X version under the title of "Suck me Vampire".

do not buy this movie it sucked really bad made no sense at all