qmtv Interesting story, but needed more work. Good cinematography, acting and music. Very Atmospheric I saw this in French with English subtitles. So the I'm sure the story was lost during translation or I missed some things. The best part of the movie is the atmosphere. It has good acting and music. Cinematography was good. Best scene was when Millarca was stalking the victim girl. The ending was a bit of a mess, with the black and white, operating table. That needed more work.My initial rating was 6 stars, because the story needed more work. I still believe that. While watching the movie my thoughts were that Carmilla was not supernaturally possessed by Millarca but was psychologically possessed, thinking in her own mind that she was possessed. This is a much more interesting story.Rating is a B-/B, it needed more work. 7 stars.

Michael_Elliott Blood and Roses (1960) ** (out of 4)Bram Stoker's Dracula will always be the best known vampire tale but Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" had a pretty big run of films in the 60s and 70s. In this film, Carmilla (Annette Vadim) gets jealous for the love of her cousin (Mel Ferrer) and soon she visits the tomb of a former relative who just happened to be a vampire. Before long Carmilla is transformed and goes after what she wants. I know director Roger Vadim has a strong following out there but I've always been left rather cold by his horror films. I guess horror films would be too insulting because this film (as well as SPIRITS OF THE DEAD) are more art-house than anything else. To be fair, I viewed the American version of this film, which runs around 13-minutes shorter than the French version and it's also dubbed. With that said, I'm really not sure the added scenes would have helped this movie as it appears they were mainly a prologue and epilogue. I'm really not sure what Vadim was going for here except that he wanted to bring some sort of beauty to the story. He does manage to do this with a couple good scenes including one dealing with a dying rose but outside of this I thought he sucked the film dry of any energy. Even at just 74-minutes the film seems to drag in spots and there's not an ounce of energy to be had anywhere. The performances are good for the most part but these here aren't enough to save the picture. Those who enjoy the French art pictures from this era might enjoy this but others should check out THE VAMPIRE LOVERS for a much better telling of the story.

ebiros2 I'm a fan of director Roger Vadim's movie. They have vividness that's uniquely his. This movie is no exception. The details are superb, and eroticism shown can only be put on screen by a genius who's born with talent. The thought provoking plot is built into the picture itself. The mood , the camera angle, all tells a story while heightening the mood. It's an art that I wish more Hollywood directors would learn how to do.Anette Vadim is beautiful in this movie. Obviously Roger Vadim knows how to pick his women.The movie has lavishness, and esprit that more modern movies can't emulate. The movie is low on technical sophistication, or overt gore of vampirism, but you need to see it to appreciate how interesting, and beautiful this movie is.

The_Void When one thinks of an influential vampire story, obviously it will always be Bram Stoker's Dracula that springs to mind; but much less well known is Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novella 'Carmilla', which was published in 1872 and has influenced a whole host of films - everything in the 'lesbian vampire' sub-genre owes itself to this story. Aside from rubbish such as most of the films made by French director Jean Rollin, there are some very notable lesbian vampire movies; Daughters of Darkness, The Blood-Splattered Bride and Vampyres being the best among them. Blood and Roses is apparently the first 'faithful' film to be based on the novel. The plot focuses on the Karnstein family, who live in a big castle. We find out pretty early that there is a history of vampirism in the family. The main character is the beautiful young Carmilla; who is attracted to her cousin Leopold. However, Leopold is engaged to be married, leaving Carmilla bitter and jealous. Her jealousy leads her to an old tomb; apparently the resting place of her vampire relative, and soon the young girl is possessed by the vampire.Before seeing this film, I was surprised that there aren't more films based directly on this classic book; but after seeing it, I'm actually not all that surprised. I haven't read the original source material, but I know that the story is not very long and as such there is not much to it. The result of that is a film that feels like it could have been more. I don't doubt that director Roger Vadim could have added more had he wanted to; there is certainly scope for a vaster story and the gap left by the fact that there isn't a lot of blood and lesbian activity is a real shame. The film does have its positive elements, however. The director succeeds in giving the film a surreal dreamlike atmosphere that compliments the story very well indeed. The acting is good enough, although the film does feature far too much talking. Annette Vadim (wife of the director) is striking in the lead role. Overall, this is an obscure film and while hardcore lesbian vampire fans may want to track it down for completion purposes; I really wouldn't recommend that anyone goes too far out of their way to get it as there are a lot of better films that are similar to this one.