Leofwine_draca This is a slow-moving art-house flick in the vein of other French blood-drinking classics such as DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. These films are obviously an acquired taste, but I found this to be delightfully creepy in a spooky kind of way. There isn't a plot as such, just a series of weird visual images directed in Jean Rollin's inimitable style. With these type of films the camera always stays static and there always seem to be femme fatales dressed in flowing white robes who somehow move in a magical slow motion.Surprisingly, for a flick of this kind, the acting is actually rather good, especially from the three leads. Lahaie manages to be sinister-looking and beautiful at the same time, which is no mean feat. This is a film which is high on atmosphere, and low on action. There's a lot of sex to spice things up, but the main focus of the film is the hypnotic women and their desire for something. This something is never explained until the ending of the film, making it very suspenseful.The ending isn't straightforward as you might think; instead, there's a clever twist in the tale which comes as totally unexpected. But the film works best when concentrating on some truly unique images - the best being the scene where a black-clad Lahaie goes on a killing spree with a scythe, quickly slaying those who stand in her way. The most disturbing scene would have to be the ending. This is a strange, frightening film which offers up no explanations as to why what we see occurs; it just happens. There is no happy ending, no linear plot to follow and no good or evil. Thus, it's a very interesting and rewarding film.

morrison-dylan-fan Taking a look round online for any info about French Horror films,I was intrigued to find out about a Horror movie auteur called Jean Rollin.Talking to a DVD seller,I was pleased to discover that he had recently tracked down a psychological horror title from Rollin,which led to me getting ready to start Rollin in the deep for the first time.The plot:1905-Running away with a bag filled with cash after failing to stage a successful kidnapping,Marc spots a castle that appears to be completely empty.With the towns folk chasing after him,Marc decides to rush into the castle.Searching around the place,Marc is delighted to not find anyone in sight.As he begins to relax,Marc hears a strange noise,and soon discovers that the castle contains 2 servants called Eva and Elisabeth,who say that they are looking after the castle whilst their employers are away in Paris.Pulling out a gun,Marc tells Eva and Elisabeth that they must not mess around with him,or he will kill them both.Taken by Marc's rugged appearance,Eva and Elisabeth begin to show their playful side,which leads to Marc dropping his guard.As all 3 of them start to become friends,Eva and Elisabeth give Marc the thrilling news that he will be the only man who will be attending a party that they are holding at the castle tonight,with Eva and Elisabeth announcing to Marc that the main guest of the evening will be death.View on the film:Opening with a shot of Eva and Elisabeth dancing on a bridge,above clear blue water,writer/directing auteur Jean Rollin gives the film an extraordinary mythical,very erotic atmosphere,with Rollin and cinematographer Georgie Fromentin expertly reflecting light off the actresses snow-like white dresses to building an enchanting Gothic Horror fairy tale mood.Along with the silky-smooth Fantasy appearance,Rollin and Fromentin also give the film a light satirical touch,as Rollin goes from showing the rich feed off themselves,To Marc's cash being covered in spots of blood.Featuring only 3 characters for most of the film,Rollin keeps the screenplay moving at a fantastic pace,thanks to Rollin placing Eva and Elisabeth's (almost) vampire Gothic Horror relationship at the centre,whilst using Marc's arrival to the castle to give the movie a tense rural Thriller backdrop.As the gusts to the party start to arrive,Rollin slowly reveals that the Marc,Eva and Elisabeth's care- free interactions actually contained a dark undercurrent,which leads to the movie delivering a deliciously sharp ending.Being given tough competition by being placed in between two beautiful actresses, Jean-Marie Lemaire shows that he is more than able to hold his own by delivering an excellent performance,with Lemaire showing terror to cut across Marc's face,as he begins to realise,that despite being the only one with a gun,Eva and Elizabeth are the real ones in charged. Walking around the castle in Rollin's distinctive dresses, Franca Maï and Brigitte Lahaie both give incredibly sensual,chilling performances as the enticing Eva and Elisabeth,which leads to Fascination being a truly fascinating experience.

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.

Paul Andrews Fascination is set in the year 1905 & starts (properly) when thief Mark (Jean-Marie Lemaire) double crosses a gang of crooks & runs off with a bag full of gold & the crooks in hot pursuit. Mark happens upon a large Château surrounded by water with only one bridge offering access, Mark feels this would make a perfect hiding place until the cover of night. Inside he finds two young attractive women, Eva (Brigitte Lahaie) & Elisabeth (Franca Mai) who just happen to be lesbians. Mark holds them hostage at gunpoint & has sex with one of them. Eva & Elisabeth try to convince Mark to stay for a mysterious reunion that they are having that very night, Mark sticks around, out of curiosity apparently, until the first guest arrives Helene (Fanny Magier). As four more female guests arrive it fast approaches midnight which seems to hold some significance that when Mark discovers what it is he wish he hadn't...This French production was written & directed by Jean Rollin & it didn't do much for me. While I respect other people's opinions that Rollin's films are artistic, dream like & visually stunning I don't think that about Fascination at all. Don't get me wrong there are some very nice shots & imagery in Fascination, Eva wandering around with a long robe & scythe being a particularly memorable scene, the pigeon loft scene is visually unusual & the Gothic Château setting is impressive & adds a great deal to the film, but overall I just felt it was cheaply filmed with Rollin lingering on shots & keeping his camera rolling for far too long, as a consequence at times this slows Fascination down to a virtual stand still. The one area that I do agree with the general opinion is that Rollin isn't particularly interested in story telling or a coherent plot which is a shame because if he put some of the effort that he puts in his visuals into a decent entertaining film than he'd have a winner on his hands. There is virtually no dialogue in Fascination & the plot is basic & somewhat predictable. One more thing I must state at this point is that there are no traditional Vampires in Fascination at all, no fangs, no stakes through the heart & no sleeping in coffins. There is some brief blood drinking but it's not for any sort of supernatural reasoning. I also found Fascination's exploitation elements lacking, maybe I was expecting too much but there is virtually no blood or gore & the sex & nudity seemed very tame, there is one lesbian scene & two sex scenes & that's your lot. Having said that these French women are very pretty & easy on the eyes. I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here but I just didn't find anything here to gain any sort of enjoyment from apart from some nice looking locations & a bit of nudity. Finally Fascination commits the fatal mistake of being boring & slow & at just under 80 minutes that's not a good thing to think, I can forgive almost anything as long as a film entertains me & Fascination simply didn't. I just can't imagine any regular modern cinema goer getting much from this arty mess.