La vampire nue (1970)

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

Jean Rollin (story) &
S.H. Mosti (story) ...

Release Date:

May 1970 (France)

Genre:

Horror

Plot Keywords:

Surrealism | Female Nudity | Vampire | Gothic

Cast

Olivier Martin	...	Pierre Radamante
Maurice Lemaître	...	Georges Radamante
Caroline Cartier	...	Vampire
Ly Lestrong	...	Ly
Bernard Musson	...	Voringe
Jean Aron	...	Fredor
Ursule Pauly	...	Solange (as Ursula Pauly)
Catherine Castel	...	Georges' servant (as Cathy Tricot)
Marie-Pierre Castel	...	Georges' servant (as Pony Tricot)
Michel Delahaye	...	Grandmaster
Pascal Fardoulis	...	Robert
Paul Bisciglia	...	Butler
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
René-Jean Chauffard
Christine François
Olivier Rollin	...	Pierre Radamante (as Olivier Martin)

Also Known As:

The Naked Vampire
The Nude Vampire (USA)

Runtime:

Finland:85 min | France:90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | UK:18

Company:

Les Films ABC

Messy Jean Rollin vampire flick

French director Jean Rollin isn't exactly known for great films, and this confusing mess is one of the reasons why. One of the most confusing things about this production is the title. For a director who is well known for directing erotic films about lesbian vampires; you would expect a film with the word 'nude' in the title to be a particularly bare-breasted one; but in fact, there's not a lot of nudity here at all. Instead of erotic lesbian vampires with no clothes on; we've got a cumbersome plot about a man who wants to unlock the secret to immortality, a young woman whose affliction might hold the key and a suicide cult, who don't get to do much. The film starts off promisingly with a sequence that sees a young girl carried off by a mysterious bunch of people in masks under the watchful eye of a young French man, who also happens to be the son of a man of importance. Through his investigation, he soon discovers that this woman is not just a normal lady, and as he delves deeper into the cult; he discovers that cannot be killed by bullets, drinks blood and can't go out in daylight...sounds like a clear cut case of vampirism to me.

Jean Rollin keeps the fantasy atmosphere going throughout the film, but it fails to be interesting because the plot is so badly executed. It is possible to keep up with what's going on, but only because there's so many other films that follow similar plots to this one. The director seems to know that he's messed up the plotting too, as the climax is basically an excuse to explain the film to the audience. There is a twist thrown in at the end also; but the film would have been better without it. I guess this was Jean Rollin's attempt to be a little original, but it comes off as a ham-fisted attempt at such, rather than a logical continuation of the story. The cinematography is fairly neat, with lots of the plot taking place in suitably Gothic locations. The girls on board complete what is a pretty picture, and what Rollin's film lacks in logic and consistency, it somewhat makes up for in style. In the film's defence, it was made in 1969; which somewhat explains the lack of shocks but I can't recommend this movie as it doesn't have much about it that is worth taking note of.