Les Raisins de la mort (1978)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Bouyxou (story)
Christian Meunier (screenplay)

Release Date:

5 July 1978 (France)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A young woman discovers that the pesticide being sprayed on vineyards is turning people into killer zombies. |

Plot Keywords:

Pesticide | Crucifixion | Pitchfork | Sadism | Chemical

Cast

Marie-Georges Pascal	...	Élisabeth (as Marie George Pascal)
Félix Marten	...	Paul (as Felix Marten)
Serge Marquand	...	Lucien
Mirella Rancelot
Patrice Valota
Patricia Cartier
Michel Herval
Brigitte Lahaie		(as Brigitte Lahaye)
Paul Bisciglia
Olivier Rollin
Françoise Pascal
Evelyne Thomas
Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
Jean Rollin

Also Known As:

Pesticide (France)
The Grapes of Death (International: English title)
The Raisins of Death (International: English title)

Runtime:

Germany:85 min | USA:90 min (uncut version)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:(Banned) | West Germany:18 (nf) (cut version) | France:-16 | UK:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Films A.B.C.

Trivia:

According to director Jean Rollin while shooting the nude scene with actress Brigitte Lahaie the outside temperature was so cold that Lahaie couldn't speak her lines.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During the long zoom in the scene where Élisabeth meets the blind girl at the deserted valley, a man can be seen walking in the distance.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Das geheime Kino (2007)

Rollin unearths fresh rural dread in surreal zombie poem

Jean Rollin's "Grapes of Death" is a refreshing living dead poem, and an effective low key horror film from France's gentleman auteur.

After Elizabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal) encounters a rotting man and the corpse of her traveling companion on a deserted train, she flees into the countryside where she must battle a plague of the sad, tortured dead. The "grapes" of the title relate to the cause of the spreading problem.

Rollin's films have always found horror and dread in rural landscapes and crumbling architecture; in "Grapes" the fascination with these elements continues and is intensified by suitably evocative photography. Despite some ropey focus and action sequences that don't quite cut smoothly, this is the director's most technically polished work and an important addition to French "cinefantastique".

Although the plot line bears some similarity to Romero's "The Crazies" and the visuals pre-date the recent dead-on-arrival French "Revenants" (see review), Rollin does not run this show along traditional genre lines. Instead, he has the heroine Pascal encountering a blind woman who is oblivious to the contagion and a recluse (Brigitte Lahaie) who may be her savior in a white nightie. Elizabeth's final reunion with her boyfriend has a sad, tragic quality that becomes, like the rest of the film, quite surreal.

There is sporadic gore and the violence is shockingly sudden in parts, but Rollin's trademark dream-like pacing and social commentary are there to be enjoyed and appreciated.