The Grapes of Death (1978)
"Les raisins de la mort" (original title)

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

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

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

Stars:

Marie-Georges Pascal, Félix Marten, Serge Marquand

Cast

Cast overview:
Marie-Georges Pascal	...	Élisabeth (as Marie George Pascal)
Félix Marten	...	Paul (as Felix Marten)
Serge Marquand	...	Lucien
Mirella Rancelot	...	Lucie
Patrice Valota
Patricia Cartier
Michel Herval	...	Le fiancé d'Elisabeth
Brigitte Lahaie	...	La grande femme blonde (as Brigitte Lahaye)
Paul Bisciglia	...	Lucas
Olivier Rollin
François Pascal
Evelyne Thomas	...	La fille qui se fait tuer dans le train
Jean-Pierre Bouyxou
Jean Rollin

Storyline

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

---

Plot Keywords:

vineyard | pesticide | dynamite | gore | zombie | 

---

Taglines:

When the wine flows, the terror begins ...

---

Genres:

Horror

---

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

5 July 1978 (France)

Also Known As:

The Raisins of Death

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films A.B.C., Off Production, Rush Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min 90 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

---

Goofs

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.

---

Connections

References Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

User Reviews

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.