Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditsAwards & Reviews
user reviewsexternal reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guidemessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsmemorable quotesDid You Know?
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
box office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsReviews & Ratings for
Fascination More at IMDbPro »
| Page 1 of 3: | [1] [2] [3] ![[Next]](http://i.media-imdb.com/f86.gif){kind=small} |
| Index | 24 reviews in total |
12 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Rollin's best, 27 July 2005
Author:
deheor
A thief who is fleeing the partners that he double-crossed comes across
a mansion with only two beautiful (and odd) occupants. His plan to stay
until nightfall seems to be easily achievable when he finds out the
home owners have no desire for him to leave.
From this simple premise Rollin creates his most engrossing work with
the thief coming to realize that his greatest threat may not be the
crooks outside the house but the ladies within. Though slow moving this
film ratchets up the tension as midnight approaches and a mysterious
ceremony is soon to begin.
Strong performances abound with special mention to frequent Rollin star
Brigitte Lahaie who has never looked (or acted) better. The women in
this film are all incredible and like in all of his films, Rollin shows
a photographer's eye for beauty. Once again Rollin indulges in his
fondness for lesbian sex scenes but they don't overpower the film like
they do in some of his other works.
For anyone who has not yet seen a Rollin film, either this one or
'Grapes of death' would make excellent starters although, obviously,
keep the kids away.
10 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
Stylish, erotic and... fascinating!, 24 February 2002
Author:
Infofreak from Perth, Australia
'Fascination' is a very apt title for this spellbinding movie! A typically dreamlike and stylish work from the remarkable Jean Rollin. Yup, it's another lesbian vampire movie (from a decade that produced quite a few!) but Rollin, like Jess Franco, puts his own original touches to it which make it truly unforgettable. Like most of Franco's (and Dario Argento's) output, atmosphere and aesthetics are more important than plot, and the performances of the actors involved are variable. Rollin doesn't seem to be too concerned with creating believable characters, he uses his (beautiful) actresses as striking images moving across a background. His movies are often closer to paintings than your standard Hammer horror. That's why 'Fascination' is so unlike most vampire movies you'll ever see. Inspired and original. Don't miss this one!
9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Excellent film with unusual imagery and a sense of mystery., 27 July 1999
Author:
LDK (lorcan.dk@oceanfree.net) from Dublin, Ireland
I'm an admirer of Jean Rollins work, and this film is the one which to me
best represents his style. It succeeds in blending the sexual predator
images of the more successful Hammer vampire movies, with the doomed
romanticism of French cinema. The production values are low, presumably
they
operated on a very small budget, but as I was starting to experiment with
my
own super8 films, I was inspired by how much it achieves in spite of its
limitations. The film is driven by a series of powerful images, notably the
semi-naked girl wielding a scythe, and the odd bit of lesbian love action.
As with all of Rollins best films, you get the feeling of getting a glimpse
of, and being allowed to share, a very personal obsession.
10 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Snail-paced poetic erotic French horror, 16 March 2001
Author:
eegah-3 (eegah@hotmail.com) from Minneapolis, MN
Director Rollin once again plays out his obsessions in this tale of a secret society of women who lure men to their castle for blood ceremonies at midnight. Beautiful French countrysides, gorgeous (frequently nude) women, old castles and erotic horror are what to expect from this exploitation film with aspirations of art. The pace is slow and deliberate with no real escalation of tension as midnight comes and all is revealed. Brigitte Lahaie has real screen presence and is memorable as she stalks a victim carrying a huge scythe. Definitely worth a look as are all of Rollin's films.
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Majestic erotic horror, 9 August 2007
Author:
t-birkhead from United Kingdom
It took me a while to check this one out, I had previously avoided any Jean Rollin films, cause they just didn't sound interesting and a lot of reviewers seemed to confirm this assumption. When I finally saw this, with a bottle of cheap French wine to keep me interested, I was hooked within two minutes. The opening scene is classic and the film delivers many memorable scenes from start to finish. Plot and characterisation don't take up much time in the film, its more of a work of art than a conventional vampire tale. There isn't even all that much bloodletting, just enough to stop things being anaemic. In place of gore there's some fine eroticism and stunning visuals and its a fair trade. The image of Brigitte Lahaie on a causeway with a scythe sums the film up for me, a picture of captivating erotic menace with something innately classy about it. Lesbian vampirism may not seem like a classy subject, but Rollin handles it with in a very stylish European way, no cheap lame soft core here. The visuals are composed with a painterly eye and Rollin brings out the full aesthetic potential of the characters, their clothes and the setting. He really is an artist, an underrated, often surreal visionary and anyone the least bit interested in European horror should check this out, especially since its one of the most appreciated ones. Go check it out, it ain't likely to disappoint
9 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Truly brilliant erotic horror., 6 December 2005
Author:
HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland
A thief(Jean Marie Lemaire),on the run from fellow gang members,takes refuge in a château populated only by two young women—Eva (Brigitte Lahaie)and Elisabeth (Franka Mai).The man is seduced and lured to stay for a forthcoming soirée,while the young ladies-themselves indulging in lesbian encounters—turn out to be initiates in a cult of bourgeois women addicted to drinking human blood.Jean Rollin's "Fascination" is simply an awesome lesbian vampire flick.The pace is pretty slow,but there is plenty of sleaze and beauty to enjoy.The film is loaded with stunning visuals for example the image of a nude Brigitte Lahaie with nothing but her impossibly statuesque figure,cape and scythe moving down the bridge and over the moat to the castle or truly surreal scene of Eva and Elizabeth dancing on the bridge in matching white gowns while an old-style phonograph plays classical music.Overall,I deeply enjoyed this one and you should too,if you liked "The Living Dead Girl" or "Lips Of Blood".
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Sensual fascinations, 26 October 2011
Author:
chaos-rampant from Greece
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.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
dreamlike splendour, 22 March 2010
Author:
christopher-underwood from Greenwich - London
A fine film, beautifully photographed. Leisurely, yes, even majestic but I consider it unfair to refer to this dreamlike splendour as, 'boring'. Such a subjective term, anyway but tends to be slapped upon films such as this because they do not adhere to the 'normal' narrative structure. What in life does, I ask myself? Actually, I have found some of Rollin's films just a little too seemingly meaninglessly repetitive but rest assured this beauty doe not fall into that trap. Beautiful ladies appear and disappear in colourful, flowing see through gowns. There is a baddie who might yet be more of a goodie than the good ladies, plus great use of a Gothic location. I must also mention the gorgeous, Brigitte Lahaie. She did much work with the erratic, Jess Franco but she never looked better than she does here, deadly scythe notwithstanding.
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
FASCINATION (Jean Rollin, 1979) **1/2, 26 October 2008
Author:
MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta
This is the seventh Rollin film I've watched, after THE IRON ROSE
(1973; still his finest work), THE DEMONIACS (1974; the least among his
vintage efforts), LIPS OF BLOOD (1975; another good one), THE GRAPES OF
DEATH (1978; not bad), THE LIVING DEAD GIRL (1982; one of his most
compelling) and Fiancée' OF Dracula (2002; an unsatisfactory hodgepodge
of ideas). This unusual 'lesbian vampires' film – of which the director
made quite a few, though the only other such title I'm familiar with is
the above-mentioned (and slightly superior) LIPS OF BLOOD – evokes much
of the same atmosphere, not only of Rollin's work but of that of Jess
Franco as well. In fact, the scenes depicting a scantily-clad Brigitte
Lahaie walking the castle grounds (albeit armed with a scythe!) in
search of victims brings to mind Lina Romay in the Spaniard's own
(rather dismal) FEMALE VAMPIRE (1973)!
One of Rollin's traits seems to be that of throwing modern-day
characters (in this case a handsome but dumb crook) into essentially
Gothic i.e. uncanny surroundings (the annual reunion at the château by
a bunch of lovely ladies). The thief believes their mysterious
activities to be of a sexual nature and decides to stick around,
despite being warned by the two girls who came to the venue beforehand
in preparation for the 'ceremony' that the only other male likely to
appear is none other than Satan himself! Having the jaded aristocracy
of another era indulge in odd rites (such as drinking ox's blood to
treat anaemia!) is an intriguing notion – a group of depraved female
members, then, decide to take the cure one step further and
periodically resort to the intake of human blood (the revelation isn't
all that surprising, but nicely handled just the same).
An 'unexpected' development results when it's time to do in with the
young man (his criminal associates, who were actually pursuing him
after he ran away with the stash of gold, had already been swiftly
dealt with by Lahaie's scythe). Though the latter had already been
sexually involved with him, her companion believes she has fallen in
love and, when the leader of the 'vampires' dispatches Lahaie to
eliminate the thief, the other girl shoots her instead! Lahaie stumbles
outside to the passageway and, with the spilling of the girl's own
blood drawing her 'anaemic' cohorts, they feast on her
indiscriminately! The thief pleads with his savior to flee the cursed
place together – but, on relating to him their back-story, she realizes
that the 'call of blood' is too strong for her to ignore…
Inevitably, the film has all the trademarks of Rollin's style (and, by
extension, the whole "Euro-Cult" vibe): lethargic pace, an effective
score and – it goes without saying – plenty of naked women (even if,
save for Lahaie's unmistakable looks, most prove interchangeable due to
the film's essential dearth of characterization!). All of this ensures
a haunting and often beautiful piece of work though, not necessarily, a
fulfilling {sic} one; by the way, the DivX copy I acquired (which also
regrettably displayed brief instances of pixellation) bafflingly
omitted any form of credits either at the start or the conclusion – not
even the film's very title is anywhere to be seen…
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Unique take on vampirism..., 12 October 2010
Author:
ABladeInTheDark2 from United States
A thief on the run makes his way to a castle where he finds two women
who claim to be servants of the owner. They say they have arrived early
so they can have some fun with a group of their friends before the lady
of the castle shows up. At first he thinks he's stumbled upon a group
of lesbians who are willing to let him join them for some sexual fun,
but as the night progresses, it becomes obvious that there's something
sinister afoot.
Before seeing Fascination, my only experience with Jean Rollin was with
The Grapes of Death and The Living Dead Girl; both films left me less
than impressed. Because of that, I haven't bothered with any of Rollins
other films, but since I've been on a vampire kick lately, I decided to
give this a try. I have to say I was blown away by the beauty of this
unique take on vampirism. Not only is it filled with beautiful women,
it's beautifully shot, and has a wonderful dreamlike feeling present
throughout the movie. I kind of reminds me of a Jesus Franco movie
without all the obvious flaws that are present in his productions.
I highly recommend Fascination for its unique tale of vampirism with an
art-house flair. 9/10
| Page 1 of 3: | [1] [2] [3] |
Related Links
| Plot summary | Plot synopsis | Amazon.com summary |
| Ratings | External reviews | Parents Guide |
| Plot keywords | Main details | Your user reviews |
| Your vote history |
Copyright © 1990-2012
IMDb.com, Inc.
Terms and Privacy Policy under which this service is provided to you.
An 
company.