La morte vivante (1982)

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

Jacques Ralf (writer)
Jean Rollin (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A toxic spill revives a beautiful, dead heiress who, with the help of her childhood friend, must quench her insatiable thirst for blood. |

Plot Keywords:

Blood | Spill | Erotica | Female Vampire | Lesbian

Cast

Marina Pierro	...	Hélène
Françoise Blanchard	...	Catherine Valmont
Mike Marshall	...	Greg
Carina Barone	...	Barbara Simon
Fanny Magier	...	6th Victim
Patricia Besnard-Rousseau
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean Berel
Jean-Pierre Bouyxou	...	Burglar
Véronique Carpentier
Jean Cherlian
Delphine Lapointe
Jacques Marbeuf
Sandrine Morel	...	Teenage Catherine Valmont
Lise Overman
Alain Petit
Véronique Pinson
Laurence Royer
Sam Selsky	...	Old American Man In The House Of Catherine
Dominique Treillou	...	First Female Victim

Also Known As:

The Living Dead Girl (USA) (DVD box title)

Runtime:

Australia:86 min | Germany:85 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R | UK:18 (cut) | West Germany:(Banned)

Company:

Films A.B.C.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Barbara and Greg are arguing in the field, Barbara throws her camera at Greg and walks away. A few seconds later when Barbara sees Catherine Valmont, she starts to take pictures of her with the camera she threw at Greg. Greg did not give her the camera back.

A Tale of Two Friends

When two bumbling knuckleheads decide to rob the graves of a crypt where they go to dump barrels of toxic waste in, they quickly are in over their heads. An earth tremor spills one of the barrels onto the coffin of the deceased Catherine. After she shakes off her two year sabbatical in the catacombs she awakens to an insatiable lust for blood that quickly does in those poor goons. She goes back to the castle of her youth to reclaim her memories and for a light snack or two. When Helene, Catherine's childhood blood sister, races back to the castle to help Catherine she quickly learns that the pairs childhood vow to follow each other in to death will soon be fulfilled.

La Morte Vivante (Living Dead Girl) is considered to be one of Rollin's most commercial efforts. This being one of the first Rollin flicks that I've seen I can't really compare this to any of his others, that said I will say that his plain but adequate filming style goes about things in a leisurely paced fashion but comes alive at the right moments. This simple tale of two friends has a few gory moments and a generous helping of skin to satisfy most people who crave those things. The acting is good for the most part. Françoise Blanchard does a good job as the living dead girl. She even shows off an occasionally convincing dramatic moment when her character breaks down towards the end. Marina Pierro plays Catherine's friend Helene. It's not the best written part ever but she does what she needs with what she was given. . I would like to know why is it that she would call her best bud, two years after her death. But her character's devotion to her friend is pretty much the dead heart of this living dead girl.

In the end you have a rather simple tale that expands a little bit out of its' rather typical vampire / zombie roots. The film is plainly shot with an occasional flare and the sets, while convincing, are not as neat as they could have been. Is that one of the most boring mausoleums or is it me? Not horribly bad….but not totally engaging either.