The Iron Rose (1973) La rose de fer (original title)

Director:

Jean Rollin

Writers:

Tristan Corbière (poem)
Jean Rollin (scenario)
(more)

Release Date:

12 April 1973 (France)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A young couple out for a walk decide to take a stroll through a large cemetery. As darkness begins to fall they realize they can't find their way out, and soon their fears begin to overtake them. |

Plot Keywords:

Cemetery | Couple | Surrealism | Gothic | Clown

Cast

Françoise Pascal	...	The Girl
Hugues Quester	...	The Boy (as Pierre Dupont)
Natalie Perrey	...	Lady At The Cemetery
Mireille Dargent	...	The Clown (as Dily D'Argent)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michel Delesalle
Jean Rollin

Directed by
Jean Rollin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tristan Corbière		poem
Maurice Lemaître		dialogue
Jean Rollin		scenario

Produced by
Sam Selsky	....	producer (as §am §elsky)

Original Music by
Pierre Raph

Cinematography by
Jean-Jacques Renon

Film Editing by
Michel Patient

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean-Noël Delamarre	....	assistant director
Michel Maïofis	....	second assistant director
Jean-Claude Tertais	....	third assistant director

Sound Department
Gilles Aubry	....	sound
Jean-Paul Loublier	....	sound recordist
René Penot	....	boom operator

Editorial Department
Dominique Barbier	....	assistant editor
Andrée Maïofis	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Pierre Letovsky	....	presenter
Natalie Perrey	....	script

Thanks
René-Jean Chauffard	....	dedicatee (as R.J. Chauffard)

Production Companies

• Les Films ABC (co-production)

Distributors

• Another World Entertainment (2010) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Filmfreak Distributie (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Redemption Films (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Redemption Films (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Redemption Films (2012) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Salvation Films (2010) (USA) (DVD) (box set) (as Redemption USA)
• Video Search of Miami (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Renault  transportation services

Also Known As:

"La rose de fer" - France (original title)

Runtime:

UK:85 min | USA:86 min | Netherlands:77 min (2010) (DVD)

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Amiens, Somme, France

Company:

Les Films ABC

Trivia:

DIRECTOR CAMEO: [Jean Rollin] Strange man walking through the cemetery.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Nekromantik (1987)

A boring waste of time. Nothing happens.

I'd normally consider myself a fan of Jean Rollin, The Shiver Of The Vampire ranks up there as one of my all-time favourite horror movies, and I have very fond memories of other Rollin movies as well. I was shocked by the low-quality of this. It sounds like something that might have been a good idea, but it ended up rubbish.

The girl playing the lead role is quite sexy and seems as though she could be a good actress if she wasn't given such a ridiculous part. The male on the other hand can't act at all. Those are basically the only two people in the entire film. Some of the imagery is fairly good, along with the music. If they had those good bits and hacked together the rest of the film sanely, THEN I might have given it a 3/4. But as it stands, some of the film is excruciating and again... NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS! It's not that I don't appreciate it, it's boring! Okay I'll admit that sometimes sitting down to watch a Jess Franco or Italian horror, I'm a bit concerned I'll be completely bored by it. With just over an hour and a quarter and directed by Jean Rollin I never dreamt it would be this bad. I doubt he ever made a worse film, for me this is right up there with Zombie Lake.

The film involves the couple walking through a cemetery while lost, getting scared, increasingly fighting and the girl increasing losing her head. I honestly don't know how anyone can give this movie even a decent rating or how any other Jean Rollin movie could be worse than this. Yeah there's a case for difference of opinion but what's so great about a girl dancing ridiculously through a graveyard for what seems like an eternity? Look at Requiem For A Vampire, that had longer and far more beautiful takes and it never got boring.

The good pieces in this movie were few and far between, it was a truly dreadful hour and a quarter. The music could be good at times... the scenery was quite good at times... and those are the only decent things I can say about this movie. Stay well away!