The Shiver of the Vampires (1971) User Reviews

French hippie horror art film

[Eegah Guy · 7/10 · 29 March 2001]

Jean Rollin's early films are an acquired taste with their accent on mood and atmosphere over linear plot structure. This film is the best of his early output, right up there with LES RAISINS DE LA MORT. It's got a prog-rock music score, long-haired hippie vampires, old cemeteries and castles lit in bright shades of red, blue and green. Rollin's first feature was like a pretentious student film. His second feature added a little science fiction to the vampire mythos. But it's here that all the ingredients came together in just the right way. I still find myself falling asleep during the nonsensical dialog scenes or long takes but am always riveted back to the screen by the next striking scene to come.

Nothing in cinema like it.

[alice liddell · 7/10 · 7 June 2000]

Unforgettable Rollin extravaganza, daring to go for effects other directors would dismiss as cheesy, and pulling them off. On one level, it seems pure exploitation, with its somnolent virgins and lesbian vampires; but it is the prospective male viewer that the film targets - his representative on screen is reduced to an impotent observer, finally breaking down into helpless madness. Rollin's style is as delirious as ever, fantastic French Gothic sets, seeping red filter, dreamlike pace, bewilderingly inventive soundtrack, resonant set-pieces and unmissably pretentious dialogue. It's easier to follow than THE RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE.

Style, but no substance

[Milk_Tray_Guy · 5/10 · 27 October 2021]

Another Jean Rollin vampire flick. The formula for these seems to be; paper-thin plot, beautiful cinematography, and lots of gratuitous, female nudity. The cast are pretty poor (one of the girls does bear a resemblance to Sharon Tate, whilst one of the guys is a dead ringer for Tate's husband Roman Polanski, who appeared with her in his Dance of the Vampires (aka The Fearless Vampire Killers) four years earlier). The music, by French group Acanthus (who also recorded under the name Unity (22); other than that I can't find anything on them) has a prog rock feel; it's okay, but it jars with the heavily gothic imagery. On top of that, this was pretty poorly dubbed into English; I'd sooner have had subtitles. There are some spectacular visuals - especially in and around a chateau and a graveyard - but that's it. Nice to look at, but not a lot else. 5/10.

Le Monde Fantastique de Jean Rollin

[andrabem · 27 May 2007]

"Les Frissons des Vampires" can't be considered, in the strict sense, a horror film, because there are no suspense and/or scares waiting for the viewer. What the film has to offer is atmosphere, plenty of atmosphere. The plot is thin: a couple arrives in a castle, in order to pay the fiancée's two cousins, a visit (they were once brave vampire hunters, but one night they fell in battle, and became afterwards enthusiastic vampires). These cousins, together with their team (two beautiful servant maids and a solemn vampire girl that emerges out of the most unexpected places), prowl around the innocent guests. This stuff could lead to a really suspenseful film, but I guess that was not Jean Rollin's intention.

The lighting effects create beautiful night colors. Every new night, bathed in a different color - the castle - a visual leitmotif. The conversations are frequently literary (especially the two philosopher vampire cousins) and a self-parody - not to be taken seriously. Delicate camera movements, strange angle shots, various colored lights flooding landscape, castle and graveyard.... the idyllic prog rock of Acanthus..... the fog grows and spreads in wonderland.

We should relearn to watch films. "Les Frissons des Vampires" is slow-paced - maybe if you just relax and don't hang too much on the story, you may experience the film - enjoy its gorgeous colors effects, its poetic-humoristic dialogues (spoken in French, a very sweet language) and its bizarre atmosphere.

Welcome to the fantasy world of Jean Rollin. Give free reins to your senses and imagination. Dive in.

Drugs

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 8 January 2023]

Also known as Sex and Vampires, Strange Things Happen at Night, Terror of the Vampires, Thrill of the Vampire and Vampire Thrills, this is the third time that Jean Rollin would bring a vampire movie to the screen. Look, if you're obsessed, you're obsessed.

Isle (Sandra Julien, Je Suis Frigide... Pourquoi?) and Antoine (Jean-Marie Durand) have just arrived in town for their honeymoon, only to learn that the cousins they plan on staying with have died. But hey - they're house is open, right? And it's totally not weird that the two servants (Marie-Pierre Castel and Kuelan Herce) just tell them to stay. Nor is it otherworldly that Isolde (Dominique) emerges from a clock and soon, she's unable to go out into the sun.

Every woman is naked, bras have spikes in them, castles are filled with fog, Rollin shows a love of the lighting and colors of Bava and the band Acanthu is just rocking so hard that no one can yell loud enough over them to tell them, "Hey this is a dreamy sapphic vampire movie, maybe stop rocking so hard" and they're just headbanging and smoke is everywhere and just go with it, man.

Also: Not the last lesbian vampire movie Rollin had in him.

Charlies to die for.

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 6/10 · 22 May 2011]

If you are a fan of the "Twilight" series of supposed vampire films, you will want to stay away from this. Or, maybe you will want to see what a real vampire film is all about.

This is good work from Jean Rollin. It is a mixture of horror and art with some great surrealism thrown in. The long haired hippies add a nice contract to the Gothic settings. It may be Gothic, but it is painted with rich color and the rock music really applies.

It is non linear, which tends to upset some folks, ad it doesn't make sense inn some parts, but the link between vampirism and sex is well defined.

People pop out of the strangest places, and there is enough nudity to satisfy the most jaded.

You do have to feel for poor Antoine (Jean-Marie Durand). After all, he just gets married to Isa (Sandra Julien) and along comes a hot vampiress to steal her away.

I just don't get it...

[johnslegers · 4/10 · 16 July 2009]

Because I've always been a fan of vampire stories and I like to experiment with different genres, I bought three Jean Rollin films. Even though this is - in my opinion - the best out of the three, I really don't get their appeal.

For an erotic/porn film, the nudity is too scarce and tame. For a horror/scare film, there is too little suspense. For a drama, there is too little dramatic development. etc. Add this to the lack of a decent story line or decent acting and you really start wondering what the hell some of these reviewers are so excited about...

They say Rollin is all about atmosphere, but I wonder what atmosphere they're talking about. I guess they're just talking about seeing naked women in a Gothic surrounding. If that's the case, they better find themselves a girlfriend/wife who's into the whole Gothic thing (like I did). It's far more worth it ;-)

Keep Rollin Rollin Rollin Rollin.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 14 June 2019]

This is only my second Jean Rollin vampire flick (the other being Lips of Blood), but I'm already starting to think that if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Like Lips of Blood, The Shiver of the Vampires is slow, surreal, and often plain bizarre, with an old graveyard, a creepy castle, harsh coloured lighting, lots of nudity and lesbianism, skulls, stylised camerawork, women in billowing chiffon, and a finalé on a beach. Not that I'm complaining... I might not be the biggest fan of artsy-fartsy '70s Euro-horror, but there's still enough here to hold my attention for the duration, not least the very welcome sight of hottie Sandra Julien in the altogether.

Sexy Sandy plays newlywed bride Isle, who travels with her husband Antoine (Jean-Marie Durand) to an old castle, the home of Isle's cousins. When they arrive, the couple are informed that the cousins have recently died, but they decide to stay anyway. Antoine is naturally keen to consummate the marriage, but Isle tells him that she wants to sleep alone (which would set alarm bells ringing for most newly married men); however, Antoine agrees, but leaving his wife on her lonesome proves to be a bad decision, for she is at the mercy of seductive vampiress Isolde (Dominique), who has already turned her cousins into blood slurpers (who amusingly look like a pair of old queens).

Rollin's film suffers somewhat from an air of cheapness and a little too much purple velour, and the blood looks suspiciously like red emulsion, but with all the female nudity and a few completely insane moments (Isolde's entrance from a grandfather clock; Antoine attacked by books; death by spiky nipples), The Shiver of the Vampires is worth a watch if you're in the mood for something erotic, esoteric, and offbeat.

A couple of striking images can't dilute the fact that this is like watching a tacky porno film with all the juicy bits cut out.

[Wilbur-10 · 4/10 · 22 April 2003]

Dreamy European vampire art-film with a modern-day setting, but all the trappings of a more traditional period horror. Throw in a psychedelic pop score and various hippy motifs and the result is an awkward hybrid of themes and ideas.

'Le Frissons des Vampires' is basically a slow series of impressive images set to music, with limited dialogue and a disjointed narrative. The characters and performances are wooden but functional, although this is probably a deliberate method of enhancing the surreal aspects more. The allusions to vampire eroticism, with semi-clad females and implied lesbianism, are not unwelcome but the results are singularly uninteresting with little to excite the viewer.

The storyline - pair of newlyweds stop off at a Castle inhabited by vampires - meanders dreamily (drearily) along, with no points of interest to break up the monotony. Despite some individual images which are stunning - the female vampire emerging from the grandfather clock - it's difficult to find much to recommend here. I'm not sure how much of the film's strength was lost to the poor dubbing, but even so I can't help feeling that 'Lust for a Vampire' (1971), despite its lack of artistic merit is better entertainment.

For all its striking visuals, Rollin's film falls down on too many basic levels and as naked lesbian vampire films go, it's simply dull to watch.

Very Slow Yet Somewhat Intriguing...I Think

[BaronBl00d · 6/10 · 10 August 2014]

This was my first Jean Rollin film. Rollin, a pre-eminent French director known for his eroticism and surrealism in his "horror" films, definitely has an eye for atmosphere with his particular attentions given to color, shading, set pieces(love the Gothic look and feel of the film), and even the music chosen for the film. He also has an eye for the female form as well as we get to evaluate that critical approach again and again and again...honestly, Sandra Julien has one of the most beautiful backsides I have ever seen - in film or anywhere else! The story is very, very thin as Julien and her new husband want to pay their respects to her two cousins as they are on their honeymoon. These two strange men were vampire hunters(unbeknown-st to Julien) and have now been turned into vampires. Julien arrives hearing the news that her cousins are dead. That is more plot than the rest of the film which has a female vampire popping out of a clock and all sorts of strange places who turns Julien into her lesbian lover and then we wait for her final turn into a real vampire whilst her husband Antoine cannot understand what is going on. The two cousins have one good scene at dinner talking about vampirism but really the rest of the film is so slow....not much at all happens. The atmosphere does make up for much of it though...as do the plentiful breasts. While this film is not going to keep you on the edge of your seat at all(just wait until you see the anti-climatic end), it was interesting and intriguing and charming in its own way.

Ennui of the Vampires...

[Dave Godin · 1/10 · 7 October 1999]

It seems axiomatic that the more cruddy a movie is, the more variant titles it will collect along its merry way, and this pretentious, self-conscious mix of "horror" and "sex" is tedious, dreary and almost embarrassing in its desperate attempt to appear "meaningful". With hammy acting and posturing substituting for emotional expression, what little plot development there is, gets padded by longeurs which, whilst evidently intended to convey some kind of "significance", merely provoke a yawn and a glance at the clock. What this film seemed to be aiming for, and so miserably failed to achieve, was so much more successfully captured in DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS, so, give this one a miss, and fast-forward to that title instead if you want a vampiric theme pregnant with dark sensuality and sexual energy.

Perhaps it's a matter of personal taste...

[roganmarshall · 8/10 · 29 January 2001]

Perhaps it's a matter of personal taste, or the lack thereof; I love Jean Rollin movies, and this Rollin film in particular I've seen several times. Of all the European erotic horror of the sixties and seventies, Rollin's movies most effectively maintain a certain morbid psychedelic vibe, a genuinely Gothic atmosphere, which most of his peers' work only captures fitfully, at best. "Shiver of the Vampires" was the movie that firmly established my fondness for this entire genre; and if it sounds interesting to you, do yourself a favor and seek it out, especially the Redemption DVD, which is gorgeously mastered from (according to the liner notes) the director's own print.

Perfect period vamp flick!

[sun-creek · 7/10 · 13 December 2018]

If you watched this movie expecting what a 1970s movie about vampires should be, then you probably liked it. The story simple yet effective. The music conjured up Black Sabbath and Deep Purple riffs....repetitive but effective. The camera angels and techniques were simple yet effective. And how could I not mention the gratuitous nudity....plentiful and EFFECTIVE! If your looking for a vampire movie from the early 70's you will not be disappointed. This film is a solid 7!

Lustful vampires

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 18 June 2022]

I guess the infamous Jean Rolin has made way crazier movies. Movies that were more shocking. Still if you watch this, do not expect this to be without any bite (yes you'll get at least one pun with my reviews - I don't even charge for them).

For a 50 year old movie it is decently made. There is a lot of nudity and a fair amount of blood. That being said, do not expect this to be anything ultra in any direction. Blood and other things do look quite fake (though since this was the 70s, I assume there was no body enhancement with the females ... or males for that matter). Story is pretty simple, the french audio track is ok - not that I understood any of what they were saying (subtitles are a great gift).

Predictable sleaze, for fans of the "genre" or Rolling maybe worth a look ... otherwise this feels even more drained than it was back then (a pun a day ...)

Very atmospheric

[SlimeyPete · 5 October 1999]

This is one of those films that is entirely plotless, but it doesn't matter. There's bucketfulls of atmosphere and the acting is pretty good. The directing is excellent. It's got one hell of a lot of nude women in, but they're presented in an arty sort of way rather than simple pornography. I reckon it must have had a budget of about 20 francs, though, but this gives it a kind of loveable quality.

Brings the Groovy Back

[LanceBrave · 7/10 · 11 November 2013]

"Shivers of the Vampire" brings the groovy back. A pair of newlyweds, so newly wed they are still in gown and tux, visits an uncle's old castle. The uncles have recently been turned into vampires by the vampire woman who lives in the near-by cemetery. Despite the signs that something is afoot, like the uncle's mute female servants, the couple stays. The girl is immediately seduced by the lady vampire. The husband realizes quickly weirdness is about. Wackiness ensues. You know the drill.

I think Rollin was aware of his formula. Despite the typically fast-and-loose story, he packs the film full of gorgeous images. The opening is long and almost dialogue free, as the two servants walk up a spiral staircase, bathed in red light. The opening credits play over fog billowing over a tombstone. The castle is decorated with bizarre statues, skulls, bones, and burnt-wood sculpted into human features. The vampire woman first appears nudged into a grandfather clock. Later, she shows up again, leaping out from behind red curtains. Color is hyper-stylized, as there are several late night walks into an orange and purple shaded cemetery. Rollin continues to dress his actresses in see-through shawls and it goes without saying that the nudity is abundant and often unexplained. The lesbian maids (Did I mention they are lesbians?) lunge around the castle in the nude and use an unorthodox method to wake the husband.

Pretty pictures only do so much to make up for the maudlin pace. What does make up for that is hilarity. The musical score is composed of waa-waa-ing funky guitar riffs. The movie establishes it's goofy streak early when the female vampire rises from her grave, the stone moving in stop-motion and punctuated by animal screams. Upon hearing there's a library in the castle, the groom flocks to the room and is attack by psychic books. The obsessed (human) lover of the uncles is murdered with a bra fitted with metal spikes. Oh man, I haven't mentioned the crazy uncles. Dressed like fops, they ramble on about paganism, Christianity, goddess worship, while the camera spins around, as confused as the characters. The acting is more stilted then usual.

Yeah, it's pacing falters by the end and there's plenty of vampires musing about what a wretched, unlovable species they are. The ending does feature an ironic take-down of the film's antagonist and that weird beach appears again. The film wasn't released in the US until the late seventies, with the new title "Strange Things Happen at Night." I actually prefer that title since it's far more evocative and also an accurate description of what's to come. This is my favorite of the director's films since "The Nude Vampire."

cemetery with blood-red lights

[christopher-underwood · 7/10 · 8 January 2022]

One of Jean Rollin's earlier films but is still certainly as well and getting his way of the camera it better controlled than some. Here there is also decent music and fantastic gothic castle with floodlights and the great looks at the cemetery also with blood-red lights. No problem at all with the lovely girls, who don't really wear many clothes and they are exactly the way to have candelabras that look authentic as does the lighting in the inside of the castle and even in the cemetery. There is a simple story which means there is a couple who have just got married and visit their cousins and many of some vampires. It ends at a great beach scene when the sun rises over the horizon which is how he often seems to end his films.

Artsy-fartsy vampire flick.

[Thom-P · 2/10 · 27 September 1999]

Leave it to the French to make an artsy-fartsy vampire flick. A heavy emphasis on atmosphere, decor and sex while devoid of any substance. Pretentious acting, weak direction and a mediocre script. On the plus side, the score is kinda groovy and the naked babes (it's a French film, after all) make it easier on the eyes, though not enough to recommend.

French Sapphic Naked Vampire Film

[jaredprophet · 7/10 · 19 September 2022]

I watched this on Tubi. Free w/ ads.

I went to Tubi to watch a third 7th Street Productions film, but found a 1971 Vampire film I haven't heard of before.

This is director/writer Jean Rollin's third film/third vampire film.

This is in French w/ English subtitles.

This starts with some nonsensical dude vampires staking themselves in front of a couple of young looking girls, probably vampires. Then there's some boring traveling stuff with a pair of newlyweds.

At the 20 minute mark thinks start getting naked, and therefore way more interesting.

The story is about some vampires turning the bride into a vampire slowly over the course of the movie, and dude having issues with that.

It's okay. The ample nudity covers a lot of sins in the story.

The Shiver of the Vampires

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 29 May 2023]

"Isa" (Sandra Julien) and her new husband "Antoine" (Jean-Marie Durand) make that terrible mistake of spending a night of their honeymoon in an old castle. Welcomed with open arms, they soon become aware that they, themselves, may be on the menu for supper as their hosts turn out to be pretty hungry, if somewhat pseudo-intellectual, vampires! Yep, we have seen the plot played out dozens of times before - the only extra thing this brings is a few less clothes on the vampires. Otherwise, it is pretty much devoid of story though it does have a certain production style about it. The use of the light and colour is quite effective - especially in the graveyard, but there is no getting away from the fact that this is very, very slow - with precious little actually going on. The acting is pretty shocking and it is not remotely scary; for that matter not remotely sexy either - it's sort of seedy with plenty of ketchup. Don't hang on the dialogue - in French or subtitled, it brings nothing to it either. This hammy effort is either a feast or famine for your visual senses, depending on your point of view. I probably erred on the latter. That said, I didn't hate it, it does have a certain eeriness to it, but I think perhaps it was just a bit too much of it's time for me - and that certainly isn't 2022.

Lesbian Vampires!!! gRooVy!!!

[ShawnjStoker · 9/10 · 10 November 2006]

I actually got this movie as a mistake. I ordered something completely different from Amazon and the 3rd party sent me "Labios De Sangre" which was a Spanish dubbed version of "Le Frisson Des Vampires". How they got them confused is beyond me. Well since I already got a refund and I read some of the reviews about the seller sending wrong tapes, I figured I'd watch it. I love the music and the cinematography. I threw it in when I was going to bed so I did fall asleep but I was very interested. So I watched it again the next day. Since there's a lot of visuals and not really a whole lot of dialogue(mine being in Spanish) I didn't mind... I ignored it and followed the story visually. It was easy to figure out that they were Lesbian Vampires and the must en-trance the victim into getting naked and then dramatically chomping down on her neck as they immediately go limp and fall down with their legs together(dammit!)Nice! Trippy, Groovy Music. Subservient naked chicks...... it's Awesome.

One of the Better Jean Rollin Flicks

[gavin6942 · 18 October 2011]

A young honeymooning couple stop for the night at an ancient castle. Unbeknownst to them, the castle is home to a horde of vampires, who have their own plans for the couple.

This is the sixth Jean Rollin film I have seen in the past week, and the fifth one to feature nude vampire women. Not sure what is up with Rollin: he needs nude women, vampires, castles and a sea side with a fence (or dilapidated pier) in all his films...

I think this one was probably the best of those I have seen. The rocking music, the actual attempt to have a back story for the vampires... it was like he decided that a plot would be nice, besides just the sex and stripped women. Good call, Jean.

Strange and heady psychedelic vampire horror oddity from the ever-interesting Jean Rollin

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 20 July 2012]

Isa (a charming performance by the fetching Sandra Julien) and her husband Antoine (a likable portrayal by Jean-Marie Durand) are a recently married honeymooning couple who stop for the night at a moldy old castle. The couple discover that the castle is the home of a horde of vampires who have very special plans for Isa. Director Jean Rollin, who also co-wrote the offbeat script with Monique Natan, relates the cheerfully outré story at a hypnotically gradual pace, does his usual ace job of creating and sustaining a dreamy'n'trippy oddball atmosphere, smartly explores an intriguing theme about destiny, and makes the most out of the rundown castle and adjacent spooky cemetery locations. Moreover, Rollins not only further spices things up with a generous sprinkling of sizzling lesbianism and yummy female nudity, but also gives the picture an extra delightful lift with an amusing sense of playful humor and a few startling moments of inspired surrealism (for example, the vampiress who pops up inside of a grandfather clock). The game cast have a ball with the idiosyncratic material: Jacques Robiolles and Michael Delahaye contribute engaging work as a pair of cordial and jolly vampires, cute brunette Kuelan Herce and adorable blonde Marie-Pierre Castel are very sexy and appealing as loyal maids who work for said vampires, and Nicole Nancell cuts a marvelously wicked figure as calculating man-hating bloodsucker bitch Isabelle. Jean-Jacques Renon's striking cinematography makes impressive use of bold and vibrant color. The funky-throbbing score by the prog-rock group Acanthus hits the get-down groovy spot. A real weirded-out blast of an entertaining avant-garde item.

classic of the surreal vampire genre

[nodiro · 2 May 2017]

A wonderful, weird, vampire movie about temptation and confusion. I am very much a fan of 1970s European vampire movies and Jean Rollin was the best of them. And Shiver is one of my favorites. It has very weird dialogue and the plot is very confusing, which is why it is great! If you are looking for the best of this genre, this is one of the films to watch.

Dreamlike and beautiful ...

[parry_na · 10/10 · 11 May 2017]

Of all the few Rollin films I have seen (and I intend to see more), Le Frisson des Vampires/Shiver of the Vampire (his third) might be my favourite. The plot is still thin and difficult to follow in places – but that is deliberate. Rollin seems instead to concentrate on imagery, atmosphere and mood. Shiver contains all these things. Equally typical, there is plenty of casual nudity which rarely actually comes across in an erotic way, rather as a perfunctory element of the whole, delirious dreams-cape.

As one of the two serving girls, once again, is Marie Pierre Castel. Marie featured in a number of Rollin films, sometimes alongside her sister Catherine. Both girls are striking to look at, quite ethereal in fact, and here Marie is her usual rarely-speaking, somnambulistic subordinate who for once, appears to have a happy ending. Marie's final Rollin role was in La Fiancée de Dracula/The Fiancée of Dracula (2002). Though not often required to do a great deal other than look alien, the Castels are mesmerizing performers.

Here, the locations are truly stunning and deathly creepy. Huge castles and lush forestry, together with a freezing beach – another Rollin staple – often belie the sometimes stilted acting, especially from the two hippy/vampires.

This film is afforded an actual ending, which doesn't always happen. Often in the Rollin films I have seen, they end very suddenly, possibly as a result of his lack of budget or time constraints. Not so here. There is a very final moment – which nevertheless invites the viewer to check out more of his work. Certainly, this is one of his most accessible, although no kind of compromise to 'normal' film-making in any way.