| Requiem pour un Vampire | |
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Original Theatrical Release Poster |
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| Directed by | Jean Rollin |
| Produced by | Sam Selsky |
| Starring | Marie-Pierre Castel Mireille Dargent Philippe Gasté Dominique Louise Dhour |
| Music by | Pierre Raph |
| Distributed by | Les Films ABC |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Requiem pour un Vampire is a 1971 erotic horror film directed by Jean Rollin, about two young woman who find themselves trapped with no escape in a haunted castle ruled by a hoard of sexually blood crazed vampires.[1]
Contents |
Two women dressed as clowns and a male driver are being chased through the countryside, from who or what reason we do not know. As the man drives, the women shoot at their pursuers. When the man is shot, the women are forced to burn the car with his body inside and once they remove their costumes, they run through a forest and later a cemetery in which one of the women, Michelle, is almost buried alive.
Walking through a field, they come to the outside of a gothic castle. There they are bitten by vampire bats, which lead them to go into the castle, where they make love in a cosy bed. After that, they tour the castle and discover a few skeletons along with a woman playing an organ. She begins to follow them, so they shoot at her but she doesn't die. They run away and are caught by some men who force themselves on them. A vampire woman stops the men and the vampire woman who chased them almost bites them until they break away, but they soon come across a male vampire who is the last of his kind and he has plans for the women. They are bitten so that they continue his bloodline, but they must stay virgins. Michelle likes the idea of everlasting life but her girlfriend has serious doubts and by sleeping with Frédéric, a random passer-by, she not only jeopardizes the vampires plans but also puts the mutual love and friendship between her and Michelle to the ultimate test. The Vampire realises that he must not continue the bloodline and lets Michelle and her girlfriend escape.
Marie-Pierre Castel who starred in Rollin's previous films La Vampire Nue and Le Frisson des Vampires joined the cast of Reqiem because her twin sister Catherine Castel was unavailable. An agent had introduced Rollin to Mireille Dargent who would play Marie's partner in the film, this agant was a crook. He used to collect Mireille's wages filling his own pocket without giving anything to her. Rollin hired a lawyer and the agent paid the earnings back to her. Mireille was grateful to him and they became good friends and she worked with him in later films.[2] Requiem was Louise Dhour's first film. She used to sing Damia's songs at La Ville Grille (a night-club in Paris). As the Vampires' maidservant in the film she proved to be excellent and she was given the most important of her roles and since Requiem she became part of the Films ABC family.[3]
The movie was filmed in a little village called Crêvecoeur. The graveyard was located outside the village on a knoll. The castle had been rented from the Dutchess of Roche-Guyon, it was a historical place and was entirely furnished with genuine antiques, all of which were worth a fortune. It wasn't her castle Rollin and the crew were interested in, but the ruins of the dungeon above, that overlooked the whole area.[4]
Due to the nudity, some of the scenes had to be shot twice for such countries as the UK. The scene where Mireille Dargent is whipping the bare naked Marie-Pierre Castel, another scene was shot with her wearing a bra and panties. The two other scenes are when Castel and Dargent make love, two scenes were shot: the original with them completely naked and the other fully clothed. The scene where Dargent is being chased by the man, the original scene was that she was topless, in the censored scene she was wearing her top.[5]
A VHS was released in France as part of the Collectorror collection
The US and Canadian release on VHS was titled Caged Virgins on August 22, 1995
The UK VHS was released by Salvation
Several versions of the film were released on DVD in different countries
The film was released in France as part of the Jean Rollin collection on 24 June 2004 and the extras include: an interview with Jean Rollin biography and filmography
For the US and Canadian DVD release the film was re-titled to Requiem for a Vampire, the film was released on March 30, 1999. The US and Canadian re-release was released on 24 February 2009 and the extras include: alternative scenes, a 10 min interview with Louise Dhour, Trailers, additional scenes and photo gallery.
A 3 Disc Limited Edition was released by Encore in Europe in a new 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen version and the extras include: audio commentary by Jean Rollin, original trailers, introduction by Jean Rollin, slideshow, alternative scenes, interviews with Louise Dhour and Paul Bisciglia and a 64 page page booklet.[6]
The UK DVD was released on 9 September 2004 by Redemption in a full frame version and the extras include: trailers, photo gallery, video art, publicity and a music video.
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