| Lèvres de Sang | |
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Theatrical Release Poster |
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| Directed by | Jean Rollin |
| Produced by | Lionel Wallmann Jean-Marie Ghanassia |
| Written by | Jean-Loup Philippe Jean Rollin |
| Starring | Jean-Loup Philippe Annie Belle Nathalie Perrey |
| Music by | Didier William Lepauw |
| Cinematography | Jean-François Robin |
| Editing by | Olivier Grégoire |
| Distributed by | Off Production Scorpion V Nordia Films |
| Release date(s) | 18 May 1975 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
Lèvres de Sang (English: Lips of Blood) is a 1975 vampire film directed by Jean Rollin. The film tells the story of a man who begins to have visions of a young woman dressed in white who is locked behind the gates of a Château.[1][2]
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At a reception for the launch of a new perfume, a man named Frédéric sees a photo of the ruins of an old château by the sea. His mind takes him back to when he was a young boy, walking up to the gate of the château and speaking with a girl who appears to be a little older than he is. Frédéric opens the gate and the girl tells him to go to sleep, and later she returns and wakes him, he leaves her and closes the gate behind him. The girl tells him to open the gate but he promises her that he will be back to free her. Frédéric's mind comes back to reality and he becomes convinced that the meeting between him and the girl actually happened. He tells his mother who begins to act strangely and tells him he must have imagined it, he doesn't agree and sets out to find this girl and set her free.
Jennifer, the girl from the château, begins to appear to Frédéric in a number of visions, but she does not speak to him, which makes it much more difficult to find her at the Château. On one of her appearances, Jennifer leads Frédéric to a cemetery where she makes him open up a number of coffins that unleash a hoard of female vampires. Frédéric runs off and is soon met by a woman claiming to be Jennifer as she would be now. The woman leads him to an abandoned apartment block and locks him in, as the real Jennifer watches from a distance. The woman is then killed by the vampires, who free Frédéric. A man with a gun almost kills Frédéric, but he manages to escape him and go home, where his mother has him committed to a mental hospital. It was also his mother who had the woman and the man with the gun stop him from finding the Château.
At the hospital Jennifer appears to him again, but he begins to doubt his sanity when she doesn't speak. The vampires show up at the hospital and kill his psychiatrist and let him escape. walking along the streets, Frédéric buys a postcard from a blind man which is of the Château, the name of it is 'Sauveterre Castle'. as he boards a train, Jennifer appears once more to him and smiles, knowing that he is on his way to her. Once at the Château he is met by the vampires and then find Jennifer's coffin which is surrounded by a shrine, but before he opens it his mother appears in the doorway and tells him not to free Jennifer and that he didn't imagine meeting her as a young boy. She explains that she is a vampire and she infected several people including the four female vampires he freed. As daylight sets in Frédéric's mother and a group of men hunt and kill the four vampires, she asks Frédéric to kill Jennifer. He brings the head of a doll which his mother thinks is Jennifer's head to be burnt along with the four other vampires. Frédéric and Jennifer go to the beach, and she is happy to be seeing daylight after 20 years. Jennifer bites Frédéric and they climb into the coffin to let the tide take them out into the ocean.
Released in the US by Image Entertainment on 9 November 1999 in a widescreen letterboxed 1.65:1 version, a French dolby digital 1.0 audio track and English subtitles. The special features include: stills gallery and director's filmography. The film was released again in the US by Redemption films on 29 July 2008 in its original widescreen version, and a French dolby digital 2.0 audio track with English subtitles. The extras include: introduction by Jean Rollin, interview with Jean-Loup Philippe, interview with Nathalie Perrey, trailers for Killer's Moon and Nature Morte and a stills gallery.[3]
Released in the UK by Redemption on 29 March 2004 in a widescreen letterboxed 1.65:1 version, a French dolby digital 2.0 audio track and English subtitles. The special features include: theatrical trailer, stills gallery, posters, advertising, video art and a music video.
Released in Europe by Encore Entertainment on 30 November 2005 in a 3-disc limited edition set with a new anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 version, a French dolby digital 2.0 audio track with English, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Polish subtitles. The special features include: introduction by Jean Rollin, This Beach That Follows Me featurette, interview with Jean-Loup Philippe, interview with Nathalie Perrey, interview with Serge Rollin, interview with Catherine Castel, photo gallery, selected scenes commentary with Jean Rollin, Les Amours Jaunes short film, French theatrical trailer, Les Démoniaques trailer, Requiem pour un Vampire French trailer and 64 page booklet.[4][5]
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