Review: The Shiver of the Vampires (1971)

(aka Le Frisson des Vampires, The Thrill of the Vampires, Sex and Vampires)
Directed by: Jean Rollin
Starring: Sandra Julien, Jean-Marie Durand, Jacques Ribiolles
Written by: Monique Natan, Jean Rollin
Music by: Acanthus
Country: France
Available on: Blu-ray (Redemption Films/Kino Lorber)
IMDb

Onward I continue my journey through Jean Rollin’s filmography. The Shiver of the Vampires is a 180-degree pivot from Requiem for a Vampire (although I guess the latter was technically the pivot). While Requiem, perhaps the best-known of Rollin’s vampire films, was a mostly silent artistic experiment, Shiver is very dialog-heavy, with a pretty straightforward plot: a newlywed couple visits a castle frequented by her vampire-hunting cousins who have since been turned into vampires themselves. Shiver has a much more lighthearted, quirky tone than Rollin’s other work. The two male cousins are played primarily for amusement, as verbose, foppish members of the bourgeoisie who love to hear themselves philosophize. They’re mostly held in contempt by their master Isolde, who fashions herself a counterculture outsider. The class distinctions, along with a score brimming with psychedelic rock that initially feels inappropriate but eventually becomes totally cohesive, gives this film a distinct hippie flavor. It makes sense, considering when this was released, that it would focus on the slow death of the counterculture in favor of burgeoning middle-class suburbia. Indeed, Isolde — one of my favorite characters in Rollin’s films — finds herself less and less in control of her progeny, culminating in a rape scene that’s important but nonetheless feels very out of character for an auteur whose female characters typically have so much agency over their existence and sexuality. It’s kind of tragic that the cousins, who are fine as whimsical side characters, end up manifesting such a prominently misogynistic taint. Isolde is fascinating and I would loved more of an examination of how she came to rebel from the vampire set. She’s well-spoken and remarkably gentle for her kind; in fact, her “seduction” of Isla is completely consensual, and she actually seems happy (as Rollin vampires go) to find a willing companion after so many years in self-isolation, particularly after her failure with the cousins. But alas, Isolde’s done dirty: too much of this film focuses on the dudes, including Isla’s impotently heroic husband, while she’s left in the background to die alone. And while Isolde does get to go out (sort of) on her own terms, she deserved better. The Shiver of the Vampires has a lot of interesting things to say, said in mostly interesting and gorgeous-looking ways — I actually think it’s one of the most provocative-looking and -sounding Rollin films — but it doesn’t trust its women as much as it should.

Overall rating: 8.5 out of 10