Rollinwould shed his brand of tragic vampire lore for a time to experiment with new dark takes on death (The Iron Rose (1973)), adventure, and revenge (The Demoniacs(1974)). To compensate for box office failures, and in order to have steady work between more personal projects, Rollin also directed several porn films under a different name (Michel Gentil).
In 1975, Rollin returned to vampires with the exceptional Lips of Blood, which also ended up being a commercial failure, and so to try and bring in money, Lips of Blood was reformatted with new hardcore pornographic inserts and transformed into the more exploitative movie Suce moi vampire (1976). For me, the existence of Suce moi vampireundermines the significance and spirit of Lips of Blood, and, kind of similar to my feelings on House of Exorcism (1975) (the reworking of Bava’s masterpiece Lisa and the Devil (1973)), I don’t have much interest in seeking it out.
Written by Jean Rollin and the film’s lead actor Jean-Loup Philippe, Lips of Blood puts a touching spin on the vampire mythos. It takes the vampire concept and amplifies the beauty and grace while diminishing the monstrous side. The evil is still there, but it is nostalgically seductive.
Although it’s not as experimental as Rollin’s previous vampire movies, it has a simple, coherent goal driven narrative that also maintains that essential surrealism, making it possibly one of the more accessible Rollin movies. The main characters are alluring, and it is worth taking emotional stock in the story’s conflict.
Being a hopeless nostalgic myself, I found the lead character Frédéric (Jean-Loup Philippe) relatable. One cannot deny that there is serious folly in his quest for the seductive past that calls out to him. Everyone should always be looking forward and not back, but we sometimes still tend to shoot for that warm place from a different past time where we feel we belong instead, no matter what resistance befalls us, and Frédéric does face some serious resistance.
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| A Blink-and-you-miss-it Betty Boop cameo appearance! |
I also like the idea of triggering previously suppressed memories, memories of something personal and important that may or may not have been a dream. A childhood era suppressed from his memory calls out to Frédéric. There is something inherently beautiful and bittersweet about this. The way Frédéric remembers after seeing a promotional landscape photograph for a newly launched perfume product is so poetic, with the echoes of a lost child’s voice on the wind and a closeup of Frédéric’s eyes as he’s transported back to those hauntingly gorgeous castle ruins. The contents of this memory become his new obsession and consistent focus for the rest of the movie. Actually, he’s pretty intense with his focus. He’s quite the gentleman, but the look on his face when anyone tries to sidetrack him or change the subject when he waxes about his estranged childhood really shows that he means business.
At the core of Frédéric’s obsessive childhood memory is a beautiful, mysterious woman in white, Jennifer (Annie belle), an angle-like apparition who offered Frédéric’s lost childhood self (Rollin’s own son Serge Rollin) refuge, warmth, and a comfortable place to sleep in her ruinous castle. It’s never addressed just how Frédéric forgets all about such an important epoch in his life, but a strong bond develops nonetheless. The resurgence of something personal from a seemingly different life is still what makes it intriguing, something unreal that actually happened. When Frédéric remembers her twenty years later, she is able to appear to him but cannot speak to him. Jennifer’s physical manifestations in front of Frédéric are some of the most beautifully haunting images in the film. Annie Belle just feels like the perfect choice for the role of Jennifer, an enigmatic beauty capable of completely arresting a gentleman’s faculties.
He gets the message that she is imprisoned somewhere, and if he wants to be with her, he needs to find where she is hidden. Of course, external agencies will not have this, and since many will attempt to deceive and even execute Frédéric for his efforts at rescuing his princess, Jennifer guides him first to a crypt of imprisoned colorful female vampire warriors (among them Rollin’sGemini muse, the Castel twins: Catherine and Marie-Pierre) whom he unknowingly releases into the world. They become his protectors to ensure he reaches his lost love (and most likely their great queen of sorts) and uncover the mystery.
It is not only a quest for the girl from that warm place from his childhood, but it also becomes a quest for a truth that he is barred from. A conspiracy to keep Frédéric from the truth begins to develop. He ends up at peril not from the monsters but from humans. Even his mother (Natalie Perry) lies to him and even has him committed for his troubles. In fact, Jennifer seems to be the only honest one in his life.
In the struggle between humans and vampires depicted in the film, there’s a lot more compassion from the vampires. We sympathize and feel more for the monsters. The role of heroes and villains feels reversed, as the brutes who slaughter the vampires don’t seem like the righteous.
With the loss of significant financial backing shortly before filming, Lips of Blood ended up a lesser film than it could’ve been, but Rollin could create something grand from virtually nothing. Heart, a bittersweet concept, natural locations, and the night don’t cost a thing. There is an attempt at effects and violence that don’t quite hit the mark as far as horror and gore goes, but it is all still emotionally evocative. The images of the nightgown clad vampires travelling like sleep walkers over windy gothic landscapes in this film are precious visual poetry.
© At the Mansion of Madness
