Jean Rollin is admired by many of my fellow Eurohorror enthusiasts for his delirious visual elegance. I agree that Rollin's films are visually overwhelming. While I get why people admire this talent, however, I mostly do not find the style of Rollin's films sufficient to make up for the complete lack of a logic, continuity, or anything happening. The one exception is his great Zombie Gore film "Les Raisins De La Mort" ("The Grapes of Death", 1978). The prime example for Rollin's tendency to be stylish but boring is arguably "La Rose De Fer" ("Rose of Iron") of 1973, which is simultaneously one of the most visually elegant, and one of the most tiresome Horror films I ever sat through. It is not quite as bad with "La Vampire Nue" aka. "The Nude Vampire" (1970). The film is, once again, visually elegant and at least some events are happening in this film. However, they almost entirely lack any logic or tension.
The storyline is (very vaguely) about a bunch of scientist who want to examine the secret of immortality, and a pretty girl who is immortal as long as supplied with blood. Luckily for her, there is a suicide cult of people willing to sacrifice their own lives in order for the girl to maintain her immortality. Why? - Because! Then there are many long sequences of typical Rollin nonsense. This is not to say that the film has no genuine qualities. As mentioned above, the settings and cinematography are highly elegant. The female cast members are very nice to look at, and some of them have exhibitionist tendencies. However, there's not even quite as much female nudity as one might expect in a Rollin flick called "The Nude Vampire". The two twin maids (played by twins Marie-Pierre and Catherine Castel), who are dressed up in nothing but a bunch of bizarre gold plates, are the most notable aspect of the whole film; apart from being lovely to look at, they also provide the film's funniest and most interesting moments.
I cannot say that "La Vampire Nue" is a complete failure; the film has its qualities, and might be appreciated by fans of surreal stuff. However, even though I consider myself to be exactly that, I fund this to be rather tedious. Overall, this is worth checking out for Rollin-fans. When it comes to European directors associated with erotic Horror films, I will personally always prefer the great Spaniard Jess Franco, some of whose films may be nonsensical, but almost all of them highly entertaining. My rating of "La Vampire Nue": 4/10
The storyline is (very vaguely) about a bunch of scientist who want to examine the secret of immortality, and a pretty girl who is immortal as long as supplied with blood. Luckily for her, there is a suicide cult of people willing to sacrifice their own lives in order for the girl to maintain her immortality. Why? - Because! Then there are many long sequences of typical Rollin nonsense. This is not to say that the film has no genuine qualities. As mentioned above, the settings and cinematography are highly elegant. The female cast members are very nice to look at, and some of them have exhibitionist tendencies. However, there's not even quite as much female nudity as one might expect in a Rollin flick called "The Nude Vampire". The two twin maids (played by twins Marie-Pierre and Catherine Castel), who are dressed up in nothing but a bunch of bizarre gold plates, are the most notable aspect of the whole film; apart from being lovely to look at, they also provide the film's funniest and most interesting moments.
I cannot say that "La Vampire Nue" is a complete failure; the film has its qualities, and might be appreciated by fans of surreal stuff. However, even though I consider myself to be exactly that, I fund this to be rather tedious. Overall, this is worth checking out for Rollin-fans. When it comes to European directors associated with erotic Horror films, I will personally always prefer the great Spaniard Jess Franco, some of whose films may be nonsensical, but almost all of them highly entertaining. My rating of "La Vampire Nue": 4/10