Director
Jean Rollin
Cast
Françoise Pascal
Hugues Quester
Natalie Perry
Dily D’Argent
DVD Release Date: September 25, 2007
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 86 Minutes
The Movie
A young couple, who have recently met, head out for a bike ride for their first date. They head all around the city and decide to stop at an interesting looking cemetery to check out the tombs and graves. Upon realizing how quiet and empty it is inside the cemetery, the young man grabs their picnic basket so they can have an uninterrupted lunch together. He also has other intentions in mind as persuades his young lady friend to join him in an underground crypt so they can get “better acquainted.”
Upon finishing their lustful rendezvous among the dead; they head back up to the surface only to find that night has fallen and the path that lead them to where they were was now unnoticeable. Try as they might, they just can’t seem to find a way out and begin wondering aimlessly among all the headstones. As if that weren’t scaring them enough, a few odd characters were walking around the cemetery during the day including a vampire looking guy, an Eskimo, and a clown.
As the night drags on, insanity quickly sets into the minds of the couple as they begin fighting with one another verbally and physically all because they cannot find their way out. The couple continues on trying to find an exit, but the young woman’s fear is no longer working against her, but for her. She has accepted the land on which they are trapped, but the young man is determined to find an exit. The crazy feelings instill inside both of them more and more, and their only hope is for a way out or for the dawn to soon arrive.
Ok, so I’m not really sure what Rollin was trying to accomplish with this film so might as well start with what he got right. The Iron Rose does a nice job of keeping the creepy and eerie feeling throughout after the kids hit the cemetery. The overall mood and nighttime aura among the crypts lets things stay sorta spooky. But that is all that does its job.
The rest of the film is laughable and that’s meant quite literally. From the random clown to the young man giving a quick scream as he falls into an open crypt while trying to run away, I was laughing when I do believe fear should have been the appropriate feeling. When the mood didn’t strike me to laugh, the film dwells in the pit of obscurity and absurdness to the extent of annoyance. So the young man just slapped the woman across the face and then she hit him over the head with a wooden crucifix, what shall they do now? Let’s have sex in a pit among human bones. Come on now, really.
Maybe that is what happens when you go insane or stir crazy, I wouldn’t really know. But what is purely evident is that one of the quotes saying “this is the most poetic work ever done by Rollin” could be considered quite accurate. That is if they consider the young man reading a single poem at the beginning of the film poetic.
The Video
The film is shown in 1.77:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and is of rather poor quality. Near the top black bar of the picture, there is a lot of static and interference throughout the duration of the film. Colors look faded at times and it just doesn’t look good at all.
The Audio
The film is heard in Stereo Sound and is acceptable at best. All the dialogue is in French, with badly timed subtitles, and it often sounds as if the dialogue is dubbed for some reason. They are speaking French and the dialogue is in French, but it still sounds and looks dubbed. Weird.
Special Features
Stills – Six still frame shots from the film, nothing exciting.
Original Trailer
Short Film: Les Pays Loins – A sixteen minute film that is in French and really should have stayed uncovered. It is incredibly hard to figure out what is going because there are subtitles which also are not only badly timed with who is speaking, but then everyone doesn’t even get subtitles. There is a man and a woman walking all over the place trying to get somewhere, and they are the only two that get subtitles. Everyone else, you don’t get the privilege of knowing what they are saying. It also freezes at the end for the last minute and a half, but I’m not sure if it was the screener disc I have or it was done intentionally. Either way, it’s stupid.
Les Pays Loins Stills Gallery – Still frames from the film.
“Blood And Dishonour” Book Teaser – A look through some of the pages of a book dealing with Satanic Sluts. Ok.
Trailers – Hurt and Black Mass
The Inside Pulse
This is the first appearance of The Iron Rose on DVD in America and it surely could have waited another thirty-four years. Maybe by then I won’t be reviewing films anymore and I would never have to have seen it. The film is a complete waste of time and the special features only another half hour of life worthlessly spent. Even the sex scenes in the film are horrible and that is probably the best selling point it has. If you’re lucky enough to even find this DVD, then do the next person to come behind you a favor. Take it over to the most obscure movie section there is and hide it behind all of them. Or better yet, toss it behind wall of televisions.
