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| Available at Amazon.com |
Given my previous experience with Redemption Films, I was not looking forward to watching Lips of Blood. I figured that it would mostly consist of half-naked women being terrorized by men, that the cinematography would look like it was done by a monkey, and that the acting would be teeth-shatteringly bad. What I didn’t expect was a half decent attempt at a movie. Sure, there were plenty of scenes with naked women, and there were a few moments when the exploitation almost ramped into torture porn territory, but there was also a genuine atmosphere and sense of mystery that permeated the entire film. This movie comes out of the gate strong, but unfortunately loses its way fairly quickly.
Filmed in France over a period of three weeks by director Jean Rollin, Lips of Blood tells the tale of Frederick, a man haunted by what is either a memory or a delusion from his childhood. At a party Frederick sees a photograph of an ancient ruin which looks exactly like the place where as a boy he met beautiful strange women dressed all in white. The boy Frederick was lost, and the woman in white sheltered him for the night. He immediately falls in love with her and holds the memory close to heart—if, that is, it really is a memory and not a fantasy. Determined to find the location of the ruins, Frederick tracks down the photographer, and as he does this he begins seeing visions of the woman in white all around Paris, looking exactly the same as the day he saw her twenty years before. His search eventually takes him to a cemetery where he opens several coffins, unleashing five female vampires on the city.
What sets this movie apart from other exploitation films is that there is genuine talent both behind and in front of the camera. Rollin is a strong director who makes great use of shadow, light, and silence to create atmosphere. His pacing may be a little slow by modern American standards, but I found it also helped in creating a sense of mystery and suspense. Rollin is helped by a strong cast, especially Jean-Loup Philippe, who as Frederick does a great job of balancing terror, fascination, and mystery.
There is a lot of potential in this film, but there are many problematic areas that keep this from becoming a good movie. Chief among these areas are various plot holes and leaps of logic; a great deal is implied, but there’s not enough concrete information to get a strong handle on some of the events, which leaves you feeling frustrated. I’m a fairly smart guy, and I don’t need a movie to spell everything out for me, but there were several parts where I would have liked just a little more information. Unfortunately, I can’t go into that in much detail without ruining some key plot points, so if you do watch this movie, feel free to email me and ask what those parts were.
The other major problem with the movie is that it didn’t handle the erotic scenes very well. For example, when Frederick sets out to meet the photographer, we’re treated to a scene in her apartment/studio where she’s taking nude pictures of a woman presumably for some kind of magazine. As she’s taking the photos, the woman slowly begins to masturbate. The angle of her leg hides most of the action—which is the only thing keeping the scene from becoming hardcore pornography—but there’s no doubt as to what she’s doing. Now questions of taste aside, this is a bad scene simply because it didn’t need to be there; it’s awkwardly shoved into the movie because it will excite the men in the audience. It does nothing for the narrative nor does it highlight anything about anybody’s character.
Another example comes near the end of the picture where we see a flashback of the vampire women leading a naked, bloody woman with her head and hands bound in stocks up into the ruins for what we’re assuming to be her doom. Again there’s no real reason for this scene other than that it’s provocative. After all, it’s not like the movie needs to establish by this point that the vampires are cruel and evil—they’ve already killed plenty of times and with great enjoyment.
I could go on, but scenes like those combined with the the plotholes keep Lips of Blood from being a good movie. It’s strengths in mood and setting are not enough to offset its weaknesses, which is a pity because I really think that this could have been a classic.
Lips of Blood definitely shows its age, but the transfer is actually well done. The video is presented in 16:9 Anamorphic Enhanced. The audio is in French with English subtitles.
Jean Rollin’s Lips of Blood Introduction (running time: 10:00)
Rollin spends most of the ten minutes outlining the movie plot point by plot point and most of the time he seems to be rambling.
Jean Rollin’s Audio Commentary
Interview with Actor Jean-Loup Philippe (running time: 16:00)
This was conducted in Paris in May 2005 and Philippe comes off as charming and intelligent. He talks about his life and his experiences on Lips of Blood. He also confirms a suspicion I had about a plot point, but for spoiler’s sake, I won’t say what. It’s pretty easy to figure out, though.
Interview with Actress Nathalie Perrey (running time: 12:35)
This was also conducted in Paris in May 2005, and I have to say that Perrey doesn’t interview as well as Philippe. Most of the interview consisted of her talking about working with Rollin and her memories of Lips of Blood.
Still Gallery
Not much to say here except that it’s very short.
Artwork
This one is even shorter with only two pieces of art displayed.
Conact
How to contact Redemption Films
Redemption Trailers
Killer’s Moon (running time: 2:25)
Nature Morte (running time: 2:12)
Although I found some aspects to like about this movie, there’s not enough for me to recommend people to watch it. The overall feeling I’m left with is disappointment. Not recommended.
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Redemption Films presents Lips of Blood. Directed by Jean Rollin. Starring Jean-Loup Philippe, Anne Briand, Nathalie Perrey, and Willy Braque. Written by Jean Rollin and Jean-Loup Philippe. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated NR. Released on DVD: July 29, 2008. >Available at Amazon.com.
About Josh Begley
