Though it certainly contains enough nudity and savagery to fill the demands of the time, Rollin's film remains a unique oddity thanks to its strong injection of the director's poetic obsessions with castles, cemeteries, clown makeup, and of course, his beloved fetching twin motif, with Marie-Pierre Castel (without her twin sister Catherine) teamed up with Mireille Dargent (The Demoniacs) as a pair of refugee robbers seeking refuge in a castle populated by perverse bloodsuckers. Dialogue is kept to a bare minimum as the film spirals into a collection of vignettes involving the vampire cult's mistreatment of its guest s and even its own members.
Slightly more linear than the previous Shiver of the Vampires but still very similar in structural terms, this film is essentially another of Rollin's improvisations on a common theme. His affinity for vampires again allows him to explore the dynamic between the preservation of innocence and the perversity of everlasting life, with his heroes trapped somewhere in between. For those who have never experienced Rollin before, this may be a good test in the shallow end of the pool before wading out into the deeper waters of his more challenging and ambitious offerings.
After decades of subpar French-only VHS releases and bootlegs, Requiem for a Vampire was initiated into the DVD fold very early in the format's history from Image Entertainment as part of its distribution deal with Redemption, a UK-based company specializing in horror and offbeat softcore erotica. This film fits both of those quite well, of course, and it was one of the major factors in bringing awareness of Rollin to American audiences. A subsequent reissue from Redemption under its own banner did little to improve on it, though at least the non-anamorphic transfer used for both was very good for its time (apart from a strange shimmering and color distortion issue it experienced with some players). A triple-disc European DVD release from Encore featured a slew of additional extras including a pair of video interviews with Rollin colleagues, a somewhat difficult-to-interpret English commentary by the director, an interview and text of a short story, and alternate scenes.
For some reason Kino decided to hold this film in its catalog of Rollin HD overhauls for a second wave after the first four titles despite its status as one of the director's most popular titles (along with The Living Dead Girl, which as of this writing is still missing in action). The new transfer is absolutely gorgeous, with perfect 1.66:1 framing, intense but accurate reproduction of those eye-catching red accents in many scenes, and little to no attempts at any digital tweaking or noise reduction. The French and English audio tracks are included with optional English subtitles; stick with the French unless you're very, very nostalgic for a '70s Euro import drive-in experience.
Extras commence with a dimly-lit 1998 Rollin video introduction (two and a half minutes) in which he discusses in accented English how he came up with the idea of the script and likens it to a child writing a story. The 17-minute featurette "The Shiver of a Requiem" features collaborators Natalie Perrey and Jean-Noel Delamarre, who talk about replacing Catherine in the film, the burning of a Belgian car for the getaway opening sequence, handling fruit bats with gloves for the film's most notorious sequence between an actress' legs, and assembling the evocative soundtrack. An additional 10-minute interview with the late Louise Dohr from the Encore edition focuses more on Rollin in general, including working with Willy Braque and doing some unconventional scenarios for The Escapees. Also included are the French and English European trailers as well as the Caged Virgins one for American audiences, along with bonus trailers for the seven other Rollin titles in the Kino catalog to date. A liner notes booklet by Tim Lucas is essentially a sequel to his earlier set for Kino's first round, this time focusing on this film, Rape of the Vampire, and The Demoniacs.
For more information about Requirm for a Vampire, visit Kino Lorber. To order Requirm for a Vampire, go to TCM Shopping.
by Nathaniel Thompson
