"Lips of Blood" has a great narrative hook. Frederic vaguely remembers a dreamy encounter he had as a child. While staying at an old castle (Of course), he spent the night sleeping in the arms of a beautiful woman. Upon spying a photograph of the castle, the memory comes rushing back. He becomes obsessed with finding the girl, especially since she starts appearing to him in visions. A trip to an old tomb doesn't yield anything but coffins full of bats… Or so it would appear. Vampire girls, dressed in colorful see-through shawls (Of course!), emerge from the crypt and begin to feed across France. A man attempts to assassinate Frederic. It becomes obvious there's a conspiracy preventing him from finding the old building and reuniting with the girl of his dreams.Narratively, the film is more focused then usual. Pacing-wise, it's still a mess. Scenes drag into each other. The long opening sequence is so soft that the next scene, a fairly explicit nude modeling session, throws you off. Moments of the vampires attacking people seem unrelated to Fredric's quest. A scene of a woman leading him into a room with promises of revealing the castle's location doesn't have much to do with the story. The vamps help him out at least once but we never find out why. I like the mustachioed assassin, even if it's a bit out of place in this horror love story, but that storyline isn't resolved either. Generally speaking, the subplot about the legion of vampire girls never meshes with the main storyline. It seems like a blatant excuse for Rollin to insert his fetishes into the film. I mean, more so then usual.The worst part? There aren't that many memorable visuals. A shadow of a statue of a bull is the only striking pure image I can remember. Some memorable scenes arise. A pair of nurses pulling down their surgical masks to reveal fangs is darkly funny. The vampire girls weigh a victim down in chains before kicking her up a flight of stairs. Hilariously, during a particularly windy night, a purple dress billows up into a girl's face. I doubt that was intentional.When the focus is on the love story and the conspiracy, that's when it works. Jean-Loup Phillippe gives an excellent performance as Frederic, especially in a scene where he pleads with the girl's spectre to prove she's real. Annie Briand is enchantingly beautiful as the strange girl at the story's center. It's easy to see why she would inspire such obsession. Natalie Perrey as Frederic's mother delivers exposition but her performance makes it go down easy. The scene of the arrant vampire girls being exterminated is nicely brutal, such as two girls being impaled on the same stake, but also obviously elegiac. Rollin loves his monsters and hates to see them slaughtered.That monster love shines through in the lengthy epilogue. Following an obvious slight-of-hand, the protagonist is reunited with his love. They frolic on the director's favorite beach (Of course!!) and make love, before she bites him, turning him into a vampire. The nude lovers float off, where they live in vampirey bliss happily ever after. Aww. "Lips of Blood" is a muddled affair even if Rollin's strength for romantic sincerity and some strong actors keep it afloat.

The films of Jean Rollin will be an enigma to many who have not experiencing his work, yet for those who allow themselves to be taken elsewhere by his cinema it can prove a highly rewarding experience. The viewer is often taken to places that invoke bewilderment, unease, and sexual desire. By no means Rollin's best film, Levres De Sang (aka. Lips of Blood) is a beautifully lyrical, slow burner that has the uncanny ability to take the viewer into an ethereal, dream like world, where the erotic and the neurotic are intertwined.The story of a photographer, upon seeing a poster, is reminded of his childhood where a mysterious female vampire. However, this being Rollin, do not expect a traditional vampire movie (although his vampire films are arguably the most faithful to the Gothic aura and mythology of the vampire). Mostly dialogue free, with the acting catatonic, this only adds a surreal edge to the proceedings. And no vampire films have a greater sense of eroticism; it is easily to succumb to female vampires whenever they are on screen. For the uninitiated, approach with caution. But this is a fine example of the originality and unique approach which is to be found in 1970s European sex and horror cinema. Of which, Jean Rollin was undoubtedly the master.

"Levres de sang" is one of my favorite Rollin movies. The French cult director often was strong on the visual side and created a dense, dreamlike atmosphere, in this case especially in the dark, deserted city streets, but "Levres de sang" also has a good story to tell about a voyage into the subconscious, a quest for love and death. Briefly, a young man rediscovers traces of his forgotten childhood: the familiar ruin of a castle a photographer has taken pictures of, a mysterious woman in white he believes he met many years before... and vampires who protect him, or so it seems! Needless to say that Rollin always had gorgeous (vampire) women in his films, but here also the male actor Jean-Loup Philippe deserves mentioning. He fills his role with the restless energy of a young Bruce Dern, almost the typical 70s rebel with a cause. A mesmerizing movie not to be missed!

I'm not a fan of Rollins and thought that Requiem for a Vampire was just a bloody mess but based on the synopsis and the fact that I collect vamp movies I decided to give this one a go. Its amateurish, strays a bit from vampire mythology and boy were those French girls hairy in the 70s but I actually liked the basic plot. You'll recognise plot devices that have made their way into more recent films, not least the returning ghost from 'The Ring'. Re-written and remade with the benefit of modern film craft (and less hairy girls) this could be an excellent modern vampire film. Keep an eye out for the vampire twins, definitely cute but deadly.