Plots(1)
Fascination is often described as a vampire film yet, like few other horror films, it is actually about blood fetishism. Set in 1905, the story concerns a group of aristocratic women who acquire more epicurean tastes after drinking ox's blood as a cure for anemia. Some erotic component was usually imposed on Rollin by meddling producers, forcing him to add ill-fitting sex scenes into his productions, but here - more so than anywhere else in his filmography - the erotic scenes feel truly organic to the story. Due in large part to the sensuality and chemistry of Brigitte Lahaie (a popular Euro porn star in her second legitimate role for Rollin) and Franca Mai (subsequently a singer, producer-director of short films, web mogul and novelist), they are also classically lovely and legitimately erotic. Playful, elegantly crafted and brimming with some of the most unforgettable images in his filmography, Fascination embodies Jean Rollin at his very best - venturing outside his usual comfort zones and extending the definition of his filmic universe in the process. (Redemption)
(more)Reviews (3)
The pleasantly seductive magic of beautiful women clad in transparent dresses, in a castle on a foggy
lake – I would certainly like to wander there with that sensual music on. But when it comes to the
“horror” of stabbing with a dagger and cutting with scythe, this movie is doomed by its naivety.
Combining Rollin’s French poetics of eroticism and the devilish gore of Italian Euro-trashers would have
made for a more gourmet viewing experience.
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Fascination is a film that is a little bit crude in its eroticism - in the sense that it's just about showing naked female bodies - but it delivers this crudeness quite subtly and, most importantly, in a very sexy way. The women here are beautiful and natural, and the film, while perverse at its core, is very tasteful in its presentation of eroticism and is visually simply beautiful. And there’s not much more to it.
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An unusual vampire movie without vampires, where the supernatural is replaced by the blood fetish of bored aristocrats. Jean Rollin once again teeters on the edge of surreal art film and exploitation trash. As in porn, basically any interaction between men and women ends in sex, but this is not a typical sexploitation film. Here, the men initially think they have the upper hand over the women, but it actually turns out to be the other way around. The eroticism here is not gratuitous, but an organic part of the narrative. Jean Rollin used to say that all you need to make a film is beautiful women and a castle or a cemetery. And it's truly fascinating the elegance with which he can make such a captivating film with hypnotic atmosphere and erotic tension using only porn actors, austere sets, minimalistically lit locations, sounds and music. If you're the right target audience, you won't get the shots of Brigitte Lahaie in a black dress with a giant scythe out of your head right away.
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