Dracula's Fiancée (2002)

the audience applauded

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Blistering performances.

Vampire films are usually very attractive: some of them are masterpieces ("Nosferatu", "Dracula" (1931), "Dracula" (1992)); others are cult, like the Hammer productions, "Near Dark" and "The Lost Boys"; others are only entertaining. But they always have audiences of fans to worship the different stories and versions of the vampire, the supernatural being created by Bram Stoker in his novel and brought to the cinema by F.W. Murnau for the first time.Unfortunately, "La fiancée de Dracula" is probably the worst vampire movie ever made, with a combination of exploitation with a terrible screenplay recalling Jesus Franco films. There is no development of the characters or situations and the viewer sees a mysterious professor (that physically recalls Christopher Lee, only physically) and his awkward assistant Eric performed by a ham actor hunting down Dracula. In-between there are crazy nuns, breasts and naked bodies exposed in a senseless story. My vote is one (awful).Title (Brazil): Not Available (fortunately)

I'm fairly new to Jean Rollin's output (as I've only watched "The Living Dead Girl" and "Requiem for a Vampire"), but again like those aforementioned films (even though I wasn't blown away from this one) I enjoyed the strange, surreal quality of one of Rollin's latest works; "Dracula's Fiancée". The supernatural meets sensual erotica, in what is a crazy canvas for Rollin to let loose providing a sense of wonder with its moody atmospherics, brooding performances and demented butchery. A professor and his assistant are trying to hunt down the tomb of Dracula, which leads them to Dracula's fiancée and through her they can uncover his remains as they get drawn in to a parallel world. The pictorial story is jadedly convoluted and slow-moving, but fancifully gripping in the surrealistically Gothic universe that's created as its populated with eccentric creations ranging from Dracula, a she-wolf, baby-eating Ogresses, vampires, dwarf-jester and some raving mad nuns within a attractively remote backdrop of castle ruins and sprawling beach line. It's the macabre meeting the beautiful, as Rollin's hypnotically symbolic imagery is richly presented (like the boat ride) and arrestingly captured by its whimsical, haunting soundtrack. Sometimes you find yourself being lost in this bewildering world, forgetting about its ponderously thick script filled with many abstract ideas. There's a lot going on, than what is actually shown even when it favours its sparse long stretches. It's an atypical character journey of a Dracula tale, but at its core it's the usual love story filled with unrest, desire and heartache. Still underdone in the details. The theatrical performances are acceptable and the make-up FX is passable. Erotically nightmarish blood sucking entertainment."May you rest in peace".

...Or, a Jean Rollin film, in other words.Certainly, this is his best film in years. Despite the sort of technical inadequacies that have always dogged his low-budget work, I have never been able to resist Rollin. Indeed, larger budgets have often hampered him, in that his unique style largely depends on a sense of post-apocalyptic dereliction and a wistful sensuality shot amidst empty castles and isolated necropoli.If I remember right, Rollin had the largest budget available to him so far, yet does not make the mistakes he made with Deamoniacs (the first film where he had any real money) and fill the run time with lots of pointless but boring "action" sequences. Instead, the extra wad of cash allows him to expand his universe but at the same time revisit many of the locations of the past. And yes, before you ask, that beach IS in it.As always, Rollin's unique sense of humour is present, though in a far more sophisticated manner than in his previous works(it helps if you see the original French versions). A sequence in a nunnery, for example is underscored by various paintings by Clouvis Trouille seen in the background. Long a huge influence, or rather "brother" in the same fraternity as Rollin, Trouille's work has been referenced more and more in his films as of late. Thank God, none of the campery of Frisson De Vampires here.Most importantly, Rollin references and recreates images seen in earlier films. The Grandfather clock/TARDIS arrangement; the beach; various castle seen in other works. I could go on. The point is, Rollin has not only taken his time to retrofit is films into one great whole but to also hint that there is one continuous Master Story Arc throughout his entire oeuvre.If you are new to Rollin, see The Nude Vampire, Rape of the Vampire and Fascination first. If you are a long-term fan you will not be disappointed and, indeed you will await his next film (which, despite all the secrecy, has, in fact finished shooting already) with eager anticipation...

This is a wonderful return to form by an idiosyncratic master. Obviously, his physical infirmities have not hindered his vivid imagination and ability to conjure up startlingly iconic visuals. His latter films tend to have a more playful, fairy tale quality than his early masterpieces, which some have interpreted as self-parody. More likely, it's the result of his adapting his own fantasy novelettas, as well as a personal mellowing with the knowledge that his work is now appreciated by a new generation. There certainly are many homages to his past successes here, particularly the grandfather clock acting as a cache for vampires. These elements have been integrated into the new mythology of "parallels", giving the film a bit more cohesiveness than his previous homage to his own work, Two Orphan Vampires. The denouement -- amid the broken wrecks and piers of the French seacoast, naturellement -- contain striking surrealist images that rival those of Robbe-Grillet, Jodorowsky, and Arrabal. Quite a magical experience, whose delicacy is tenuous but rewarding.