The Grapes of Death (1978)

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nTitle: The Grapes of Death (1978)

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nDirector: Jean Rollin

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nCast: Brigitte Lahaie, Marie Georges Pascal, MirellanRancelot

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nReview:

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nI am quickly learning there are various elements one canncome to expect from a Jean Rollin film: girls, nudity, lesbians, gore, shocknvalue, heavy atmosphere and blood, blood, blood; all great elements if you’renmaking a horror film, which is what Rollin specialized in. I am quicklynabsorbing many of Rollin’s films and I have to say, I have an affinity fornthem. I really like all that he achieved with so little money. I understand thenkind of films he made, and admire him for making such beautiful looking filmsnon such low budgets. How did Rollin achieve so much with so little? Well,nbasically, Rollin spent a lot of his time as a pornographer. For example, thenfilm he made before The Grapes of Death was something called Hyperpenetrationsn(1978) and the one he made after it was called Discosex (1978). But the artistnin Rollin wasn’t just satisfied with making porn, he wanted more! So he oftenntimes suggested his producers to fund a real film with the same amount of moneynit costs to make a porn film. He would use porn stars for his films; and younknow how that goes: you give a porn star the chance to be in a real film and ofncourse they’ll jump at a chance to do it. It is a step up for them; it’snsomething they can finally show their mom. This is no longer just porn, this isna real film we’re talking about here! So this is the reason why Rollin alwaysnhad such sultry looking ladies in his films, this was also the case with ThenGrapes of Death, a film filled with luscious looking women running from thenundead.

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nThe film starts out with these men spraying pesticide on ancrop of grapes. One of them doesn’t feel so good, but his boss tells him toncontinue working no matter what. We are then presented with these two girlsntraveling on an eerily empty train, their destinations are different, yet theyntravel together for companionship. On one of the train stops, the sick man whonwas spraying the crops, boards the train and sits next to one of the girls. Atnfirst there is nothing weird about him save for his awkward behavior. But soon,nhis face starts to degenerate and blood starts coming out of his pores! He is sufferingnfrom some sort of infection! The girl, terrified,  gets off the train looking for help but shenonly ends up stumbling upon more sick people, worst part is they are not onlynsick, they are violent as well! What the hell is going on? Why is the world nownpopulated by violence, death and destruction? Elizabeth will soon discover thentruth about The Grapes of Death!

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nSo again, what I enjoyed about this film is what I havenenjoyed about all of the Jean Rollin films I have seen:  the atmosphere, the mood, the ambiance. Rollinnshot these films for very little money, so he did what any low budget filmmakernwould do to make the most of his films: he shot in amazing looking locations. Greatnchateaus, abandoned locales, places with ancient architecture; he reallynexploited the use of interesting looking locations. Add a bit of mist, thenhowling sound of the wind and voila! Your movie is instantly creepier. This isnsomething Rollin understood quite well for The Grapes of Death is a film innwhich the wind is blowing all of the time. This is something that a lot ofndirectors don’t understand, but the sound the wind makes is something that addsna great level of spookiness to any horror film. Fulci used this sound effect a lot;nFellini used the hell out of it too and Rollin uses it to great effectivenessnhere.  The localizations he used for thenfilm add a tremendous feeling of isolation, starting with the lonely train, followednby these beautiful (yet spooky) looking landscapes and finally, the eerienvillage where most of the action takes place in. So this is a great example of a director making a film better simply because he has an eye for beauty, something that is often times taken for granted by modern filmmakers. 

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nMost of the time, Rollin specialized in making vampire filmsnlike Requiem for a Vampire (1971), The Rape of the Vampire (1968) or The Silvernof the Vampires (1971). Sometimes his films would be a strange hybrid between anzombie film and vampire film like for example The Living Dead Girl (1982), wherenI wasn’t quite sure if it was one or the other and sometimes he’d venture intonthe zombie genre. I personally didn’t like Zombie Lake (1981), I consider it a lownpoint in Rollins career, but with The Grapes of Death he made a full blownnzombie flick that I found completely satisfying. The Grapes of Death is somethingnalong the lines of The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1974) where peoplenare infected by some kind of toxic that makes them violent and crazy, the same thingnhappens on The Grapes of Death;  it’s thenpesticide used on the crops that turns people into zombies. The zombies in ThenGrapes of Death degenerate both psychologically and physically; but they don’t completelynlose consciousness, they know what they are and what is happening to them, theynjust can’t control it or their violent urges. So these zombies are unique innthe sense that they are conscious of their decomposing state and they hatenthemselves for it.  

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nAs a zombie film, I’d say this is a very satisfying one. Itnhas a strange eeriness to it; things slowly creep up on you until you are rightnsmack in the middle of zombie chaos. Rollin’s films are deliberately slownpaced, building up on the atmosphere, but then at some point you can restnassured that Rollin will flat out shock you. Rollin’s loves to take you bynsurprise! In terms of gore, the film is pretty impressive! If there’s somethingnthat distinguishes a Rollin film it’s a well orchestrated gore scene. On thisnone we get one of the best decapitations I have EVER seen on any film. Inremember The Living Dead Girl delivered the best scene of a vampire/zombienfeeding on human flesh…well, on this one we get an extremely memorable decapitationnby axe that will leave you gasping for more. In conclusion, I have to say thisnwas a great zombie flick, I loved many things about it and practically foundnnothing I didn’t like, another plus being that we get beautiful girls left andnright! Brigitte Lahaie, one of Rollin favorite actresses and all around musenreturns looking as sensual as she always did in Rollin’s films. Highlynrecommend this French zombie film, it shows you don’t need a lot money to makena satisfying and entertaining film, all you need is talent and if you ask me,nRollin, with his artful eye, had it to spare.

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nRating: 4 out of 5

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