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nTitle: The Living Dead Girl (1982)
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nDirector: Jean Rollin
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nCast: Marina Pierro, Francoise Blanchard, CarinanBarone, Mike Marshall
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nReview:
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nMy first experience with a Jean Rollin film wasnZombie Lake (1981), and obviously, if you have seen Zombie Lake then you knownthat wasn’t the best place to start. Zombie Lake is a terribly boring Nazinzombie flick. I’m guessing Rollin wasn’t too proud of that one since he workednunder the ‘J.A. Lazer’ moniker for that film. Calling a Rollin film ‘boring’ isna common reaction amongst those who experience his films, because Rollin oftenntimes went for dreamy atmosphere and slow paced scenes with little dialog.nPersonally, I dig this kind of storytelling, the kind that relies more on stories told through visuals alone rather than dialog. ‘La Morte Vivante’, a.k.a. ThenLiving Dead Girl, a.k.a. Queen Zombie, is an amazing film told through this type of dreamy, slow paced little dialog type style, which fit this film perfectly. I’m trying to watchna lot of Euro horror these days and catch up with all of these horror filmsnthat I haven’t seen and I have to say, so far, I’m really diggin’ some of thesenfilms. The Living Dead Girl is a fantastic lesbian vampire/zombie film, why didnI dig it so much?
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nStory revolves around Catherine Valmont and her bestnfriend Helene. They are two women who grew up together and lived throughnvarious experiences during their childhood, like becoming blood sisters; thenold childhood ritual where two kids cut themselves, unite their blood andnbecome friends for life. One promises the other that if one of them dies, thenother will follow. Well, Catherine ends up dying and she is buried in the cryptnof her very own castle. Lucky for her that an earthquake spills a vat of toxicnchemicals near her coffin and the toxic mist brings her back to life! Catherinenand Helene reunite, but is Catherine the same old Catherine? Nope; nownCatherine is a member of The Living Dead! What’s Helene to do?
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nThe Living Dead Girl falls in the same category asnfilms like Hammer films The Vampire Lovers (1970), Harry Kumel’s Daughters ofDarkness (1971) and Tony Scott’s The Hunger (1983); these are all lesbian vampirenmovies that for whatever the reason are all excellent horror films, verynartful, very well shot, well acted and interestingly enough, they never forgetnto be horror films. The Living Dead Girl also falls in that strange middlenground between a vampire film and a zombie film. The same thing happened to menwith The Revenant (2009) and Deathdream (1974). I simply couldn’t tell if thesenfilms were zombie films or vampire films. For example, The Living Dead Girlnstarts out with two grave robbers, stealing jewelry from the dead. While theynare down in the crypts, an earthquake erupts and a toxic spill brings backnCatherine Valmont from the dead. This opening sequence quickly brought to mindnReturn of the Living Dead (1985) which also starts out with grave robbers andnchemical spills. The title, The Living Dead Girl also suggests it’s a zombie film;nin fact, one of this films alternate titles is ‘Queen Zombie’. But then, as younwatch the film, you see Catherine Valmont acting more like a vampire with her lustnfor human blood. Just like a vampire, she hates animal blood and must feed onnwarm human blood. But then she feeds on human flesh with the voraciousness of anzombie, so yeah, to me, this is one of those films that falls in that strangenplace that mixes vampires and zombies, though there were moments in which the films hints that its more of a vampire film.
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nAs I watched this tale unfold, I couldn’t helpnrelating the dynamics between the characters of Catherine and Helene with thatnof the passionately in love characters in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser (1987). Innboth of these films we meet characters that are willing to do anything forntheir objects of affection. In Hellraiser, we meet a woman willing to bringnvictims to her lover who’s just escaped from hell, so he can feed on them and growna new body. In The Living Dead Girl we have a very similar structure, Helenenstarts bringing victims for Catherine so she can feed on them. She knows she’s doingnwrong, but she does it anyway, to please her loved one. Earlier I mentioned thatnThe Living Dead Girl portrays a lesbian love affair, but in truth the lesbian anglenis only implied. One gets this idea because Helene and Catherine are so passionatenfor each other, willing to go to such lengths to please each other. They nevernkiss or become intimate, but one gets the idea that they have because of theirnobsession and obvious love for each other.
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nThe Living Dead Girl is awesome for the same reasonnthat Kumel’s Daughters of Darkness was awesome, it mixes the art house filmnwith the horror film. The Living Dead Girl has these beautiful shots, hauntingnimagery but at the same time it doesn’t forget that it’s a horror film andnsuddenly, it takes outs its claws and reminds you. Yes my friends, I’m happy toninform that The Living Dead Girl is a distinctively savage horror film.nCatherine Delmont has these long finger nails which she effectively uses tonkill her victims; wow, some awesomely gruesome moments awaits, in fact, rightnfrom the get go you’ll be treated to some gruesome mayhem. In the end, it trulynsurprised me that The Living Dead Girl was directed by the same guy who madenZombie Lake, funny thing is both of these films were made months apart, how can a director go from crap to awesome in the blink of an eye? Ask Jean Rollin, because he knows how to do it perfectly well! This film is so superior! Francoise Blanchard does a great job asnThe Living Dead Girl, she comes off as someone disconnected from being a human,na tortured soul coming to terms with what she is becoming; a character that’s becomingnmore and more instinctive and animal like in nature. And speaking of animalnlike, this film has one of the best and most savages scenes I have ever seen ofna living dead feeding on a human being. It is such a savagely graphic scene, definitelynone for the books! This scene alone makes it worthwhile to seek this one out,nbut in reality, the whole film is awesome. The only downside for me is thatnsome of the performances don’t come off as natural or particularly good, especiallynwhen it comes to the actors portraying the Americans tourists, but for me thisnwas a small hiccup in an otherwise great film. Highly recommend this one!
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nRating: 4 out of 5
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