Page 177 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

FIGURE 34 Untamed exterior landscapes frequently dominate Rollins vampire films: Les frisson des vampires (1970)

and ideas. It is the place where the water meets the land, the journey between one life and the next. It
represents change, finality and otherworldliness. The beach is a happy destination in La vampire nue,
and Levres de sang, but it can also be a setting for the cruelty, the unfairness, torture and chaos of the
world(s). Commenting on the repeated use of this iconography in his films, Rollin has stated:

I have seen many beautiful beaches in my life, but this one, I don't know why, for me
represents mystery itself. It's a surrealistic beach. Three elements: the falaise [cliffs], the sea
and the mouettes [seagulls] .3

Although it does not technically fall into his vampire canon (arguments could be made for the mentor
of the two girls imbuing them with power through a form of vampirism) Les démoniaques (1974) is
quintessentially Rollin, both thematically and structurally. The wreckers who are the film's central
villains lure ships to their doom in order to plunder their cargoes. This leads to much of the action
taking place on a rocky beach - the uncertainty of the waves clashing chaotically on the coastline. It
is on this beach that much of the narrative thrust is derived. The sea's chaotic nature accentuates the
narrative turns in many of Rollins films - the waves here mark the turning points: the rape of two
girls and their subsequent doomed attempts at vengeance.
Rollins use of mise-en-scène is similarly intriguing for interior locations. He is just as focused
on filming the environment as he is his actors - for him the decor is a character in itself (a trait
he shares with Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Svankmajer). His chateaux are filled to the brim with

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