Page 181 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

and scythe shots. Similarly much of the composition involves symmetry or semi-symmetry, where the
composition is symmetrical (either strict or rotationally) but the depicted objects are opposite - black
and white or yin and yang. Eva is blonde, Elisabeth is brunette, one wears white, the other black, and
(hey often share opposing sides of the screen's symmetrical space.
Similarly in Lèvres de sang, angular compositions play an important part in proceedings. As
Frederic sits at the cinema watching Rollins very own Le frisson des vampires (1970) (although the
cinemas art deco poster is advertising La vampire nue), Rollin composes the shot of the mystery girl
beckoning Frederic to follow her up the stairs. This complements and contrasts with the on-screen
shot of Isa and Anthony climbing the steps to the chateau. Both staircases point towards the same
physical direction and lead to the same thematic direction. Le frisson des vampires excels with its
astonishing use of colour gels to create a comic-book sense of garishness. The opening cemetery shot
features light streaming through the gravestones towards the camera to give a sense of motion in an
otherwise static frame. Locations are clearly defined by their colour divisions. Inside the blue walls
of the chateau the setvant twins climb a red spiral staircase leading to a room, inside which lurks a
staked vampire.
Les démoniaques (1973) pushes Rollins comic-book derived pulp visual style even further. Despite
the sordid nature of the narrative, the visual stylisation places the film entirely in a melodramatic
context. The opening is a case in point. Rollin introduces us to the wreckers in a manner familiar to
readers of European comics or Victorian penny-dreadful covers - the dramatispersonae are illustrated
in oval silhouette-style frames against a backdrop that forms the setting to the story. The colours are
saturated and the impression of the piece is akin to Fritz Lang's 1955 film Moonfleet (complete with
skeletons, lurid lighting, decay and coast-bound skullduggery) - although the story's concern with the
attempted vengeance of two violated innocents falls firmly into penny-dreadful territory.
Rollins style is not limited purely to static tableaux shots. He is not afraid to move the camera
or adopt unusual editing techniques, although these ate still employed to enhance the compositional
(the use of space) rather than dynamic effect. On occasion his characters or objects are 'introduced'
to the audience in one single extended pan-around. The constantly revolving camera is a common
feature of his style and is used extensively in Le frisson des vampires. When Anthony and Isa learn from
the servant 'twins' that her cousins are not dead as expected, the camera pans to each actor's face,
they speak their line of dialogue and the camera moves on to the next character. This plays with the
space the group inhabit and also causally defines the elements of the dialogue as each speaks in turn.
Similarly,when Isa's cousins reveal their origins to an incapacitated Anthony, the camera pans around
the whole room with dizzying effect.
In Requiem pour un vampire a spiral staircase is given animated life by the camera's rotational
movement, though again the dynamic effect of the movement is employed mote for compositional
reasons. In Le viol du vampire the two lovers bend towards each other to kiss, but as their lips touch
Rollin cuts to a disorienting upside-down shot of the very same embrace. The finale of Le frisson des
vampires is a riot of imaginative camerawork as Anthony 'rescues' Isa from her initiation. As he flees
along a railway track, the shot is completely symmetrical as he runs towards the camera. When he has
passed the camera's view, Rollin cuts to an upside-down shot of Anthony receding into the distance.
The action moves abruptly to the beach where Anthony finally loses Isa to the call of her id and her

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