User reviews

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".

I've seen a handful of Jean Rollin films, and the only ones I liked were his zombie flicks The Living Dead Girl and The Grapes of Death; which is pretty ironic when you consider that ninety percent of his filmography is made up of lesbian vampire films. Well I must be a glutton for punishment having seen this film after seeing so many Rollin films that I didn't like; but to my surprise it would seem that four decades of lesbian vampires has actually taught Rollin something, and while The Fiancé of Dracula suffers from most of the same problems as Rollin's other films; it is actually surprisingly good! As you should expect, the plot is completely made up of nonsense and focuses on some Van Helsing wannabe and his dopey assistant as they go around hunting "parallels" (hot lesbian vampires, basically). Their investigation leads them to a strange convent (via a circus dwarf) and the pair soon discovers that the nuns are harbouring a young woman who just so happens to be the fiancé of the almighty Count Dracula...

Naturally, the film is completely incoherent and nothing after about the first fifteen minutes makes a lick of sense...but Rollin films generally aren't meant to, and he does at least get the ambiance right. Most of the actresses used are stunningly beautiful - even more so when given lesbian vampire roles and Rollin makes good use of them; in particular Rollin stalwart Brigitte Lahaie who has an interesting role as a 'wolf woman'. It soon becomes easier to just take the film scene by scene rather than trying to enjoy it as a whole and the film features plenty of interesting scenes - one that involves a young girl eating a baby is a highlight. Given that Rollin made most of his films between the late sixties and early eighties; it would be reasonable to assume that The Fiancé of Dracula is merely an imitation of his earlier works, but actually that's not the case and this film appears to be as 'true' to Rollin's style as anything he made earlier on in his career. There's not much point talking about the ending because it makes just as much sense as the rest of the film; but while this film isn't brilliant, it's better than most of Rollin's stuff and his fans should enjoy it.

The fifth Rollin film I've watched naturally features a good deal of nudity and gore: it's bizarre and incoherent, to put it mildly, but undeniably fascinating for all that - even if, unfortunately, the TV reception got messed up during the first few minutes of the film!

Coincidentally, it emerges as yet another "Nunsploitation" film (which followed my first-time viewing of SATANICO PANDEMONIUM [1973]!; see review above) - apart from being an esoteric vampire (and zombie) flick!! We also have here an interesting depiction of the effect which the chosen (but unbalanced!) vampire bride-to-be leaves on the order of nuns who harbor her. These, then, have been given silly names pertaining to their idiosyncracies, like Sister Pipe and Sister Cigar (given their smoking preferences) or Sister Funnel (which is what one of them unaccountably keeps on her head)!; likewise, there's a (cave-dwelling) ogress and a (horse-riding!) she-wolf on hand - but these carry no make-up whatsoever, save for the latter's talons!!

As for the Dracula figure (who uses an old grandfather clock as a teleporting device!), however, he's as under-developed here as he had been in Jess Franco's comparable (and almost identically-titled) LA FILLE DE Dracula (1972)! The film's climax - featuring Rollin's beloved seaside setting - is totally wacky, with mad nuns attacking Dracula's horde of disciples (including a couple of old crones and a love-struck dwarf-jester!) and the ogress (a veritable female zombie but a sexy one!) feasting on a naked vampire, before the latter is eventually fried by the oncoming sunlight!!

While the flat digital shooting manages, for the most part, not to obliterate the typically dream-like mood created for the film, its cast includes a comeback to Rollin territory for Brigitte Lahaie as the she-wolf I mentioned above (by the way, I should be watching her first horror film for him - THE GRAPES OF DEATH [1978] - soon) and Bunuel regular Bernard Musson(!). Rollin's latest offering is the only one I've watched from him of recent vintage; while not exactly a good film, it's certainly unique for these times - and, frankly, I'm more interested than ever now to watch a contemporaneous Franco effort (if anything for comparison's sake)...

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)

Out of all the movies involving the character of Dracula, this has got to be one of the most uninteresting ones I have ever come across.

I'm somewhat familiar with the director Jean Rollin and his other movies and it seems to me that this movie is very different from most of his other work. The movies I had seen by him were all very straightforward horror flicks, involving blood and gore and a revenge from the death type of plot. Not this movie though.

Seems to me that this movie was more trying to be a drama, rather than a horror. This is not necessarily a bad thing of course but it is when the story is just so incredibly odd and uninteresting and offers you absolutely nothing thought provoking or entertaining.

It's still something that could had worked. I mean, just look at any random Werner Herzog horror/thriller. I think this movie was also going for a same sort of approach with its style and approach but it just never worked out, at least not for me. The movie is lacking in style. Basically it is a very cheap looking one with nothing in it that impresses. Same goes for all of the characters and the story really.

Don't even ask what the story was all supposed to be about, since it was all such a big mess. The main plot is not that hard to follow and it's very simply written but it are all of the plot lines and characters surrounding its main plot that makes this movie such a confusing mess and also a totally uninteresting one to follow. Parallel worlds, a circus dwarf, killer nuns. Did this movie really thought it was being clever, by simply throwing in as much non-sense stuff as possible? It certainly seemed to me that way but I really wasn't fooled by all of it. I could see through this movie so easily and could see it for what it truly was; A poorly made mess of a movie, that tries to make sense and be clever by being as silly as possible. Now, that just doesn't make any sense to me.

You can't even really regard this as a Dracula movie, or a horror in general. It takes a totally different approach, that unfortunately just isn't much good.

4/10

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Fiancée of Dracula (2002)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A professor and his assistant are trying to track down Dracula but aren't having any luck so instead they locate his fiancée and have her released from a nun-ran mental hospital. Once the fiancée is out, various circus freaks help her locate Dracula and of course the Van Helsing-wannabe is along for the tracking. After years of ill-health and not tackling any movies, director Jean Rollin tried a comeback with TWO ORPHAN VAMPIRES and this film, which followed five years later. Sadly, neither film returned the director to his glory days of the 1970s but I guess fans can at least be thankful that he did get to crank out a few more movies. This film here, plot wise, is an incoherent mess that never really adds up to much of anything. At 90-minutes the film is way too long because it's hard to get any type of feeling for the actual story since the thing is all over the place. I'm not sure if Rollin just wanted to throw everything on the picture and hope that something would stick but sadly the end result is rather lame and not much works. The biggest problem is that none of the characters are all that interesting and this is especially true of the three most important ones. The professor just comes off as a fool and it's hard to take anything he's doing very seriously. The fiancée is very poorly written and whatever motivations she has just roll off. Then there's the Dracula character who has to be one of the weakest versions from any film. Not only do we get vampires but there's also a semi-zombie and a wolf-woman. This wolf is one of the film's saving graces since she's played by the cult favorite Brigitte Lahaie, an actress who appeared in several of Rollin's earlier films. She's the only real energy in the film as she gets to have fun playing the bad girl and she even gets to make a return in a lesbian sequence. You certainly can't take away from the fact that she looks incredibly good at this stage in her life. As you'd expect, there's some gore and nudity but even this is rather tame and boring. There's just really no reason for one to be involved with anything going on since Rollin can add any energy to what we're watching. Fiancée OF Dracula is only for those Rollin fans who must watch everything he did.

Pardon the pun..but this vampire movie sucked....major. One of the worst films I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. It would be perfect for use in a revival of Mystery Science 3000...only be sure to use the totally absurd English language version. Ridiculous and pointless plot with more holes than I could count. Abysmal. How about the part of the film where the "fiancee" goes off on the boat to meet Dracula at a spot non one knows...not even her (huh ?) Yet in the next scene all the other cast members are on the unknown island. Or how about in the first scenes...when the trackers captured the dwarf...they had the Vampire chick right there and apparently helpless and left her alone...why not kill her then and there ???. It wasn't scary..wasn't sexy...it was only boring and tedious. Avoid it like the plague...or create your own MST3K.

Often overlooked in discussions of the wave of new kinds of movies in the late '60s and early '70s is the new kinds of horror flicks. Jean Rollin was one of the wave of new Euro-horror directors of the era. His movies tended to feature unabashed gore and eroticism. His output started to dwindle in the '90s.

At the beginning of the 21st century, he released this oddity. "La fiancée de Dracula" ("Dracula's Fiancee" in English) depicts vampire hunters investigating a group of vampire-like individuals. There's the requisite nudity and bloodsucking. Otherwise, the movie just sort of drags on a lot. It's not a terrible movie but it seems like they drew it out too much. The movie's strengths are the shots of the castle where everyone converges.

Anyway, teenage boys will no doubt enjoy the sight of all the hot babes. I don't predict anyone else getting into the movie.

...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...

A professor and his young assistant are investigating about the coming of the master of parallel,who is simply Dracula.They go to convent and follow Isabel,a mysterious woman,who could be the next fiancee of the master."La Fiancee de Dracula" is clearly not as good as Rollin's best works like "Lips of Blood" and "Fascination".Still it has some surreal moments and a good amount of female nudity.The ending is really beautiful and tragic.It's nice to see Brigitte Lahaie in a rather small role.So if you're a fan of Jean Rollin's wonderful cinema you can't miss this film.Highly recommended,especially if you like vampire flicks.My rating:7 out of 10.

After a long fallow period exacerbated by health problems, it looked as if Jean Rollin would never get back on track. The sublime surrealism of his early masterworks was increasingly being overshadowed by long periods of inactivity and the occasional disappointing dud. Even the highly-touted TWO ORPHAN VAMPIRES seemed like a far cry from his glory days. Well, it may be impossible to bring back the early '70's, but I suspect that FIANCEE OF DRACULA is the best Rollin film we are likely to get from the second half of his career. It certainly makes me wish he'd crank out a few more. Whereas TWO ORPHAN VAMPIRES struck me as a somewhat tired parade of setpieces, FIANCEE actually feels like a fully-realized story where the characters interact and drive the narrative. The music is much better than the synthesizer droning that's been contaminating Rollin's later pictures, with the composer actually using several different instruments. In fact, the one thing that struck me about this film is that for the first time in ages there is a Rollin movie that doesn't seem hamstrung by budgetary constraints from start to finish. Instead there is great imagery, an interesting story and a refreshing lack of predictability.

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.

If your expecting another classic from Jean Rollin, then you will be very disappointed. It seemed that Mr. Rollin was poking fun at the work that made him the artist he is today. Avoid this and rent any Rollin film from the 70's instead.

Some people are not happy with this film because it was silly of Jean Rollin giving the title and giving people the idea it would have been a 'Dracula' idea. For those of you who love his films will surely enjoy this. I was not aware that there was such a late film, apparently this is most expensive one which he managed to have three of his earlier films to TV give him the cash. This is really similar to his other films but it has many more girls and the money is obvious with the wonderful like of the budget. There is a lot of amusement with about eight or more nuns who are crazy, even with two of them called, Sister Pipe and Sister Cigar who actually smoke them. It is delightful, dreamlike, silly, gory, sexy and even of course the Dieppe beach but in this one a really scary moment with a naked (almost) girl is down to a post and covered in the waves. I should also mention that a nun is skipping, there is a dwarf jester, various castles and a wonderful vampire with white skin and lovely red hair and lots of blood every where and a very big kiss from Brigitte Lahale, astride her horse.