''Requiem pour un Vampire'' (
English
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Peoples, culture, and language
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** English national ide ...
: ''Requiem for a Vampire'', also known as ''Caged Virgins'') is a 1971 erotic horror/fantasy film directed by
Jean Rollin
Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil (3 November 193815 December 2010) was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his work in the fantastique genre.
Overview
Rollins' career, spanning over fifty years, featured early short film ...
, about two young women who find themselves trapped in a haunted castle ruled by vampires.
Plot
Two women dressed as clowns and a male driver are being chased through the countryside, for unknown reasons. As the man drives, the women shoot at their pursuers. When the man is shot, the women are forced to burn the car with his body inside and once they remove their costumes, they run through a forest, and later a cemetery, in which one of the women, Michelle, is almost buried alive.
Walking through a field, they come to the outside of a gothic castle. There they are bitten by vampire bats, which lead them to go into the castle, where they make love in a cozy bed. They tour the castle and discover a few skeletons along with a woman playing an organ. She begins to follow them, so they shoot at her, but she doesn't die. They run away and are caught by some men who force themselves on them. A vampire woman stops the men, and the vampire woman who chased them almost bites them until they break away. They soon come across a male vampire, the last of his kind. He has plans for the women. They are bitten in order to continue his bloodline, but they must stay virgins. Michelle likes the idea of everlasting life but her girlfriend has serious doubts, and by sleeping with Frédéric, a random passerby, she not only jeopardizes the vampire's plans but also puts the mutual love and friendship between her and Michelle to the ultimate test. The vampire realizes that he must not continue the bloodline, and lets Michelle and her girlfriend escape.
Production
Casting
Marie-Pierre Castel
Marie-Pierre Yvonne Tricot (5 February 1949 – 10 February 2013), known professionally as Marie-Pierre Castel, or Pony Tricot, was a French actress. She became notable for her collaboration with Jean Rollin, appearing in a number of his films, ...
, who starred in Rollin's previous films ''
La Vampire Nue
''La Vampire Nue'' (English: ''The Nude Vampire'', ''The Naked Vampire'') is a 1970 film directed by Jean Rollin. It concerns a suicide cult led by a mysterious man known as "The Master".
Plot
In a strange laboratory, three men in weird masks ta ...
'' and ''
Le Frisson des Vampires'', joined the cast of ''Requiem'' because her twin sister
Catherine Castel
Catherine Marie Simone Tricot (5 February 1949 – 19 September 2018), known professionally as Catherine Castel, or Cathy Tricot, was a French actress and director.
Career
She was best known for appearing in films directed by Jean Rollin, alon ...
was unavailable. An agent had introduced Rollin to
Mireille Dargent, who would play Marie's partner in the film. This agent was a crook, and collected Dargent's wages for his own benefit. Rollin hired a lawyer and the agent paid the earnings back to her. ''Requiem'' was Louise Dhour's first film. She used to sing Damia's songs at Paris nightclub ''La Ville Grille''. As the vampires' maidservant in the film, she was given the most important of her roles and thus became part of the ''Films ABC'' family.
Location
The movie was filmed in the small village of Crêvecoeur. The graveyard was located outside the village on a knoll. The castle, a historical place entirely furnished with genuine antiques, all of which were worth a fortune, had been rented from the duchess of
Roche-Guyon. It wasn't her castle that Rollin and the crew were interested in, but the ruins of the dungeon above, that overlooked the entire area.
Censorship
Due to the nudity, some of the scenes had to be shot twice for such countries as the UK. For the scene where Dargent is whipping the naked Castel, another scene was shot with her wearing a bra and panties. For the two other scenes, where Castel and Dargent make love, two scenes were shot: the original with them completely naked, and the other fully clothed. In the original scene where Dargent is being chased by the man, she was topless; in the censored scene, she was clothed.
Cast
*
Marie-Pierre Castel
Marie-Pierre Yvonne Tricot (5 February 1949 – 10 February 2013), known professionally as Marie-Pierre Castel, or Pony Tricot, was a French actress. She became notable for her collaboration with Jean Rollin, appearing in a number of his films, ...
as Marie
*
Mireille Dargent as Michelle
* Philippe Gasté as Frédéric
* Dominique as Erica
* Louise Dhour as Louise
* Michel Dalesalle
* Antoine Mosin
* Agnès Petit
* Olivier François
* Dominique Toussaint
* Agnes Jacquet
* Anne-Rose Kurra
*
Paul Bisciglia
Paul Antoine Alphonse Bisciglia (30 July 1928 – 18 April 2010) was a French film actor.
Career
Throughout his acting career, Bisciglia appeared in more than one hundred feature films. He made his debut in the 1950 film ''Trois télégram ...
as L'homme au Vélo
Home media
The film was released on
VHS in France as part of the ''Collectorror'' collection. The North American VHS edition, retitled ''Caged Virgins'', were released on August 22, 1995. A UK VHS edition was released by Salvation.
Several versions of the film were released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in different countries. For the North American DVD release, issued on 30 March 1999, the film was retitled ''Requiem for a Vampire''. The film was released in France as part of the Jean Rollin Collection on 24 June 2004, with extras including an interview with Rollin, a biography and a filmography. The UK DVD was released on 9 September 2004 by
Redemption Films
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
Salvation Group is a UK-based media company, specialising in exploitation film and alternative music. The company's original name and current trading name is Redemption Films. The Salvation Group was dissolved in No ...
, in a full-frame version. The North American DVD editions were re-released on 24 February 2009, with extras including alternative scenes, a 10-minute interview with Dhour, trailers, additional scenes and a photo gallery.
A three-disc DVD limited edition was released by Encore in Europe in a new 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen version, with extras including audio commentary and introduction by Rollin, original trailers, a slideshow, alternative scenes, interviews with Bisciglia and Dhour, and a 64-page booklet.
References
External links
*
{{Jean Rollin
1971 films
French erotic films
1971 horror films
French vampire films
Films directed by Jean Rollin
Films set in castles
French LGBT-related films
Censored films
1970s French-language films
LGBT-related horror films
1971 LGBT-related films
1970s French films