Fascination (1979)

Country of Origin: France
Year of Production: 1979
Running Times: 80 mins
Format: colour
Ratio:
Sound:

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Les Films ABC / Comex
Producer: Joe De Lara

SCRIPT
Script: Jean Rollin

DIRECTION
Director: Jean Rollin

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Georgie Fromentin
Assistant Director of Photography: Bogdan Borkowski
Electricians: Etienne Jourdan, Mordechai Bracha
Stills: Jean-Francois Gaté

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Dominique Saint-Cyr

MUSIC
Music: Philippe d' Aram

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Eric Pierre

MISCELLANEOUS
Production Assistant: Natalie Perrey

CAST
Franca Mai (Elisabeth)
Brigitte Lahaie (Eva)
Jean-Marie Lemaire (Marc)
Fanny Magier (Hélène)
Muriel Montossé (Anita)
Sophie Noël (Sylvie)
Evelyne Thomas (Dominique)
Agnès Bert
Alain Plumey (real name: Cyril Val), Joe De Lara (apaches)
Myriam Watteau (la femme apache)
Jacques Sansoul

PLOT SUMMARY

A group of middle class women gather at a turn of the century chateau to indulge in ritual blood drinking, supposedly as a cure for anemia. A young crook, Mark, pulls off a gold robbery, double crosses his friends and seeks refuge in the mansion where the blood drinking women are staging their latest ritual. The women have decided that simply drinking animal blood is no longer enough and have chosen two of their number, Elisabeth and Eva, to find a suitable human victim. The arrival of Mark and, shortly thereafter, the rest of his gang, provide them with more than enough resources...

CAPSULE REVIEW

Along with Levres de sang (1975) and the haunting La morte vivante (1982), Fascination stands at the pinnacle of Rollin's variable career. Brigitte Lahaie lends the film much of its undeniable erotic charm, wandering around the mansion grounds in a cape and black leather boots offing all and sundry with an enormous scythe. Rollin crams the film with many startling and unforgettable images - Eva contemplating suicide after catching Mark and Elisabeth having sex on the drawing room floor; two women dancing on a stone bridge behind the opening credits; the contrast of the charnel house surroundings and the finery of the women who indulge their rituals there. (Full Review)

AVAILABILITY

Australia
Video Distributors: Redemption Australia

France
Theatrical Distributors: Consortium Europeen Cinematographique
Video Distributors: American; SDV; Cinetheque; Angoisse / Blacke

Greece
Video Distributors: Sunset

Japan
Video Distributors: Tokuma

UK
Video Distributors: Redemption; Salvation
VCD Distributors: Redemption
DVD Distributors: Salvation

USA
Video Distributors: Video Search of Miami
DVD Distributors: Redemption

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: MA

UK
Rating: 18

REFERENCES

MAGAZINES

L'Écran Fantastique no.13 (January 1980) p.72 (France)
review

European Trash Cinema vol.2 no.8 p.28 (USA)
review

Fangoria no.190 (March 2000) p.74 (USA)
DVD note (by Michael Gingold and Matthew Kiernan)

Necronomicon no.6 p.57 (UK)
review

Psychotronic no.16 p.15 (USA)
review

Shivers no.30 p.26 (UK)
review

Sight and Sound vol.4 no.6 (June 1994) p.71 (UK)
video review (by Peter Dean)

Sight and Sound vol.10 no.3 (March 2000) p.62 (UK)
DVD note

Télérama no.1540 (18 July 1979) p.72 (France)
review

Télérama no.1566 (16 January 1980) p.82 (France)
review

BOOKS

The Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Horror (2nd edition) p.336
credits, review

The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide by Stephen Jones p.75
credits, review

KEYWORDS

aristocrats, castles, cults, lesbianism, scythes, sex, the supernatural, vampires

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009