ÍøÆغÚÁÏ

Following the discovery of an oddly mute woman pursued by mysterious animal-masked (à la The Wicker Man) individuals, a bored, bourgeois young man by the name of Pierre adopts a certain degree of interest in his snobbish father's covert nightly activities. His interest and cunning gains him access to the exclusive-entry mansion where the running female had escaped from earlier - inside he discovers groups of masked individuals indulging in strange nocturnal activities (sounds like my local council). The blood/death cult appear to be willingly sacrificing themselves to the very woman that Pierre came across earlier, and despite the fact that she was apparently shot dead before his rapid departure, she now walks around looking rather healthy and all too happy to feast on the life fluid of the recently despatched cult members. After getting into this when Redemption first released it in the UK (on tape) in the 90s, it's grown on me over the year, an as-expected surreal semi-horror, semi-science fiction that did not adhere to any established conventions in those areas at the time (in fact, Rollin's work remains unique to this day as far as I'm aware).As part of an ongoing series, The Nude Vampire has had a new UHD and HD makeover (1.66:1); eternal thanks to the Indicator label of Powerhouse Films. The new Limited Edition Indicator discs are a surprisingly substantial upgrade over all previous releases including the rather good Redemption/Kino Blu-ray – I thought the Redemption disc was really nice, however, it’s quite astounding how much more there was to pull out of the negative in terms of small detail and fine film grain. Having been watching this since the Redemption VHS days in the 90s as I say (and later again on DVD) it's satisfying to experience these films in the kind of quality that I believe represents how they were meant to be viewed, and enhancing one's appreciation of their ethereal beauty.Audio was available in both French and English for the Redemption release, whereas on Indicator there are two slightly differently edited versions, one French language (new English translated subtitles), one English – both versions are exactly the same length. Redemption extras totalled around thirty minutes with a long interview with the director, an introduction, some trailers, and a further interview with Natalie Perrey, who worked on a number of Rollin's films in various capacities, from script writing to acting to editing. The package at that time contained the same booklet that made its way into the other Blu-rays from the first wave of releases from Kino (I’m not sure why they did this because the same fans, such as myself, inevitably ended up with multiple copies of the same booklets).Indicator’s release is a little different, containing roughly the same amount of filmed extras plus a commentary from Jonathan Rigby plus Kevin Lyons. Similar to the other Indicator 4Ks, the housing case is attractively designed with original poster art containing an inner case that holds the disc (see picture). The bundled book is gloriously high quality, highlights include a couple of interviews (one of the 70s, one the 90s) with Rollin – I love that they are exhuming legacy materials such as this – and a decent essay by David Jenkins. The packaging design of these discs is very respectful, acknowledging Rollin as the auteur that he really was. All in all, while mainstream viewers may find this film a little too inaccessible for conventional tastes, Rollin fans will want this straight away. This is more or less a perfect release, I can't imagine how it could be improved upon and I doubt it ever will be.Paul from The Grim Cellar