This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"Lips of Blood" has a great narrative hook. Frederic vaguely remembers a dreamy encounter he had as a child. While staying at an old castle (Of course), he spent the night sleeping in the arms of a beautiful woman. Upon spying a photograph of the castle, the memory comes rushing back. He becomes obsessed with finding the girl, especially since she starts appearing to him in visions. A trip to an old tomb doesn't yield anything but coffins full of bats… Or so it would appear. Vampire girls, dressed in colorful see-through shawls (Of course!), emerge from the crypt and begin to feed across France. A man attempts to assassinate Frederic. It becomes obvious there's a conspiracy preventing him from finding the old building and reuniting with the girl of his dreams.Narratively, the film is more focused then usual. Pacing-wise, it's still a mess. Scenes drag into each other. The long opening sequence is so soft that the next scene, a fairly explicit nude modeling session, throws you off. Moments of the vampires attacking people seem unrelated to Fredric's quest. A scene of a woman leading him into a room with promises of revealing the castle's location doesn't have much to do with the story. The vamps help him out at least once but we never find out why. I like the mustachioed assassin, even if it's a bit out of place in this horror love story, but that storyline isn't resolved either. Generally speaking, the subplot about the legion of vampire girls never meshes with the main storyline. It seems like a blatant excuse for Rollin to insert his fetishes into the film. I mean, more so then usual.The worst part? There aren't that many memorable visuals. A shadow of a statue of a bull is the only striking pure image I can remember. Some memorable scenes arise. A pair of nurses pulling down their surgical masks to reveal fangs is darkly funny. The vampire girls weigh a victim down in chains before kicking her up a flight of stairs. Hilariously, during a particularly windy night, a purple dress billows up into a girl's face. I doubt that was intentional.When the focus is on the love story and the conspiracy, that's when it works. Jean-Loup Phillippe gives an excellent performance as Frederic, especially in a scene where he pleads with the girl's spectre to prove she's real. Annie Briand is enchantingly beautiful as the strange girl at the story's center. It's easy to see why she would inspire such obsession. Natalie Perrey as Frederic's mother delivers exposition but her performance makes it go down easy. The scene of the arrant vampire girls being exterminated is nicely brutal, such as two girls being impaled on the same stake, but also obviously elegiac. Rollin loves his monsters and hates to see them slaughtered.That monster love shines through in the lengthy epilogue. Following an obvious slight-of-hand, the protagonist is reunited with his love. They frolic on the director's favorite beach (Of course!!) and make love, before she bites him, turning him into a vampire. The nude lovers float off, where they live in vampirey bliss happily ever after. Aww. "Lips of Blood" is a muddled affair even if Rollin's strength for romantic sincerity and some strong actors keep it afloat.

Lips of Blood (1974)*** (out of 4)A different take on the vampire legacy has a young man (Jean-Loup Philippe) seeing a photo of a castle, which gives him a flashback to when he was a child. He remembers as a child going to a strange castle where he spoke with a young woman who protected him against something. In the current times, he tries to figure out exactly where this castle is and who the woman is but his mother seemed determined to keep him away. Director Jean Rollin made a wide range of vampire films in his career and it's probably safe to say that this one here was his strangest. I think the film works best if you go into it expecting some sort of twisted and surreal fairy tale involving the living dead. As usual, the director takes his sweet time telling the story, although thankfully the pacing here is much better than in a lot of his films. The pacing actually works well with the film and it especially helps set up our lead character and makes this journey worth taking. The pacing of the film allows one to really get into the mystery of the events going on but it also allows Rollin time to build up some atmosphere. This atmosphere, like many of the director's best work, is the strong point and you can't help but feel the cool breeze of the night and the dampness of the tombs once the vampires do start to come. Philippe does a very good job in the lead role as you have no problem believing him in the part. Annie Belle is very seductive as the woman who befriended our lead character. As you'd expect from a Rollin film, the nudity is quite high as our lovely vampires don't mind walking around naked. We even get some pretty silly and gratuitous scenes like one where our lead goes to a photographers place and then gets treated to a couple nude women. There are still several problems in this film including so many logic issues that you could drive a semi through. You have to question the "story" told by the mother towards the end of the film and once everything is said and done you can't help but think there must have been much easier ways to do things. Still, fans of the genre should enjoy this film even with its flaws.

Horror mixed with surrealism is not for everyone, but to those who enjoy the mix, Jean Rollin is a master. He makes low budget films, but he adds rich color and fascinating aspects that make you forget that.Frédéric (Jean-Loup Philippe) is running through the streets of Paris trying to find s castle seen in a photograph. What he will eventually find may not be what he was looking for.But, along with the photograph comes a vision of a woman, Jennifer (Annie Belle). He is haunted by this specter and, assisted by two vampires (twins Catherine & Marie-Pierre Castel) who remove obstacles from his path, eventually finds her.Where does it go from here? Atmospheric and erotic, it is a film that will remind you of the classic vampire tales.

"Lips of Blood" is actually one of my favourite films made by Jean Rollin.The film was shot in just three weeks and basically it's a love story filled with lesbian vampires and a lot of female nudity.The film is relatively slow-paced,but offers plenty of wonderful Gothic atmosphere and a tiny bit of gore.The four lesbian vampires are incredibly hot.The story may be boring for some,but I still think that this film is better than most of the crap being put out today.Unfortunately "Lips of Blood" failed to generate much interest at the box office,so Rollin moved toward hard core pornography.Anyway,if you like Jean Rollin's erotic vampire movies give this one a look.Recommended!