Nathalie Karsenty in Two Orphan Vampires (1997)

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Review

Les Deux orphelines vampires (1997) marks the return of Jean Rollin to filmmaking. It is based on his own novel of the same name, which means The Two Orphan Vampires, and is an updated version of his classic material, in that he is striving for Surrealism, puts naked women in unexpected places, and has a leisurely pace and little real action.

Two supposedly 14 year-old orphans are living in an orphanage, and everyone thinks they are blind. This is true during the day, but, at night, they can see. The two characters are developed in such a way as to make them totally non-threatening, even though they do drink blood and kill people. They are adopted by an ophthalmologist who takes them to his home in Paris hoping to cure them. They continue to sneak out at night for adventure. Among the characters they meet are a Wolf Woman (Nathalie Karsenty) and a ghoul. After no end of problems, they end up back at the orphanage before the conclusion.

For me, the strength of Rollin's work has always been imagery and this one didn't deliver. Other than frequent graveyard scenes, the locations weren't nearly as interesting as in most of his films, and he seems to have lost the secret of lighting night scenes. It is possible that part of the problem was the transfer, which was noisy and undersaturated. While I am very pleased that Rollin is again making films, this is not one of his better ones. C-.

Nudity Report: Nathalie Karsenty shows breasts. The two orphans, played by newcomers Alexandra Pic and Isabelle Teboul, also show breasts in one dark scene.

IMDb Summary: IMDb readers have this at 6.2/10, but with very few votes.


Written by Tuna…courtesy of Scoopy.net