THE RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE

Jean Rollin's first full length feature film "The Rape of the Vampire" (1968) is a difficult to comprehend, experimental, and beautifully atmospheric, French black and white movie. This is the least accessible film I have seen of Rollin's. It is difficult to follow and the dialogue is ridiculous (fifty percent was improvised on the spot). The look of this film, the dreamlike logic (or lack thereof) of the story and imagery, and the moody experimental soundtrack are what make this movie tick.

This movie is actually two movies in one. In the first part, we follow four beautiful women who inexplicably think they are vampires. Are they really vampires, and how did they become what they are? They don't know. They don't have the usual phobias and weaknesses of vampires. They live in a mansion with a man that oversees them. One of the women is blind. There are disturbing looking crosses all over the property. They are always dressed in loose robes and worship a bizarre looking deity in the middle of a field. They like to loose their clothes at times. There are three visitors coming and their overseer tells them not to let the visitors try to cure them. When the visitors arrive, chaos ensues. They want to put the women in an institution or kill them. There are many bizarre scenes that unfold. One of my favorites is when the four vampires inexplicably start fencing with each other in a field lit by burning crosses. One of the vampires is accidentally killed in the playful fencing match. Eventually the three other vampires are killed. The last one to die does so after falling in love with and turning one of the three visitors. They are both shot dead in a starkly beautiful beach scene. The credits roll, the movie is over, then the movie starts again...part two.

The second half is where this movie really begins to spin out of control. All logic and convention are thrown out the window. Your patience is tried again and again. Yet you can't stop watching... This segment picks up right where the first left off, with our vampire couple dead on the beach. Their overseer comes to check on them. First, many hooded figures appear out of nowhere surrounding the man. Next, from out of the sea comes a vampire ship bearing the black lesbian queen of vampires and her minions. She kills the man, leaving him to die on the beach. The two dead vampires are stripped naked for no apparent reason. All three are left for dead. The dead overseer's blood trickles down the rocks, revivng the two vampires, and off they go. The other vampires who were killed in the first part of the movie have been resuurected as well.
It seems that the vampire queen wants to engineer a race of vampires. There is a cure for vampirism out there, but she does not want her minions to find out about it. Those that do are punished and killed. One female leader of the insurrection is stripped and flailed mercilessly ( on the beach of course). At about this point this movie deteriorates into maddening symbolism and senseless dream like imagery. I gave up trying to follow the story and just began soaking in the stark black and white, beautiful surrealistic images. Jean Rollin has a strong visual sense, and the power of his images are enough to distract you from the story anyway.

Before I knew it, the movie was over. Was I a changed person? No. Did I walk away from this movie thinking I had seen something great? No. I view this movie as more of a low budget art film. The look of this movie is all that impressed. I found myself really enjoying the soundtrack, which is an intense and unsettling blend between free jazz (Sun Ra came immediately to mind) and unnerving, discordant, screeching violins. If you haven't seen any Jean Rollin before, skip this one and watch some of his later, much stronger efforts first, such as "The Grapes of Death". If you like what you see, then dive into "The Rape of the Vampire". But don't say I didn't warn you.

SPACE IS THE PLACE

"Space Is the Place" is a movie in part based on Sun Ra and his band's outrageous psychedelic free-jazz from the 1970's. It is a very complex, multi-faceted film. You could look at it as a positive blaxploitation masterpiece, a plea for all the black race to make something of themselves. Some could see it as a call for all people to look inward, to turn themselves away from earthly distractions and explore their inner space and open their minds and creativity, which in Sun Ra's eye is the same thing as exploring and conquering outer space. You can look at his film as a psychedelic, futuristic sci-fi oddity, or see it as an excuse for Sun Ra and his band to perform live on film in full on primitive-futuristic attire. No matter which way you choose to view this movie, it is a must see.

"Space Is the Place" is about Sun Ra, who possesses super-human, mystical powers. He has created a beautiful utopia in outer space for people that are fed up with Earth and want to leave it behind. He comes to Earth in a rather apocalyptic fashion, waging a doomsday card game with a mystical evil pimp in the desert. The game is over the fate of the planet Earth. If Sun Ra loses, Earth stays. If he wins, the planet has got to go. The pimp represents all that is evil, and Sun Ra represents all that is good. This whole concept reminds me somewhat of the chess game with Death in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal".

Of course, the card game is only one part of this film. It is worked seamlessly, almost dreamlike into all of the movie. Sun Ra is double-crossed and done in by the evil white man that always sides with the pimp. In between we have many shots of Sun Ra and his band playing, bizarre futuristic sets, scenes from the street, and the wildest soundtrack ever set to film. And of course Sun Ra survives, with the help of some street kids, and he is ready to defeat the pimp once and for all. What does this mean for the fate of our planet, and are any of us worthy to leave if Sun Ra wins this fateful card game? You must watch this movie to find out...

I love this one. There is one moment that is a classic. Sun Ra sets up an 'outer space employment agency '. When people walk in to inquire about a job, they ask 'how much will I be making?' Of course Sun Ra replies dryly "Nothing", and everyone walks away. I guess they won't be leaving Earth anytime soon. The only complaints I have is the acting is not that great. Sun Ra is not an actor. He is a musician. The flaws left by the acting are more than made up for by the music, imagery, and beauty of the film. This is one not to be missed.

I can't rave enough about the music from this movie . It is an insane yet focused free-space-jazz freak out, with the beautiful, eerie vocals of June Tyson holding everything together. There is a soundtrack available for this movie, but while it is exhaustive, it is missing a few of the movie's best musical moments. I would recommend picking up both.

Sadly, the movie is very hard to find. I have a VHS copy that I ordered by mail over ten years ago. It does not appear to ever have been released on DVD. If you can't find the movie, at least get the soundtrack. It's in print. Make sure you get the long version, pictured above.

Here's the first five minutes of the movie:

Watch Sun Ra - Space Is the Place - 1974.avi in Entertainment View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Here's a clip of Sun Ra recruiting for The Outer Space Employment Agency...watch it all the way thorugh. It's hilarious.


And here's just a regular street scene where Sun Ra makes an appearance.

"SUN RA VISITS PLANET EARTH//INTERSTELLAR LOW WAYS"

Sun Ra and his band (The Intergalactic Solar Arkestra, or whatever other name Sun Ra sees fit for them at the time) have cranked out some amazing space jazz music over the years. His early works from the 1950's are more straightforward, lean, mean, clean, and vibrant futuristic space jazz. His later works from the early to mid 1960's and on through the 1970's are frighteningly beautiful, mind blowing free jazz/space music and psychedelia suited for a millennium that has yet to come. There is a movie from the 1970's called "Space Is the Place" about his work from this highly adventurous time period that I will review soon.

Today, however, I want to focus on an early release of his, the traditional yet futuristically charged double album "Sun Ra Visits Planet Earth/Interstellar Low Ways"(1956). This is, like I said, a more traditional work, but at the same time it is a vibrant, tuneful, meditating and dark...exploring the realms of outer and inner space while staying within the confines (and joyously bending them at the same time) of traditional jazz music. Not nearly as out there as Sun Ra's later material, it is still a warming, campy, futuristic masterpiece, and the best place to start if you want to get into Sun Ra. It is the first Sun Ra CD I bought, and it remains my personal favorite of his.

Here's "Saturn" and "Rocket Number Nine". Enjoy.

Saturn - Sun Ra

Rocket Number Nine - Sun Ra