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Two Orphan Vampires

Two Orphan Vampires

List Price: $24.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one of my favorites
Review: i enjoy the films of jean rollin and i find myself watching this one time and again. there's nothing like a rollin's vampire film and i love this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Still at it
Review: It's nice to see that time has not diminished Jean Rollin's obsessions or eye for the macabre. In this relatively recent film, shot in NY & Paris, Rollin continues his fascination with vampires, in this tale of two girls who are blind and normal by day, but sighted blood-drinkers by night. This film is perhaps not quite as hallucinatory as earlier efforts, notably Shiver of the Vampires, but it still has the dream-like acting and hypnotic atmosphere that is typical of his mise-en-scene.

And the girls are quite adorable, whether tapping their way in a cemetery or ripping out some guy's throat on the Brooklyn Bridge.

The film is also a nice companion to Le Fiancee du Dracula, another recent effort, which mixes Rollin's ideas with a bit of Clive Barker, and features the splendid Brigitte Lahaie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This proves Rollins still has IT
Review: This film felt very slow to me, and was almost hard to get through, but when it was finished I felt good about it. Now looking back I love it. Hey! Wait! Thats how I feel about all Rollin films [except Requiem and Demoniacs] I loved them instantly!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a dreamlike fairy tale
Review: This isn't just another horror movie. This film caught me in it's spell of strangeness and beauty. I can't really explain it.
It's childlike, dreamlike, and beautiful. You'll have to watch it for yourself to see what I mean. Best when watched with subtitles. I really loved this film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: because they were blind...
Review: this may very well be the most tame jean rollin film ever made. in fact, you could probably watch this one with the whole family. two orphan vampires is actually based upon jean rollin's vampire novel trilogy although most of the story will come from the first two entries in the series. while this isn't his greatest work, it's indeed one of his more sophisticated works with terrific acting & enough surrealistic dialogue to satisfy most hardcore rollin fans. two orphan vampires does recall some of the childlike innocence of rollin's earlier & more popular films but almost completely avoids any erotic or sensual activity which would normally predominate his great works. at times, we are reminded of the childlike innocence of requiem for a vampire although the stories have little in common. it should be clearly evident after seeing the interview that rollin would consider this to be one of his most personal efforts right beside requiem. as with any great cult director, fans will & probably have flocked to the orphans with little hesitation or perhaps know the lines backwards & forwards. i'll admit i am great fan & admirer of mr. rollin & this film does indeed get better with each & every viewing. while the film does have it's moments of outrageousness or ridiculous elements, fans will adore these blind twins who only have vision in the dark. i don't believe we are clearly meant to understand where these beautiful ones came from but we get the feeling they never truly die. or if they should happen to die, they will always manage to come back into our world & end up together again. if you aren't a true fan of rollin, you will probably not care too much about this film but you may actually love the beautiful cinematography of the twin towers in new york. the theme of twins or the magical number two is prevailent here also as you can perhaps guess. if i remember correctly, rollin mentioned in his interview this was done on purpose. great dvd with lots of extras such as interviews with the director, the cast, & even a soundtrack which i love!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Gothic vamp film with a flair for the visual
Review: This movie is quite different from the usual Jean Rollin film. There is practically no nudity or blood or softcore eroticism. It is tamer however it is visually more impressive than most of his other works. So those who prefer to watch Rollin films for purpose of atmosphere, elaborate sets and artistic value might find this to be one of his better efforts.

Two blind young women enter "Les Glycines", a religious orphanage in rural France. Apparently, the two lost their sight at a very early age and for no apparent reason. Assigned to the case is Dr. Dennary, an expert eye specialist who seeks to unravel some of the reasons for their condition. Little do the doctor and the nuns in the orphanage know that at night, the two girls can see just fine. At night is when the two girls turn into vampires and sneak out of their bedroom window to scour the orphanage's external surroundings for human blood. After a while, Dr. Dennary and the two orphans will relocate to Paris in an apartment, which suits the two orphans just fine since in the city the streets at night are a haven for fresh blood...

"Two Orphan Vampires" captures a good 70's eurohorror vibe but with a modern look and minus the grainy picture. There is precious little gore effects in this one, besides a sickening scene involving the throat-ripping of a dog in a cemetery. Mostly it's just a few blood capsules dripping down the orphans' necks when they kill a victim. There is only one scene of nudity, where the two orphans (who barely look older than eighteen I might add) bare all at dusk during one of their night crawling expeditions. Despite the absence of nudity and blood (or action, for that matter) what kept my eyes glued to the screen was the amazing sense of atmosphere Rollin created. The scenic shots of rural France and Paris are stunning, filled with ancient architectural pieces, statues, cathedrals, churches, cemeteries, etc. There was a very surrealist feel to this movie, Rollin's sets akin to a painter's art.

The other major reason to watch this film of course is the two leads, first-time actresses Alexandra Pic and Isabelle Teboul. They are the centrepiece of the entire movie, as there are very few other characters in the film. While in no way is their acting great, or even good, these two very attractive young women still managed to ooze presence and sensuality. However the omni-presence of these two young leads cannot hide many of the film's faults, the least of which are the lack of action and slow pacing throughout. There were also many things that simply made no sense; Why does night sometimes look so bright? Why are passer-by's the least bit scared of these two young women before even knowing they're vampires? Why do the streets of Paris look semi-deserted, even during the day? Personally, I chose not to let these things bother me too much and instead focused on Rollin's artistic wizardry and flair for the visual.

So no, "Two Orphan Vampires" doesn't exactly qualify as a masterpiece but to my eyes it was still very entertaining throughout. That was probably in no small part due to the two female leads being developed so well. We spend the entire film with them, and grow a strange attachment to them that makes us want to see everything that happens to them. This kept me entertained despite the slow pace. Though the movie was solid, I got my biggest kick from watching the extras on this disc. The interview portions are the most fascinating. Both the two main actresses are interviewed and then of course there's director Jean Rollin who came across as one of the most energetic and radiating film directors I've ever seen interviewed. A discussion with Rollin is the exact opposite of pulling teeth; ask him a question and he'll talk non-stop for the next 10 minutes or so. His explanations as to why he has decided to tackle vampirism for nearly his entire career were fascinating for a long-time horror fan like me.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Gothic vamp film with a flair for the visual
Review: This movie is quite different from the usual Jean Rollin film. There is practically no nudity or blood or softcore eroticism. It is tamer however it is visually more impressive than most of his other works. So those who prefer to watch Rollin films for purpose of atmosphere, elaborate sets and artistic value might find this to be one of his better efforts.

Two blind young women enter "Les Glycines", a religious orphanage in rural France. Apparently, the two lost their sight at a very early age and for no apparent reason. Assigned to the case is Dr. Dennary, an expert eye specialist who seeks to unravel some of the reasons for their condition. Little do the doctor and the nuns in the orphanage know that at night, the two girls can see just fine. At night is when the two girls turn into vampires and sneak out of their bedroom window to scour the orphanage's external surroundings for human blood. After a while, Dr. Dennary and the two orphans will relocate to Paris in an apartment, which suits the two orphans just fine since in the city the streets at night are a haven for fresh blood...

"Two Orphan Vampires" captures a good 70's eurohorror vibe but with a modern look and minus the grainy picture. There is precious little gore effects in this one, besides a sickening scene involving the throat-ripping of a dog in a cemetery. Mostly it's just a few blood capsules dripping down the orphans' necks when they kill a victim. There is only one scene of nudity, where the two orphans (who barely look older than eighteen I might add) bare all at dusk during one of their night crawling expeditions. Despite the absence of nudity and blood (or action, for that matter) what kept my eyes glued to the screen was the amazing sense of atmosphere Rollin created. The scenic shots of rural France and Paris are stunning, filled with ancient architectural pieces, statues, cathedrals, churches, cemeteries, etc. There was a very surrealist feel to this movie, Rollin's sets akin to a painter's art.

The other major reason to watch this film of course is the two leads, first-time actresses Alexandra Pic and Isabelle Teboul. They are the centrepiece of the entire movie, as there are very few other characters in the film. While in no way is their acting great, or even good, these two very attractive young women still managed to ooze presence and sensuality. However the omni-presence of these two young leads cannot hide many of the film's faults, the least of which are the lack of action and slow pacing throughout. There were also many things that simply made no sense; Why does night sometimes look so bright? Why are passer-by's the least bit scared of these two young women before even knowing they're vampires? Why do the streets of Paris look semi-deserted, even during the day? Personally, I chose not to let these things bother me too much and instead focused on Rollin's artistic wizardry and flair for the visual.

So no, "Two Orphan Vampires" doesn't exactly qualify as a masterpiece but to my eyes it was still very entertaining throughout. That was probably in no small part due to the two female leads being developed so well. We spend the entire film with them, and grow a strange attachment to them that makes us want to see everything that happens to them. This kept me entertained despite the slow pace. Though the movie was solid, I got my biggest kick from watching the extras on this disc. The interview portions are the most fascinating. Both the two main actresses are interviewed and then of course there's director Jean Rollin who came across as one of the most energetic and radiating film directors I've ever seen interviewed. A discussion with Rollin is the exact opposite of pulling teeth; ask him a question and he'll talk non-stop for the next 10 minutes or so. His explanations as to why he has decided to tackle vampirism for nearly his entire career were fascinating for a long-time horror fan like me.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Very Silly
Review: Two vampire girls are blind, but only in the daytime! How on earth they ended up in a orphanage (oh, that's right, they're orphans!), but surely this one, run by nuns, must have driven them nuts with all the religious imagery around.

Anyway, there's very little vampire imagery, except when they feed briefly from each other.

The dialogue is terrible. They're in a graveyard ambushing someone. A young couple going there to make-out , see them hiding. One says "Look, they are evil creatures!" like they can spot them a mile away.

Very, very silly.


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