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GRAPES OF DEATH Starring Marie-Georges Pascal, Felix Marten and Brigitte Lahaie
After directing a series of erotic vampire movies, along with several soft-core adult films, Jean Rollin returned to the hard-edged horror genre with Grapes of Death (Raisins de la Mort). Although not exactly a straightforward zombie film, Grapes of Death deals with humans becoming crazed, infected killers by France's most popular export, wine.
A woman is traveling on a vacation to the French countryside when she is attacked on her train by a man whose face is decomposing. She flees and encounters several people who appear to also be decomposing. With every escape she makes, all seems to be more and more hopeless. She finally encounters two men , armed with rifles, who are out to exterminate the roaming hordes of infected zombies. After destroying dozens of zombies, they make it to a local vineyard, where it is discovered that a new pesticide has caused the entire emergency. However, the problem has extended beyond rural France as the latest season's export has been shipped out.....
Zombie films were very popular at the time of the release of Grapes of Death. Dawn of the Dead and the many European progeny were on the rise. This film on the other hand, owes more of its creative merits to Jorge Grau's Let Sleeping Corpses Lie than any other movie, as the pesticide theme was revisited as the cause of the zombie epidemic. The zombies in Grapes of Death are not the traditional Romero zombies. They are able to emote, speak and use weapons. The zombies are easily dispatched because they are not the undead. The next time Rollin would direct a Zombie film would be in 1980, the almost comical Zombie Lake.
Grapes of Death has been digitally remastered by Synapse Films and is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The picture quality is very high for a film of this type because the original 35mm camera negative materials were used as the source. The colors are bright and vivid and details are very sharp. A small hint of grain is present during the darker scenes, but overall, is unnoticeable.
The 2.0 mono sound track is very clear and strong. Because the film had never been released in America, the film is presented in its original French language with removable English subtitles. This film is an example of a film that would not benefit from a 5.1 remix. It would be extraneous to give the film a surround track because of Rollin's minimalist use of sound. Many scenes are virtually silent and the music is mainly ambient, not melodic.
The extras on this disc include French and German theatrical trailers that tell the whole story. The fullscreen, French trailer is in good shape, but the German trailer is a little worn. The photo slide show is extensive, combining behind-the-scenes photos, promotional material and stills. There is an intensive video interview with Director Rollin and actress Brigitte Lahaie lasting over 30 minutes. Clips from some of Rollin's films are edited in. The interview with Rollin was evidently shot over a long period of time because the outdoor light-levels from a window change constantly. Although the film was shot in 1978, it appears in the interview that Brigitte Lahaie has not aged a day.
Grapes of Death is a film where a viewer may either love it or hate it. Some can regard it as art-house material, others can call it exploitation filth. One thing is for sure: Synapse's presentation of this film can make it look like a high-gloss production that can rival the elegance of high-budget giallo-erotic films out of Italy. A gory film made to be pleasing to the eye..... |
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