A few weeks ago, I was reminded by Dungeon amigo Greg Goodsell of the passing of famed French film maker Jean Rollin, who has left and gone on to higher ground as of exactly a month ago, on December 15th, 2010! Jean had just turned 72 the month previous! The only movie I could get my hands on quickly was
"Vierges Et Vampires" aka "Caged Virgins," or in this case, "Requiem for a Vampire" which was also released as "Caged Vampires," "Dungeon Of Terror," "Sex Vampires," "The Crazed Vampire," and "Vampires And Virgins!" Well, unfortunately for my tribute piece, it just so happens that if any film has that many titles, there's usually a reason, like it's probably a piece of crap, and you wouldn't be too far from wrong!!
No holds barred here, this movie doesn't make any sense right from the start!
The opening scene sets the tone with two cute girls dressed as clowns with an unidentified male in a gunfight car chase in the country! You don't know why, and you won't find out, because after the guy gets shot, they amazingly ditch the car that is directly behind them, then douse it and the driver with gasoline, set it on fire, and walk away! Roll credits!! Whatever the statement was, I don't get it!
Jean Rollin wrote and directed "Requiem for a Vampire" and I'm pretty sure he wrote it in the car on the way to the shoot! I think I counted about 44 minutes before there was any dialogue, and when it did happen, it was just a handful of sentences that when you hear, you are so shocked that someone is talking, you don't pay attention, that is, if you're still awake! The music is probably the most interesting part of the film, and even it wasn't used to full potential, as there's also a lot of silence! Composer Pierre Raph sounds like he was a big Iron Butterfly fan because a lot of the music is mostly just organ and a rumbling drum solo! Pierre has five films total to his credit, and they all have colourful names, "Curse of the Living Dead," "Rose of Iron," "Schoolgirl Hitchhikers," which were all Jean Rollin films, and the Jean-François Davy film "Dirty Lovers!"
Enter dilapidated building as clowns, come out as cute girls! The little blonde is Marie-Pierre Castel and the other girl is Mireille Dargent! One of the more interesting things is that Marie-Pierre Castel who is the same age as me and Tabonga, also has a twin sister named Catherine Castel, who is in more than half of her films, which unsurprisingly were all also Jean Rollin movies, "Douces Pénétrations," "Introductions," "Lips Of Blood," "The Seduction Of Amy," "Fly Me The French Way," and "The Nude Vampire!" I'm sure seeing the two of them together has got to be kind of interesting, well, for a least a little while anyway!!
Marie and Michelle either find or had a motorcycle stashed, and continue on their journey to only Jean Rollin knows where! Mini-skirts and knee socks, how can you miss??
They end up in a cemetery that gets very good TV reception!!
While scampering about, Michelle falls in a newly dug grave, and while not unconscious, lays there as the unsuspecting gravediggers continue to fill the hole as Marie watches on in dismay in this transition shot!
Luckily, the slovenly French gravediggers take a break to drink some wine, and Marie is able to unearth Michelle just in time for them to have a lesbian love scene!
No words have yet to be spoken!
There can be a very thin line between arty and completely boring! Groundbreaking for 1971? Sure! Interesting? Not really! Sometimes that's just the way Surrealism works, but if you're only doing it as a shortcut, because you have no budget, then that's a different story, that's like protesting something you know nothing about!
Sometimes the girls have guns, sometimes they don't, it really doesn't seem to matter, because they never kill anything with them anyway, they just like to shoot them! The guns are magic and never seem to run out of ammunition!
One thing for sure, and make no mistake about it, this is not a movie for kids!!
Finally, we get to the vampires....
...and they're a motley crew at best, Philippe Gasté here as Frédéric the vampire actually looks like he's a thousand years old!
Once the girls come in contact with the vampires, there is an array of running around in circles, coupled with a seemingly endless and pointless rape scene of some other hapless tied and bound up victims!!
Flasher Frédéric releases the bats hidden inside his cape, and they attach themselves to the girls necks like velcro darts!
The best scene is probably when Mireille Dargent disrobes and runs around the top of this old castle for a while!
Actor, director, cinematographer Renan Pollès is still working today, and deserves a lot of credit for making this film almost watchable!
These last two shots are publicity stills from the film, and give you a real idea of what the famed director was capable of doing, and that's why we're saluting the memory of Jean Rollin tonight, whether I like this movie or not!
Time to get back on the wacky track with some good old fashioned East German space opera, circa 1976, and it doesn't get much wackier than this production, "Im Staub Der Sterne," or as they say auf Englisch, "In The Dust Of The Stars."
Well, it all starts out something like this: After six years in space, the Spaceship Cyrno gets a distress call from a planet named TEM 4, so they land on TEM 4 in order to check it out, and are greeted by this friendly native girl!
Tonight's story is brought to you courtesy of the Pickwick Record Company!
This is the gang! They've arrived just in time to get the news that there was no distress call at all, but before they take off, they are more than welcome to party with the locals!!
Hey, do any of you Earthlings want to try one of these Margarita Fast Blasts? The blue ones are sweet, and the red ones are a little spicy!!
Here, take a big hit like this!
While the dancing girls come out, it's a good opportunity to tell you that the crazy ass interstellar music for "Im Staub Der Sterne" was written by Herr Karl-Ernst Sasse, whose music was also used when they re-released the 1920 silent film "The Golem" in 1977. Karl composed the music for over 160 German films, the last one being "The Einstein of Sex: Life and Work of Dr. M. Hirschfeld," released in 1999! 
Anybody up for some spicy intergalactic sushi and tempura??
After a little socializing, it's time to break out the BIG hits!! Yeehaw!!!
Meanwhile, let's see what's going on outside in the park! It's lucky for the producers that the air is breathable on Tem 4, because these scenes would have a completely different feel if the dancing girls had on helmets and space suits!!
Leon Niemczyk is heartthrob Thob! Yeah, who's the freakin' Boss here? Bring him out, because I want to talk to him!!
The girls had such a good time partying, they're doing a conga line back onto the ship, but it seems like it was all just a distraction, a cruel ruse!
Alfred Struwe as Suko stayed back while the girls and Thob were out enjoying themselves, and out in the middle of nowhere he found what appears to be a ventilator shaft, but is really an entrance to the underground!
East Germany, huh, salt mines, huh, oppression, depression, confusion, illusion, do the hokey pokey, that's what it's all about!
Jiggers, the Cops!!!!
They caught Suko and try to extract information from him! Even after getting returned to the others, he's never quite the same!
Who did the decorating in the Royal Palace, Max Headroom??
Ekkehard Schall is The Boss known as Chief! He digs snakes and games, and changes his hair colour on a whim! Perfect for the part, Ekkehard was quite the stage actor, and was well known for his work in plays by Brecht. 
Jana Brejchová as Captain Akala sees right through The Chief's bullshit!! Among Jana's many roles, she was The Queen in 18 episodes of the 1993 TV show, "Arabela Se Vrací."
The crazy imagery and colours are non-stop on this wild rocket ride!
Regine Heintze as Miu and Captain Akala express their disdain when they find out what's really going on! Darn those guys anyway!!
The toiling people's party has the last word...
...while the Clown Prince Boss Chief struts his stuff!!
"C'Mon baby, do the Locomotion!" Unlike the future as portrayed in this movie, little did they know 35 years ago, that in the real future, you would be able to have a copy of their little East German film delivered to your house in the boondocks for $9.95 a month, and while that's pretty cool, I still want my flying car too!!
