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It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a slow-moving art-house flick in the vein of other French blood-drinking classics such as DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS. These films are obviously an acquired taste, but I found this to be delightfully creepy in a spooky kind of way. There isn't a plot as such, just a series of weird visual images directed in Jean Rollin's inimitable style. With these type of films the camera always stays static and there always seem to be femme fatales dressed in flowing white robes who somehow move in a magical slow motion.Surprisingly, for a flick of this kind, the acting is actually rather good, especially from the three leads. Lahaie manages to be sinister-looking and beautiful at the same time, which is no mean feat. This is a film which is high on atmosphere, and low on action. There's a lot of sex to spice things up, but the main focus of the film is the hypnotic women and their desire for something. This something is never explained until the ending of the film, making it very suspenseful.The ending isn't straightforward as you might think; instead, there's a clever twist in the tale which comes as totally unexpected. But the film works best when concentrating on some truly unique images - the best being the scene where a black-clad Lahaie goes on a killing spree with a scythe, quickly slaying those who stand in her way. The most disturbing scene would have to be the ending. This is a strange, frightening film which offers up no explanations as to why what we see occurs; it just happens. There is no happy ending, no linear plot to follow and no good or evil. Thus, it's a very interesting and rewarding film.

Highly regarded by hardcore Rollin fans, "Fascination" is a break from the arty vampire flicks he's best known for… Sort of. The director actually seems more interested in telling the story then nudity and pretty images. It's by far the most polished of his films I've seen.Which isn't to say it doesn't feature his trademarks. In the late 1800s, a thief swipes some coins from his fellow thieves. Despite the female tempting him with her heaving bosoms, he continues into the forest with his loot, the others in pursuit. Eventually, he comes to an isolated lake-surrounded château, home to two mysterious women. The girls immediately manipulate the guy, doing everything they can to keep him there until midnight. The girls, lesbian lovers and master seducers, keep whispering about a mysterious ritual. What does this have to do with the opening scene of a woman drinking ox blood for her anemia? It's a highly erotic film. I counted three sex scenes and there's far more nudity. The girl, locked in a room, enjoy each other's company, caressing one another's backs and suckling each other's breasts. A pretty hot scene, especially since Franca Mai and Brigitte Lahaie are gorgeous. Eva, the blonde, seduces the young man into another stimulating scene and, later on, she is forced into servicing one of the other thieves in a stable. Despite being more plot-focused, it's still fair to say the film crosses over into soft core porn.The horror elements slowly work their way in. The most famous scene involves Lahaie, clothed only in a black robe, swinging a giant scythe, an eroticized version of the Grim Reaper. Murder shows up more then once, bloodily slashing through the subplot. Once night falls and black fog rolls over the lake, a cult of women appear and the movie turns out to be a vampire story after all, of sorts. So if boobs are distracting and you're wondering when the horror will show up, be patient.A woman in white standing in butcher's shop, the walls and floors covered with blood, is the first striking image. Eva writhes on the bridge in a see-through pink dress. Faces, half-bathed in shadow, peer around a wooden plank. So, no skimping on the visuals. What there isn't any of is funny camp or over-the-top pretensions. That's good and fine and probably makes the movie highly accessible, but it also makes it a little less fun. Mai and Lahaie both give good performances and Rollin keeps his embarrassing tendencies under wrap. I can certainly recommend "Fascination." But I actually think I like the director's work better when he's trippier and goofier. We'll see how that opinion evolves as I continue my journey.

I cannot (yet) claim to be an expert on Jean Rollin's films, and, so far, neither can I claim to be a big fan of what I've seen. While "Fascination" of 1979 has its qualities, I do not quite understand the enthusiasm that of some of my fellow Eurohorror / cult-cinema fans seem to have about Rollin in general and this film in particular. One of Rollin's many erotic vampire films, "Fascination" certainly is a nice exercise in elegantly delirious style, and furthermore profits from an incredibly sexy female cast (above all cult-siren/pornstar Brigitte Lahaie), and yet it is undeniable that it is overall a confused and virtually plot-less film that has its lengths in spite of a running time of only 80 minutes.Sometime in the early 20th century, the robber Marc (Jean-Marie Lemaire) seeks refuge in an eerie mansion in rural France. He meets two seductive beauties, Eva (Brigitte Lahaie) and Elisabeth (Franca Mai), who are as fascinating and erotic as they are mysterious. Hiding out from his partners in crime, Marc is not yet aware of the secrets the mansion bears...The film is stylish and elegant from start to finish and doubtlessly has some moments that are downright mesmerizing, but that does not quite make up for the fact that it is also quite senseless and has no inner logic whatsoever. Marc insists on staying in the mansion in the beginning, for example, but later on in the film, when the mansion is full of hot women dressed in nothing but see-through veils, he suddenly wants to leave. This doesn't make sense in my book. Most of the female cast members are stunningly beautiful, particularly the ravishing Brigitte Lahaie, Francesca Mai and the mysterious Fanny Magier. Though most of the female cast members walk around naked or scarcely dressed a lot, the film is not quite as focused on the erotic aspect as one might expect. The majority of lesbian / erotic vampire films from the 70s are actually quite a bit sleazier than this one. "Fascination" is wonderfully shot, the cinematography is beautiful and dream-like and the settings are elegant. The film is also enjoyably bizarre, and, as mentioned above, Brigitte Lahaie and her fellow female cast members are nice to look at. Sequences as the one in which Lahaie carries a scythe, wearing only a cape, are mesmerizing and beautiful. It is undeniable, however, that the film has hardly a plot and no suspense whatsoever. In regard of that, again, it is amazing that the film never really gets boring.Overall "Fascination" is watchable for my fellow Eurohorror / Cult-cinema fans, though I cannot share some people's enthusiasm. Personally, as far as nonsensical European erotic horror goes, I will probably always prefer the Spanish Exploitation deity Jess Franco, of whom I'm a big fan, over Rollin.

At the turn of the century, doctor's prescribe the drinking of ox blood to put the rose back in the cheeks of anemic ladies. Of course these wealthy women have developed a taste for something more, human blood. Once each year, a coven of elite women gather at a remote castle dwelling, and sacrifice a man to slake their blood thirst. Two women are sent first to find an unwary victim, who here happens to be a well dressed bandit on the run seeking shelter from other bandits. What follows is a series of seductive cat and mouse games between the sexes until the coven arrives at night so a proper ceremony can be made at midnight. Bridgette Lahaie ignites the screen with her seductive feminine charm. With either a knife, scythe, or simply a smile, she is deadly. Rollin's obsessive view of lesbian eroticism is perverse in just the right way, his camera loves everything about women, titillating us with glimpses of flesh seen here and there, all juxtaposed amidst the finest fairy tale like setting one could imagine. His locations are indeed as unique and delightful as the dream like worlds he creates.