Grapes of Death – Les Raisins de la Mort (1978)

Directed by: Jean Rollin | 90 minutes | drama, horror, eroticism | Actors: Marie-Georges Pascal, Félix Marten, Serge Marquand, Mirella Rancelot, Patrice Valota, Patricia Cartier, Michel Herval, Brigitte Lahaie, Paul Bisciglia, Olivier Rollin, Françoise Pascal, Evelyne Thomas, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, Jean Rollin

Jean Rollin is a filmmaker who mainly specialized in vampire erotica, with (half) naked women often dressed in translucent robes who parade around in beautiful French natural settings and occasionally take a bite from someone’s neck. For ‘Grapes of Death’, however, Rollin takes a different tack. He ventures into George A. Romero’s territory for the first true French zombie film. And the result hasn’t even turned out that bad. It’s not really high-quality work – the effects often look cheap, the film is very episodic, and not every storyline is completed satisfactorily – but within the genre there is enough present that is recommended. The first minutes of the film are quite mysterious and ominous. Men with caps over their mouths are spraying some sort of pesticide as they move cautiously. Without explanation, the viewer keeps guessing about the how and why of this scene, but since the viewer already knows that this is a zombie film, the most exciting stories already build up in the mind of the viewer. Of course a virus has broken out, which causes zombies, and which they are now trying to contain by means of disinfection. After the squirting men, images are shown of rotating machines on a vineyard and reservoirs with wine/grape juice. It is not clear what one has to do with the other, but this makes it all extra stimulating and interesting.

It then moves on to another point of view, that of two cheerful girlfriends on a train journey in the countryside of France. One of them is meeting her lover Lucas at a vineyard, and it isn’t long before they bump into an infected, zombie-like person: a man with a face that is already slightly rotting, steps up to one of the ladies. in the compartment, and when she finds her friend dead in the toilet moments later, the sum is quickly made. She flees the train and from that moment on the film is a series of encounters with zombies. Not all of these zombies are very grotesque, though, and practically none of them look scary or threatening in their eyes. They are victims, who themselves do not know what is happening to them. It is strange to see a group of zombies walking towards a victim and only to see them look puzzled and devastated. Also, they often don’t even attack when approaching a victim. It’s a nice angle to not only want to make a pure horror/monster movie, but also to add some pathos on the part of the zombies themselves. However, it is a storyline that is not played out completely. The woman proposes to two later helpers not to shoot them all unceremoniously and to talk to them instead, but much clarifying dialogue does not take place after this appointment; only with the aforementioned Lucas, because of the personal connection with the main character. A bit of a missed opportunity. Yet the message is sufficiently conveyed that the zombies themselves are also in pain and only want to be helped. There are several layers to the film through dialogue between the two farmers helping the woman and through the words of Lucas, but the message is somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand it is suggested that everyone should not be lumped together and that you should not immediately condemn (and shoot people), and on the other hand a dubious comment is made about illegal immigrants and how they are the cause of the virus (because they do not dare to go to the police because of their status).

‘Grapes of Death’ is and remains a zombie film and the gore lovers are fortunately not forgotten. A man who pierces his wife with a large rake, rancid growths on the heads, and very fine decapitation, where the severed head is regularly and regularly framed and even licked by a character, are among the biggest draws. An interesting new way to generate tension has also been found. Halfway through the film, a blind woman is chased by zombies. The slow moving of the zombies is now effective in many ways. First, it’s funny that the blind woman moves like the zombies chasing her. Second, the slow encirclement is scarier than usual this time around, as the pursued woman isn’t fast enough to run ahead of them. Thirdly, it is exciting that the woman does not see the zombies approaching, but does feel them, which provides an extra dimension. Fourthly, the viewer does see them and therefore fears her extra. A great muse of Jean Rollin, Brigitte Lahaie also makes her appearance in ‘Grapes of Death’ and although she is not an acting light, she adds value aesthetically. It has a stately, mysterious beauty to see her walking slowly down a hill with two large dogs, wearing light see-through clothing. Rolling also finds a nifty way to undress her – she has to prove she’s not a zombie by showing off her untouched, pristine naked body. Great motivation. And few men would dare to claim after this showing that there is something wrong with her. But of course nothing is as it seems, as befits a real horror movie.