Les Demoniaques

The appreciation and infamy of the work of Jean Rollin has always left me pondering, I've watched a fair amount of his movies now and whilst at times they have indeed been quite visually enticing I've generally found them to be just a touch too arty and dreamlike to gratify my own tastes in genre viewing. But with the debut release of new Euro producers Encore Entertainment's Jean Rollin special edition line in the form of a three DVD special edition of 'Les Demoniaques' I thought it was perhaps time to revisit the old boys work�

As ever with any Rollin film the premise is relatively simple, with 'Les Demoniaques' we are introduced to a band of cackling deviant ship wreckers (in an intro sequence reminiscent of the Brady Bunch's own TV show intro) who spend their time tricking passing ships into crashing onto coastal rocks before raping, pillaging and brutally murdering their passengers. On this particular occasion whilst checking out their latest catch of washed up wares the motley team come across two lovely blond lasses (a common site in any Rollin movie) who have survived the shipwreck. Being as their nature dictates, rather than call the coastguard and escort the damsels to safety the rogues proceed to ravage the girls then beat seven shades of hell out of them. Later whilst enjoying a few a few libations in the local pirate bar, their leader (Le Capitain) goes somewhat stir crazy when he keeps seeing ghostly images of the two brutalised girls. Are they indeed haunting curses from beyond the grave or is this simply the baddies guilt complex getting the better of him? Well it's not long before things go from bad to worse for the unsavoury bunch when (with the assist of a local imprisoned dashing demon, still with me?) the girls do reappear to attempt to wreak revenge on them. But being a Rollin movie things don't pan out in the usual expected manner.

For all its dreamlike Rollinesque tendencies 'Les Demoniaques' is actually a solid and entertaining (if somewhat lackluster) viewing experience. The premise is handled well and the narrative is welcomingly coherent; Rollin's direction is pretty much faultless throughout and the cast cackle their way through the script in fine fashion (with as ever much topless shenanigans on show to keep art house fans discreetly aroused) but you do have to wonder for a debut special edition what would make Encore select this as their launch title, more so as a three disc special edition package?

It goes without saying, the package here is absolutely exemplary; the film itself is the main feature of the first disc and the image throughout is stunning with an excellent mastering job on show (along with a whole slew of European subtitling options). Disc two consists of a full length audio commentary by the man himself Jean Rollin which will no doubt please his dedicated fan base immensely alongside an alluring trailer for the film and a new interview with Willy Braque (baddie Le Bosco from the main feature). Disc three (the sparsest of the bunch) contains an early Rollin short film 'Les Pays Loins' (a numbing art house short that is recommended as a tranquiliser for those lacking sleep) complete with audio commentary, a stills gallery and perhaps best of all on the extras front a selection of deleted scenes (including a wondrous close up masturbation scene) that in fact enhance the film itself no end; in fact it's a great shame that Encore couldn't have included these back in the film (even as a branching option) as I'm sure this would have generated more interest outwith the tight circle of Rollin fanatics. But even when you consider what we're being offered here content wise you really do have to question just why this is all spread over three discs? Sure, I can perhaps appreciate that at least for the main feature itself they may want to maximise the DVD bit rate for the best possible feature presentation; but even taking that into account there really is no excuse to spread the remaining contents over a further two discs? That said, it is a damn fine presentation so Rollin's fans I'm sure will be more forgiving.

Mention should also be made of the gorgeous 64 page booklet contained within the set also; as I said, I've never been the biggest fan of Rollin's work but on the merit of this stunning wee book even I may start to reassess those sentiments. This is a beautiful pocket sized tome that is full of fascinating Rollin commentary and is lavishly illustrated throughout. Amusingly when discussing his porno output Rollin states how he hated those movies, elaborating "the viewers didn't want to see castles�they wanted people fucking their brains out and nothing else" - tragically those are perhaps exactly the sort of movies folk like myself would rather watch (in fact I would be front of the queue to see a remastered uncut version of 'Phantasmes') or even I'm sure many would rather delve into one of the more gratifying Brigitte Lahaie starring movies he produced.

All those grumbles aside, I'm sure Rollin fanatics will positively salivate at the prospect of this new Encore special edition line and with this debut 'Les Demoniaques' the standard has been set for an exemplary (albeit over indulgent and pricey) collection. Strictly for Rollin completists only.

Review by Alan Simpson