France isn’t exactly well known for their horror output. In fact, aside from a few true classics, not even that much horror exists from the 1960s-1980s. There are a number of reasons for this, but it boils down that “Les fantastiques” weren’t very profitable, and better options were constantly being imported from the U.S., Britain and Italy. Why should they bother?

That’s not to say there weren’t any horror films out there or directors that wanted to make them. Hell, one of the most classic horror films ever came out of France. Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face told the story of an obsessed surgeon whose daughter became disfigured in a car crash. In attempt to give his daughter her beauty back, he kidnaps young girls and surgically removes their faces in attempt to graft them on to his daughters. It was released a few years back on DVD in the States by Criterion. It’s a classic macabre story of madness, and like all fantastic stories, they are worth retelling. Because of this, the same plot has been rehashed plenty of times over. Jesus Franco even did two different variants on the same theme. It must have been a popular tale in France with as many retellings as it received, and in 1970, Claude Mulot put his own personal touch on the story in The Blood Rose.

The story here is told in three parts beginning with a segment called “The Past.” We are introduced to Frédéric Lansac (Philippe Lemaire, Assassination in Rome) a popular painter who becomes increasingly disinterested in his socialite girlfriend Moira (Elizabeth Teissier, Castle Keep) as he becomes more and more obsessed with his new muse, Anne (Anny Duperey, Les Femmes). He eventually leaves his wife for her and they move to a remote chateau. True love does indeed blossom between the two of them. Many successful paintings are made thanks to Anne’s voluptuous body and the two enjoy their new locale and spend every moment together that they can. At a party following their wedding, a jealous Moira returns to confront Anne for stealing her ex-husband from her and, during a scuffle Anne ends up falling into a pile of burning rubble. Anne’s beauty is damaged, she’ll never be able to walk again and her vision has been irreparably altered.

Frédéric is distraught. He’s lost the ability and ambition to paint but he still stands by his beloved Anne. But as hard as Frédéric is taking it, Anne is suffering even more so, bordering on madness. Frédéric into a kind of semi-seclusion since she won’t leave the mansion for fear of being seen, and won’t have any outside hired help for the same reasons, that is except for his two mute dwarves Igor and Olaf. An attempt to hire a live-in nurse named Agnes (Michéle Perello, Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay) ends in failure as Anne tricks her into watering a rare hybrid plant with thorns that will instantly kill anyone that touches it. Now forced to coverup a murder in his own chateau, Frédéric will to anything to make Anne beautiful again. An unexplored option is discovered when he overhears that his botanist business partner Römer (genre veteran Howard Vernon, The Awful Dr. Orloff himself) is also an ex-surgeon barred from medicine for performing disfiguring a child during a surgery that was well out of his league. Together the two of them, however unwillingly, look for beautiful women with even more beautiful faces that they can kidnap in hopes of successfully transplanting theirs on to the disturbed Anne.

It’s here that the film enters shameless rehash territory, although it admittedly takes a long time to get there. Either way you look at it there is a problem. If you can get past the fact that you’ve seen this all before you are going to get mighty impatient by the pacing of the whole thing, as well as loose plot threads. The first “WTF” comes with the Moira character in the first act. Essentially she is responsible for “killing” Anne (as far as the outside world knows) but nothing at all is mentioned of her following the accident. What ever happened to murder charges? Manslaughter? Crime of passion? Fuck, man, give me some sort of real goddamned vengeance here. For all intents and purposes Moria just killed a bitch and vanishes like the last Twinkie at a fat kid’s birthday party.

But the film includes midgets and nudity, right? It can’t be that bad, can it? Well except for the fact that the midgets don’t do anything except look scruffy, stare at things and get berated by the far more monstrous Anne for just not being helpful enough. And what’s going on with the names Olaf and Igor, anyway? When the three writers got together to adapt this story, did they use their set of Short European Men of Horror flashcards to select these characters’ names? I mean, can you get more unsurprising? As for the nudity, well the girls are hot in this film, of this there is no doubt, but the nudity is relatively toned down. Think of a Hammer film with more skin being bared than usual, and you got a pretty good idea as to how it looks and feels. There is nothing exploitative about the film, and for the most part its attempts at eroticism fail since the overall nature of the film is grim. For a film that was advertised to U.S. audiences as “The First Sex-Horror Film Ever Made!” (a statement that is definitely debatable) anyone looking to The Blood Rose for some sexy time is going to be fairly unfulfilled.

But the film does have some bright points that make it worth a viewing and keep things interesting. The atmosphere is fantastic. Everything seems like a fantasy, and there is something sinister from the start of the crumbling chateau and the land that it’s on. This is evident even at the start of the film when everyone is mostly happy and carefree. It’s this benefit that works well for European horror especially viewed by Americans. The “old world” look and feel to the architecture and history behind it evokes a special sense of the unknown to us. I imagine that most of Europe would be like, “It’s just another bloody castle!” or as the French would say, “Pisse au loin, merde-tête Américain!” Still, walking around these old structures is indeed foreign, and quite mysterious. Frédéric’s chateau has that effect.  The acting is also quite good considering the B-level that the film is. Philippe Lemaire and Howard Vernon put in fantastic performances with Vernon’s being multilayered and unsure of his actions in every scene. His self-restraint is admirable, and it further allows Lemaire’s steady decent into madness to be allowed proper examination without competition. Even in the final acts, when a new character, Agnes’ sister Barbara (Olivia Robin, in her only role ever) comes searching for her sister, the quality of acting never suffers. In fact, I can’t think of a film off a genre film off the top of my head that every actor, despite how vital they are to the film, gives off performances of such consistency. It’s refreshing, especially when you take into account how many of these actors never stepped outside of the world of French B-films.

But The Blood Rose is still something of a disappointment due to its unoriginal plot. Sure there are alterations, but not nearly enough. The one interesting added element, the titular plant that is used to kill Agnes is never mentioned again, and although comparisons could be drawn to Anne herself being a blood rose – once beautiful, but now killing everyone she touches – I would have liked to see it used more as an actual device. It would have further separated the film from Eyes Without a Face and made The Blood Rose worthy of greater notoriety.

The DVD Presentation
Mondo Macabro’s mission since they began releasing DVDs was to find obscure cool fringe films and make them available to interested parties. So far, they’ve done nothing but deliver on that. The Blood Rose is no exception, but I bring up their mission to justify that while the film is now available, and in anamorphic OAR no less, the transfer isn’t exactly stellar. Now, I’m not complaining, I’ve paid good money for films that look far, far worse, but The Blood Rose’s image quality isn’t up to Mondo’s usual high standards. This is no doubt because of the negative they used. It’s a bit on the soft side and there seems to be some color shifting, which was probably always the case due to the film stock used in low-budget films at the time. It isn’t terribly distracting, and the transfer otherwise is marvelous. So kudos must be given to MM for even releasing it. The audio is much better. 2.0 Mono soundtracks are included for both the original French and an English Dub. I listened to both, and the English dub is pretty unexciting. French is definitely the way to go here. English subtitles are naturally included.

And the Extras Are?
About the Film –
It’s pretty standard for a great text piece to be included with Mondo Macabro DVDs, and it more than makes up for the lack of a printed insert. This article, “Ravaged – The Blood Rose and Horror “Made in France” by Pete Tombs, does a great deal of putting the film in context with the climate of filmmaking in the late sixties in France. Then it goes on to exemplify the influences that the film and director Claude Mulot had which continue to this day. It’s a good read.

Interview with Didier Philippe-Gerard – (23:09)
Since Mulot is long deceased, this interview with his collaborator Phillipe-Gerard helps fill in the gaps of what Mulot was like and how filmmaking was accomplished in France at that time. It’s a spoiler filled interview (in French, but subtitled in English) so it should only be watched following the film. It does help give the film an added perspective since The Blood Rose was far more taboo in the era it was made than it is now. I especially enjoyed the reasoning for the nudity in the film and the examination of what makes Mulot a different director than Jean Rollin and why the horror genre failed to be big in France. Philippe-Gerard is a valuable resource of information on Mulot, and I’m pleased to have been able to watch this interview.

Cast & Crew Bios –
Four bios are included for director Claude Mulot and actors Phillipe Lemaire, Anny Duperey and Elizabeth Teissier. Since I wasn’t overly familiar with any of the cast or crew, I found them all to be very informative; particularly Teissier’s which spoke of her “special relationship” with President Francois Mitterand.

Stills Gallery –
20 stills are included in the gallery, which include both publicity stills under the films various names, as well as promotional artwork. I enjoyed flipping through this.

“More from Mondo Macabro” Trailer – (6:25)
Found on most Mondo Macabro DVDs in one form or another, this anamorphic widescreen “trailer” of sorts shows clips of other available titles from the distributor. So if you’re interested in seeing what The Bollywood Horror Collection, The Devil’s Sword, Satan’s Blood, Virgins from Hell or Parts are like, this compilation can give you a quick look.

The Bottom Line
I didn’t find The Blood Rose to be particularly engaging, erotic or even horrific. The plot is nearly identical to Eyes Without A Face, a far superior film. What The Blood Rose does have going for it is the cool sets and atmosphere that oozes through the film. You won’t kick yourself for watching it, but you’re not going to find much else of interest.

That is, beyond the nudity and midgets.

And really, that should be standard in every film.