Insomniac Theater Presents Blood and Roses (Roger Vadim, 1961)

Last night, or early this morning, since I didn't start it until after midnight, I watched Roger Vadim's 1961 vampire film, Blood and Roses, loosely based on Sheridan Le Fanu's 1875 novella, Carmilla. Carmilla has been adapted for film many times, probably the most well known and accurate adaptation of is Hammer Film's The Vampire Lovers (1970, with Ingrid Pitt).  The Vampire Lovers was the first part of Hammer's famous, sexier, lesbian-ic vampire trilogy, The Karnstein Trilogy.  I first read the story in 1977 in a pulp magazine that I bought in a bus station.  It  featured lots of shots of Ingrid Pitt, Yutte Stensgaard, the Collinson twins and their decolletage.

Forget Hammer's silly, boob obsessed Karnstein films, French auteur  Roger (say it "Roh-jer") Vadim's version is amazing!  The American version is 73 minutes long (supposedly, the European version is 84, but that just might be a metric conversion thing) and a wonder to watch.  The pacing is excellent as Vadim's tale of a twisted love story rapidly unfolds in a glorious Italian setting.  It also doesn't hurt that Mel Ferrer's costars,  Elsa Martinelli and Annette Vadim, are very easy on the eyes.

I don't know much about Roger Vadim, but it is obvious he loves beautiful woman since he often fills the entire screen with their faces often.

Check out the trailer below and stream it from Netflix or Youtube (in the bottom link.).  

movie on Youtube, if you don't have Netflix Streaming