Of all the few Rollin films I have seen (and I intend to see more), Le Frisson des Vampires/Shiver of the Vampire (his third) might be my favourite. The plot is still thin and difficult to follow in places – but that is deliberate. Rollin seems instead to concentrate on imagery, atmosphere and mood. Shiver contains all these things. Equally typical, there is plenty of casual nudity which rarely actually comes across in an erotic way, rather as a perfunctory element of the whole, delirious dreams-cape.As one of the two serving girls, once again, is Marie Pierre Castel. Marie featured in a number of Rollin films, sometimes alongside her sister Catherine. Both girls are striking to look at, quite ethereal in fact, and here Marie is her usual rarely-speaking, somnambulistic subordinate who for once, appears to have a happy ending. Marie's final Rollin role was in La Fiancée de Dracula/The Fiancée of Dracula (2002). Though not often required to do a great deal other than look alien, the Castels are mesmerizing performers.Here, the locations are truly stunning and deathly creepy. Huge castles and lush forestry, together with a freezing beach – another Rollin staple – often belie the sometimes stilted acting, especially from the two hippy/vampires.This film is afforded an actual ending, which doesn't always happen. Often in the Rollin films I have seen, they end very suddenly, possibly as a result of his lack of budget or time constraints. Not so here. There is a very final moment – which nevertheless invites the viewer to check out more of his work. Certainly, this is one of his most accessible, although no kind of compromise to 'normal' film-making in any way.

Isa (a charming performance by the fetching Sandra Julien) and her husband Antoine (a likable portrayal by Jean-Marie Durand) are a recently married honeymooning couple who stop for the night at a moldy old castle. The couple discover that the castle is the home of a horde of vampires who have very special plans for Isa. Director Jean Rollin, who also co-wrote the offbeat script with Monique Natan, relates the cheerfully outré story at a hypnotically gradual pace, does his usual ace job of creating and sustaining a dreamy'n'trippy oddball atmosphere, smartly explores an intriguing theme about destiny, and makes the most out of the rundown castle and adjacent spooky cemetery locations. Moreover, Rollins not only further spices things up with a generous sprinkling of sizzling lesbianism and yummy female nudity, but also gives the picture an extra delightful lift with an amusing sense of playful humor and a few startling moments of inspired surrealism (for example, the vampiress who pops up inside of a grandfather clock). The game cast have a ball with the idiosyncratic material: Jacques Robiolles and Michael Delahaye contribute engaging work as a pair of cordial and jolly vampires, cute brunette Kuelan Herce and adorable blonde Marie-Pierre Castel are very sexy and appealing as loyal maids who work for said vampires, and Nicole Nancell cuts a marvelously wicked figure as calculating man-hating bloodsucker bitch Isabelle. Jean-Jacques Renon's striking cinematography makes impressive use of bold and vibrant color. The funky-throbbing score by the prog-rock group Acanthus hits the get-down groovy spot. A real weirded-out blast of an entertaining avant-garde item.

The interesting characters in this are a couple of guys who used to be vampire hunters but, after an "accident" (they got bit) have become unabashedly undead, and never had more fun. They dress somewhere between hippies and 18th century fops, and at one point lecture the protagonist on their "researches" which purport to explain the origins of devil worship in Europe in relation to the Catholic Church. It's all tongue in cheek. One the two guys smokes a pipe, and presumably it's not for tobacco. There's elaborate sets and amusing action for something so low-budget. In the heroine's room there's a Dali-esque chair with a monstrous man-like thing behind it. In place of its stomach is a fish bowl with fish and a skull inside, and a closeup of the skull shows reflections of the burning fireplace in its eyes. The clock strikes midnight and a skinny lesbian vampire slinks out of the bottom part and starts putting her hands on the buxom heroine, who doesn't object. Not bad, eh?The music is good and actually enhances the action. Plenty of T&A, with slow pans over naked babes, a pair of deadly Madonna-like tit-spikes, and other good stuff. You can probably watch this while you balance your checkbook, but if you like cheesy low-budget horror there's plenty worse.

This is one of those films that is entirely plotless, but it doesn't matter. There's bucketfulls of atmosphere and the acting is pretty good. The directing is excellent. It's got one hell of a lot of nude women in, but they're presented in an arty sort of way rather than simple pornography. I reckon it must have had a budget of about 20 francs, though, but this gives it a kind of loveable quality.