In a world where a gang of auto-loving anarchists brought France to its knees and a conspiracy of college students triggered WWI, the creator of LES VAMPIRES, writer/director Louis Feuillade, could be forgiven if he imagined an all-embracing criminal organization that struck without warning and embraced all levels of society. Created by Feuillade in the wake of the success of his FANTOMAS serials, which featured an invincible title villain paired off against a dogged pursuer, LES VAMPIRES ups the ante by postulating a Parisian criminal conspiracy that has an incestuous relationship with the highest levels of French culture. LES VAMPIRES was filmed as a 10-part serial and released in sequence from November of 1915 to June of 1916.

The Vampires are a gang of black-clad ne'er-do-wells that are terrorizing Paris and the French countryside. They rob and behead bailiffs, murder an American heiress for her jewels, insinuate themselves into high society by killing and impersonating a prominent physician, Dr. Nox, and poison a Russian ballerina for no better reason then that they -suspect- that she's the girlfriend of the hero, Philippe Gue'rand (Edouard Mathe'), professional mama's boy and crack reporter for the Paris Chronicle. This action takes up just the first two episodes, and our boy Philippe is kept hot on the griddle throughout the serial. (I'm exaggerating his apron-clutching traits, Phil actually owes more to the "George S. Patton" school of mama's boys than the "Clifton Webb") However, he is assisted by a turncoat "Vampire," bon vivant and family man, Oscar Claude Mazamette (Marcel Le'vesque), the comic relief in our story.

Although he looks and acts like a balding and slightly more sedate Roberto Benigni, Mazamette has the moves of James Bond, breaking the comic sidekick tradition by being -more- competent (and attractive to the opposite sex!) than his erstwhile boss. His youngest son, Eustace (Bout-de-Zan, the contemporary French answer to Macaulay Culkin), also gets in on the fun. The action is so hot and furious that even Maman Gue'rand (M. Delphine Ronot) gets to off one of the Vampires threatening her little reporter boy in a particularly nasty way...

The serial is action-heavy from the beginning, but it really picks up when Musidora makes her first appearance as Irma Vep at the beginning of Episode 3. A cabaret performer and second-in-command to the various Grand Vampires (who suffer a rather high rate of attrition throughout the serial), she is the prime motivating spirit behind the bad guys and well-merits her reputation as the femme fatale to end all femme fatales. Whether stabbing helpless old men to death with her hatpins or nicely filling out a skin-tight catsuit, Musidora sets the pace for all cinema "bad girls" to follow.

Ironically, Feuillade, who was a middle-class conservative in real life, directed some of the most "transgressive" movies of all time. He filmed his bizarre action in such a matter-of-fact fashion that it takes on a dream-like reality of its own. The Surrealists idolized him for this, although the "art house" critics of his own day mocked him for not doing historical epics or straight drama, and he died prematurely of overwork (filming some 80 movies/episodes during the early WWI period alone!) in 1925.

It should be mentioned here that although there are no actual "bloodsuckers" in LES VAMPIRES, the themes and motifs of future vampire films are anticipated quite nicely in the serial. The doomed ballerina does a sexy, lesbian-themed "Vampire Dance" just before croaking off in Episode 2, and hypnosis, dominance and dark sexuality are woven throughout the narrative.

The only real flaws in Les Vampires lie in its length and the primitive nature of the comic relief. (both Le'vesque and Bout-de-Zan mug for the camera at inopportune times, but are otherwise fine) Try to get it from an Internet or mail-order rental house or see if a local store carries it, as it is -extremely- pricey. However, if you're a collector of French cinema, David Shepard and his Film Preservation Associates have done a fantastic job of restoration, which makes it well worth the investment.

If you want to learn more about Feuillade and his fantastic films, you can check out the British Film Institute article on his life and work at the Sight and Sound website:

"Louis Feuillade-Detailing the Impossible," by Vicki Callahan at

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/154/

and there's more about his life and his -other- great serial
at...

www.fantomas-lives.com/fanto4f.htm


Happy viewing!


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings