In the brief black and white introduction, a number of characters are seen in a graveyard while a coffin is taken away. The blasting psychedelic rock music of Acanthus jumps out as the opening credits roll over the images of smoke covered graves. A brilliant blue light covers the outside wall of a castle. Two women appear inside the castle, they are shown walking up an excessively red lit staircase. At the top of the staircase two men are in agony, both with stakes through the heart. These familiar horror elements are taken so far that they mutate into something else entirely. This is what is at the core of Shiver.
Cut to a recently married couple driving around the French countryside. The bride states that she wants to visit her only remaining family which consists of two cousins. Prior to there arrival, they stop at the nearby town only to be told by a woman who knows the men that they both died the day before. The couple travel to the castle and meander around in the wedding clothes they are still wearing. Assorted skulls and unusual decorations cover the otherwise bare interior of the castle. Early on and throughout Shiver Rollin builds upon the already invigorating surroundings with subtle visual flourishes such as broken statues and fish swimming inside a bowl with a skull inside.
In one of many unforgettable sequences, the main female vampire Isolde creeps out of a clock and takes the newlywed Isle on a middle of the night walk to the nearby graveyard. At this graveyard, two servant women appear with chalices. After Isolde and Isle drink from these chalices, Isle is bit and lies on a grave. Even though there is a threadbare story to follow it is secondary to the potent mixture of sensory experiences. The visuals in Shiver are so strong that they take on an individual life that is so poetic and beautiful that the incongruous elements are transcended. Rollin has such a dynamic sense of space and visual design that the castle and the stone structures on the ground become characters that are arguably of equal or greater importance to the vampires and people seen in the film. The amplified blue and red lights seen in Shiver predate Dario Argento's films such as Suspiria and Inferno by a number of years, as this film is from 1971.
When Isle's cousins finally appear the story aspect of Shiver becomes more nonsensical and playful in nature. The English language version of the film is even more pronounced in how preposterous it is for the bulk of the running time. I was lucky enough to see a rare English language print of Shiver back in September of 2010 under the title Strange Things Happen at Night, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The dubbed version does not capture the intended caricature though is overstated in an entertaining way if one is in the right frame of mind. For Rollin purists, stick to the original French language track which is still full of inane banter at times yet not to the point where it takes away from all of the visual splendor.
The soundtrack in this film is killer. The group Acanthus perform everything from fierce rock jams to odd, unpredictable sonic wanderings with delightful flute parts and off kilter organ backings. It has a free spirited and wild ingredient that meshes incredibly well with the film. Sadly, Acanthus who consisted of teenagers when they recorded the soundtrack, did not survive as a band after this moment of greatness.
Like The Nude Vampire transfer, the Blu-Ray of The Shiver of the Vampires looks radiant. Again, there are minor yet noticeable scratches and such at select points though as a whole, the visual integrity is kept intact from beginning to end. Simply put, the film has never looked better. Also, the sound is nice and clean for both language tracks though I strongly prefer the French track.
The main supplemental feature is a 39 minute interview by Dr. Patricia MacCormack. Unfortunately, she talks too much, rarely letting Rollin speak his mind for long periods of time though there are plenty of worthwhile moments. The most interesting sections for me include Rollin discussing why he chose to make women the main characters of most of his films and how he was able to get women to present themselves naturally in front of the camera. Also of interest are thoughts on his deeply personal Lips of Blood. Rollin is given some space on the topic of eroticism and how the erotic must also be innocent in order for him to want to explore it, even if the eroticism is perverse. Well, two releases in and Kino-Lorber must be praised for the stellar work done.
