When I think of Jean Rollin, I think of Fascination. Fascination stands today as my favorite Rollin film, as it always has. Every time I sit down to watch, what I feel to be Rollin's masterpiece, I'm awe struck at the effect the visuals have that this master of erotic cinema has put forth for us to enjoy. The Redemption/Image release of Fascination has been around for a while, quite a while as I'm talking the extreme infancy of the DVD format. Thus brings up my point in this review; Fascination is in dire need of a facelift as this Redemption/Image release will do no longer. Please! Someone take note, anyone!

Fascination is about as surreal an erotic vampire film as one could expect from Rollin (but not nearly as challenging as some of his other work). Elisabeth (Franca Mai) and Eva (the incredibly gorgeous Rollin regular Brigitte Lahaie) are two completely beautiful women held up in a grande chateau awaiting the remainder of the guests for an annual reunion (any Rollin regular will know exactly what's going on, there aren't really any surprises here). In the mean time, a crafty thief (well, he thinks he's crafty, considering the castle is surrounded by water; one way in, one way out) hides out in the castle from his cohorts that he just stolen from. The two lovely young ladies, tease and taunt the thief always allowing him to feel as if he's got the upper hand. It isn't long before we discover what's really going on in the deserted castle, and things start to get a bit juicy if you will. Before you can say "lesbian vampires!", we're up to our asses in lusty vampire femmes, and dead everyone else. Well, I think you get the idea.

What can be said about Rollin that hasn't been said already? Rollin is king when it comes to beautiful French women, gorgeous French locales, and beautiful French women. Did I mention the beautiful French women? What Rollin lacks in the story department, he more then makes up for (many times over) in his visuals, and trance like progression of events. Fascination contains some unbelieveable shots of the French countryside, grande castles, and who could ever forget that mind numbing visual of Ms. Lahaie brandishing a scythe while wearing that black robe (and nothing else mind you), all I can say is wowie! Which now brings me to my point. Fascination needs a new release on DVD, but not just any old release, no sir. I'm talking about a brand spankin' new transfer from immaculate source material. There was a time (not so long ago) when this release could cut the mustard, but alas, that time has passed. I'm glad to have so much Rollin on DVD believe me, (I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, whatever THAT means) but this disc is a travesty and needs to be replaced. The print used for this release is in such sad shape, it's truly upsetting. We're subjected to all kinds of scratches, big black marks, specs, and faded colors, I'm getting all teary eyed just thinking about it. Sound on the other hand is actually quite acceptable. The mono french dialogue is quite clear as well as the music and effects. The nice big readable English subs are also fine and seem to be translated accurately.

Extras include the original French theatrical trailer (sadly with much brighter colors than the feature itself) a brief photo gallery, and your standard directors filmography.

Apparently Dark Side Magazine has recently reissued Fascination on DVD along with Requiem For A Vampire (presumably not the uncut Requiem) in a double feature edition, both 16X9 enhanced. The UK based site has an online order form, alas it is not secure. There's no telling if these transfers are superior to the Redmption/Image transfer or not, but the extras alone look to be worth the price of admission. Rest assured as soon as I am able to securely order this DVD I will. At that time I'll report back to you the reader, on the quality.