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Until death do us part
It's common knowledge that when dealing with unhealthy stuff such as radioactivity and toxic waste one should always take extreme care. The forces of nature are strong, and in numerous science fiction and horror flicks we've seen what happens when people do not pay close enough attention. In Them! (1954) mutated ants grew, well, big, as did the title creature from Lewis Teague's Alligator, and in the darkly humorous Return of the Living Dead rotten corpses started rising from their graves and eating human brains. In La Morte Vivante a dead girl is brought back to life by industrial waste fumes after a couple of careless guys enter her catacomb to dispose of some barrels filled with dangerous chemicals, that spill out due to some sudden underground tremors.
I know, this does to a frightening extent sound much like your typical, run-of-the-mill B-movie fodder, but this initial scene is only a set-up that gives way to a much more engrossing story that is anything but conventional or ordinary. Indeed, this take on the zombie genre features a relatively high level of gore, but cult director Jean Rollin is a skilled craftsman and makes sure that it's never at the expense of his most prominent trademark - his unique sense of lyricism. It's most certainly still there, completely intact and evident in almost every scene, and this is one of the reasons why La Morte Vivante, despite its positively macabre subject matter, eventually emerges as a rare bird of a horror film that actually emphasizes its human aspects instead of piling one cheap shock on top of another.
Catherine (Françoise Blanchard) is the girl who experiences reanimation. Having been dead for two years, she's lost the ability to speak and has to express herself by making gestures and facial expressions. But in addition to being blessed with a new chance at life she's also gained something else - which is no blessing at all: A taste for human flesh and blood. This she realizes only seconds after her blood has started flowing again when she catches two guys in the act of stealing from a nearby coffin. She subsequently begins wandering around the countryside and soon finds the way back to her empty family mansion, where she stumbles upon some of her personal belongings, in particular a music box instantly sparks bits of old memories from when she was a young girl.
Helene (Marina Pierro), her childhood girlfriend, is astounded when she by pure coincidence realizes that Catherine might somehow be alive. Rushing out to confirm her suspicion, Helene's confronted with a brutal sight when she finally arrives at her friend's house at night: Lying across the outside stairs is the naked, molested body of a female real estate agent who'd made the unfortunate decision of making a tryst with her - now equally lifeless - boyfriend at the wrong place. Obviously Catherine surprised the couple and did them in, but Helene is merely happy to be reunited with her best friend whom she until now believed was dead and buried, and out of loyalty she decides to cover up the crime and get the two victims out of the way by dragging them into the basement.
It doesn't take long, however, before the particular circumstances surrounding Catherine's peculiar predicament become all too clear - she frequently gets this intense craving for blood that, if not satiated within a short period of time, will inevitably cause her severe, agonizing pain. Deeply affected by the sight of Catherine suffering, Helene now faces the ultimate test: How far will she be willing to go in order to keep her friend alive and well? Scared by the alternative of losing her loved one yet again, she starts luring unsuspecting women to the gloomy basement where some truly bizarre carnage is going to take place, but for every new victim Catherine's disgust of her own actions becomes even more outspoken as well as unbearable, bringing her closer still to the conclusion, that perhaps death is better.
A clever and ingenious touch on the part of the director is the way in which he has chosen to present the character Catherine. She may have the looks of a woman, but like any infant who's just entered this world, she has to pick up the means to communicate through words little by little. Add to this her endearingly awkward behavior, and then she completely resembles a grownup child. By nature a child is pure at heart and likewise is Catherine, - a naive, innocent creature, who just so happens is saddled with a monstrous need, and these conflicting personalities is what makes her such a fascinating, melancholic character. And the fact that she didn't ask to be put in this thankless situation in the first place only compounds the tragedy, wherefore she's ultimately the greatest victim of the story.
In the pivotal role of the living dead girl, beautiful Françoise Blanchard gives her all and simply delivers a tremendous, delicate and profoundly moving performance, effectively conveying the sadness and inner turmoil of her guilt-ridden persona. As her well-meaning, maternal friend Helene, who goes (only a bit?) too far beyond the call of duty, Marina Pierro isn't quite as extraordinary, but that does by no means diminish the relationship between the two girls. Their moments together are always strong, tender and believable, e.g. the scene where Helene cuts herself to feed her fragile friend and the one where she bathes Catherine in the bright moonlight are quietly affecting and possess a distinct, poetic quality.
There are, however, some minor drawbacks. A secondary plot concerning two photographers - one a frustratingly rational male and the other his even more annoying nosey-parker girlfriend, who zealously tries to locate the whereabouts of Catherine because she finds her 'interesting' - is underdeveloped and thus relatively superfluous, and a few of the make-up effects early on are not very convincing and don't hold up to close scrutiny. But for the remainder of the running time they're startlingly well made and definitely enhance the raw, emotional impact of the leisurely paced events - and just try to see if you can forget that blood-drenched, terribly cruel and despairing final shot. Impossible. This is without a doubt Rollin at his darkest, bleakest and most relentless.
Far removed from the show-stopping and wildly entertaining zombie splatter fests by maestro of apocalyptic mayhem, Lucio Fulci, the decidedly less outrageous La Morte Vivante tells a simple, but infinitely more gripping and powerful tale of two lifelong friends who once swore they'd always stay together. Their pledge is surely going to stay with me. 
René Pedersen, December 27th, 2005
Picture: 10/10
Among the titles selected for Encore Filmed Entertainment's series of Jean Rollin films, La Morte Vivante is the newest of the lot - whether this has something to say with regard to the source materials used for this transfer being in near pristine condition or if a meticulous restoration job has been carried out, I'm not able to tell. Whatever the explanation, the fact remains that Encore has done a fantastic job with this release - the image quality is well-nigh immaculate (which in my book rates as perfect), and apart from a couple of minor and insignificant scratches, there're no visible signs of print damage. Blacks are deep and solid, colors are bold and vibrant, and the skin tones look natural and are always perfectly rendered. Sharpness stays strong throughout the entire feature, revealing an astounding amount of detail in even the darker scenes and I didn't notice any problems with edge enhancement or compression artifacts at all. The movie is presented in an anamorphically enhanced aspect ratio of 1.78:1. A fine piece of DVD-encoding.
Sound: 7/10
While not exhibiting the same high level of excellence as the visuals, the original French soundtrack presented here in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is in fact better than expected. There's an almost constant, mild hiss in the background, but even though it occasionally becomes quite distinct, it somehow never turns out to be distracting, nor does it affect the clarity of the sound effects, that demonstrate a surprising degree of crispness - you're able to make out every drop of blood that hits the ground. All of the dialogue is finely detailed as well, but the best thing is the excellent rendition of the music, - especially the town ball scene near the end sounds crystal clear and shows a wide dynamic range, with restrained, but sufficient bass signals. By no means will La Morte Vivante test your home cinema speaker system as it's an overall quiet movie that mostly relies on subtle sound effects, so please, do not compare with modern Mono soundtracks. But considering the film's low-budget roots, the audio presentation here is definitely acceptable.
Extras: 10/10
Let's start out lightly. Besides the feature film itself, the first disc of this 3-disc set contains a short introduction (0.28 min) by leading actress Françoise Blanchard (don't you worry, there's more of her shortly) as well as the original French trailer (1.28 min).
Now on to the second disc that holds some major fireworks. Director Jean Rollin makes an introduction to the movie (13.11 min. - in English with no subtitles) where he, among other things, recalls how he at first was afraid to meet the two leading actresses (because they were professionals and until then Rollin was used to working with ... let's call it 'raw talent'), but that they both turned out to be really kind. He talks very fondly of his collaboration with them, especially of that with Françoise Blanchard (for whom this was her first starring role) who really lived herself into the character and had a couple of exhaustingly difficult scenes. Finally he has some remarks on the gory special effects that had never before been tried in France. Though not completely fluent in English, Rollin always manages to get his points through and surely makes for an engaging listen.
Next up is a comprised version of the movie (every key sequence is there) that runs approximately 27 minutes and has a running audio commentary by Françoise Blanchard (in French with English subtitles). Perhaps a bit on the short side, especially considering the pauses that turn up here and there as well as some not always interesting comments, but on the whole Blanchard still makes some very funny and revealing observations on all the movie's best (and most risqué) scenes.
And in the next extra you'll be able to put voice and face together, as the exquisite Françoise Blanchard turns up in a video interview that runs exactly 22 minutes (in French with English subtitles). How someone can still look so good (maybe even better) after 23 years is beyond me, but besides oozing with class and having an utterly winning and charming personality, she also has wits to spare. In this amusing and insightful feature we learn how she came about acting (at a time when she'd just lost her brother) as well as how it felt working with Rollin, and while elaborating on that she goes into detail on the shooting of specific scenes in La Morte Vivante - I'm particularly amazed to hear that some of my favorite moments were not at all planned, but in fact takes that went wrong. Furthermore she's very frank about how she loves watching and acting in B-movies (in the horror and action genres in particular) because they have their own, totally unique look. Spirited, candid and thoughtful, she has so many things to share and covers a lot of ground in this interview - and always with a twinkle in her eye. Simply irresistible.
But there's more. Equally interesting and enjoyable is an interview with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou (30.14 min. - in French with English subtitles), who's collaborated with Jean Rollin on a few occasions in the capacity of second assistant director, but mostly as an actor. This guy is the very definition of an incurable, devoted and enthusiastic film buff, he simply loves movies like no other (the horror, fantasy and (s)exploitation genres in particular) and there's no way of stopping him when he recounts how he initially met Rollin and why he simply adores his works. And to exemplify just how much everybody loved working around Rollin, Bouyxou serves up a quirky anecdote about the first time he officially acted as assistant director for Rollin. This was on the set of an adult film (for some time an understandably sad Rollin saw himself making porn because his vampire movies flopped) but the atmosphere was so relaxed, that in between takes the buck naked actors and actresses (having just shot a hardcore penetration sequence) would help out the technician (there was only one) rearranging the lights so that Rollin could finish his movie on time. Later on Bouyxou recollects a disastrous movie called Special Train for Hitler where he worked as a scriptwriter (penning down the dialogues only minutes before the scenes were to be shot) as well as an actor, playing many different parts ... and often in the same scene. This man has been around (he's also worked with Jess Franco) and has so many amazingly funny stories to tell, that even though they come fast and furious, they can hardly fit into this interview. So fasten your seat belt and just try to hold on.
The last interview (15.38 min. - in French with English subtitles) features the generous and instantly likeable composer Philippe D'Aram who gives a detailed account of how he got into the business of scoring movies and how he developed a great, professional collaboration with Rollin over the years. There's also an explanation of how some of the effects on the soundtrack for this film were created.
A collection of three alternative scenes (the least of the extras) are fitted into one clip that runs 3.17 minutes. Not all that interesting.
Rounding out the second disc is an extensive photo gallery consisting of stills from the film and behind-the-scenes shots. This feature is presented as a video clip that plays over some music from the film and runs 4.09 minutes.
On disc three you find a most welcome extra: The eerie and enigmatic soundtrack of La Morte Vivante by Philippe D'Aram. The complete running time of 17 minutes does sound short, but the exclusive CD is nevertheless a delightfully exotic addition to this Collector's Edition.
Like all the previous releases from Encore Filmed Entertainment, this package also comes with a beautiful 64-page booklet. It’s not as crammed with facts as that included in the Les Démoniaques-set, but there's still a lot of exciting background information on different aspects of the production of La Morte Vivante, such as the writing of the script, the financing of the film, the difficult casting process (Teresa Ann Savoy of Salon Kitty and Caligula fame was initially intended for the part of Helene), the shooting of certain scenes and the editing. Incidentally, a small part of the informations contained in this booklet can also be found in the introduction by Jean Rollin on the second extras disc. All of the pages are richly illustrated (in color and B/W) with stills from the film, behind-the-scenes photos as well as poster artwork.
Once again, the slipcase and digipack artwork is very attractive.
Final thoughts:
A compelling, truly unique entry in the zombie genre has received an A-one treatment, thus making it the perhaps best looking Jean Rollin release so far. Add to this technical achievement some fabulous, informative extras with a complete running time of almost 2h15m, and then not only devotees of Jean Rollin, but also anyone even remotely interested in European horror cinema as well should seriously consider making room on their shelves for this essential title - next to the previous Collector's Editions from Encore, of course.
Thanks to the team at Encore Filmed Entertainment for making available a copy of the 'La Morte Vivante' set for this review
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