EP574 - The Summer of ROLLIN Ep.1 - The Rape of the Vampire (1968) & The Nude Vampire (1970)

Welcome to episode 574 of The Podcast Under the Stairs.

The summer begins...and with it, a journey into one of the most singular, poetic and uncompromising voices in horror cinema.

Welcome to The Summer of Rollin, a brand-new multi-part retrospective celebrating the dreamlike, surreal and unmistakably gothic films of French auteur Jean Rollin, using the stunning 4K UHD restorations from Indicator as our guide through his extraordinary filmography.

In this opening chapter we travel back to where it all began with The Rape of the Vampire (1968) and The Nude Vampire (1970)...two films that announced the arrival of a filmmaker unlike anyone else working in horror.

Before there were sprawling cemeteries by the sea, melancholic vampire sisters wandering deserted beaches and haunting visions that blurred the lines between fantasy and reality, there was a young filmmaker with almost no money, enormous ambition and a determination to create horror that looked and felt like poetry.

We'll explore the remarkable story behind The Rape of the Vampire, a production born almost by accident. Originally conceived as a short film before unexpectedly expanding into a feature, its troubled production forced Rollin to think on his feet, embrace experimentation and create something that felt unlike any vampire film audiences had seen before. Released during the political and cultural upheaval of May 1968, the film scandalised audiences, baffled critics and quietly introduced many of the visual obsessions that would define Rollin's entire career.

Then, just two years later, we'll see how Rollin returned with The Nude Vampire, his first colour feature and a giant leap forward in confidence. Mixing masked cults, pulp serials, secret societies and his growing fascination with dream logic, the film reveals a filmmaker who had already refined his unique cinematic language while refusing to compromise his wonderfully eccentric vision.

Along the way we'll discuss:

  • The unlikely birth of Jean Rollin's story telling directing career.

  • How an accidental feature film launched one of horror's most distinctive auteurs.

  • The evolution of his vampire mythology between his first two features.

  • Why conventional storytelling was never his priority.

  • The visual motifs that would become signatures throughout his career.

  • The beautiful new Indicator 4K UHD restorations and the wealth of historical context found within their superb special features.

Whether you're a lifelong admirer of Jean Rollin or stepping into his haunting world for the very first time, this series aims to celebrate a filmmaker who followed his own strange path through cinema, creating films that are as hypnotic, romantic and mysterious today as they were over fifty years ago.

So pour yourself a glass of red wine, light a candle, listen for the crashing waves and prepare to spend your summer wandering forgotten castles, lonely cemeteries and moonlit beaches...

The Summer of Rollin has begun.

Timecode For Episode 574:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:06:25 - The Rape of the Vampire

00:22:05 - The Nude Vampire

00:32:57 - The Indicator 4KUHD's

00:37:18 - Closing the Show

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