Two Orphan Vampires (1997)
Two teenage girls, both of whom are blind by day, go to stay with a doctor who is investigating their problem, but when the sun goes down, they roam the streets and graveyards to quench their thirst for blood.
Two Orphan Vampires is almost a companion piece to Rollin's 1973 film The Iron Rose thanks to it's non-reliance on the usual Rollin tropes of nudity and bloodshed of which there's very little here. It's the lengthy cemetery scenes that remind of The Iron Rose and it's here that Rollin comes into his own. He allows his camera to linger lovingly among the graves often pausing to study specific aspects of the chilling surroundings - gravestones, iron railings etc. here Rollin uses the cemetery as an extra character, creating a wonderfully atmospheric ambience as the girls skip along the cold gravestones. The overall effect makes Two Orphan Vampires play in the realms of a surreal adult fairy tale.
As well as The Iron Rose the film does seem to use the same locations away from the graves as his earlier film Lost in New York, even the same railway sidings, it's this familiarity together with the obligatory cameo from Brigitte Lahaie that makes Two Orphan Vampires feel like a Rollin greatest hits movie.
Finally a special mention to debutants Isabelle Teboul and Alexandra Pic as the orphans. Unknown then and unknown now but both quite remarkable in this.
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