Review: The Blood Rose

A tortured artist named Lansac (played by Philippe Lemaire) blackmails disgraced doctor Howard Vernon into using his skills in experimental surgery to restore the once beautiful face of his disfigured wife.

 

Yet another film about a man driven to deadly deeds to restore the once beautiful face of his disfigured love (“Eyes Without a Face”, “Corruption”, “The Skin I Live In”, etc). This 1970 French film from director Claude Mulot (whose background is in adult entertainment pictures) and his co-writers Jean Carriaga (Mulot’s “Sexyrella”) and Edgar Oppenheimer (Mulot’s “Manhunt for Murder” with Sydney Chaplin!) is as stuffy and dull as the awfully smug lead performance by Philippe Lemaire, a block of wood if ever I’ve seen one. Mulot is acting like this Franco-esque exploitation trash material is “8 ½” and it results in a film that is no fun at all. Howard Vernon is quite good as a disgraced surgeon, and the film both looks and sounds immaculate. The women are hot, too. I just didn’t care. About any of it. “The Skin I Live In” it most certainly ain’t, and although the visuals occasionally suggest a mixture of Mario Bava and 60s Roger Corman adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe, it’s nowhere near that level of fun either. It’s repetitive, mopey, slow-moving and dull. It’s a shame that Vernon isn’t in the film all that much, because his character would’ve made for an anchor to a far more interesting and entertaining Gothic horror/exploitation film. There’s a couple of oddball touches here and there and some nudity, but not nearly enough of either to keep you invested (Odd given the director’s porno background).

 

It looks great, the music score by Jean-Pierre Dorsay (“Sexyrella”) is haunting, but you’ve seen this done a million times and usually more interestingly. The co-writer/director (who names the lead character after his own frequent alias, Frederic Lansac) wants to make something artistic and dramatic out of pure schlock. It’s a misguided endeavour. Man, they could’ve had something here with the basic plot. Unfortunately it’s extremely repetitive and every scene drags on for far too long. The French just don’t tend to do horror as effectively as the Spaniards, Italians, Brits, or Americans. Sorry, but this is no fun at all. Howard Vernon’s pretty good but not good enough to come close to saving this one.

 

Rating: D+

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