In an orphanage, Doctor Dennary (Bernard Charnacé) finds 2 girls who have
mysteriously gone blind at the same time & who, according to the nuns of
the orphanage are two angels on earth. Soon he, being an ophthalmologist
himself & interested in their case, decides to adopt them. What he doesn't
know though is that the 2 girls, Henriette (Isabelle Teboul) & Louise
(Nathalie Pic) are 2 vampires who can only see at night & who have been
eternally reborn, their origins being (maybe) the Aztec gods Quetzalcoatl (the
feathered serpent) & Murcielago (the bat woman). - & each night they
visit the local graveyard right next to the orphanage to suck dry whatever
creature might cross their path.
Now moving to Paris into Dennary's mansion they have a whole new hunting
ground, & they soon find their first victim (Brigitte Lahaie) kin a circus
tent ...
A few days later, Dennary has to stay out overnight, so the girls decide to
take the Metro to the local cemetary - the big one - to get some food there ...
but there they are found out by a man who sees through their innocent disguise
& chased through the place ... until they happen upon a shelter where they
meet a fellow vampire - a batlike woman - who takes them under her wing (bopth
figuratively & literally) & leads them to a hide-out in the catacombs
under the graveyard, where they can escape their pursuers.
On the next morning, the girls - now completely blind again - leave the
place again, but get sop famished on their way home that they drink blood from
each other, & buy alcohol (a bottle of Calvados) to disinfect their wounds.
The rest of the Calvados, they drink, & arrive home pretty souped up, just
minutes before Dennary arrives ... & he, only seeing someone rushing to the
bushes, shoots at them, wounding Louise. Only some more of Henriette's blood
& her vivid recounting of their (real or imagined) Aztec past can heal
Louise.
Soon, the 2 plan Dennary's demise, but instead are found out by Dennary to
actually have eyesight. However they explain it away as a miracle & soon
the 3 of them celebrate ... until Henriette plunges a knife into Dennary's back
...
To cover up their tracks, the girls decide to set Dennary's house on fire
& return to the orphanage, continuing their roles as innocent angels ...
but having grown a little thirsty, in the orphanage they soon befriend 2 fellow
inmates ... & suck them dry, whereupon they are found by the nuns, the
corpses still on their laps ...
Having to make another getaway, they befriend farmgirl Nicole (Anissa
Berkani-Rohmer), & decide to not kill her because she shows sympathy ...
but it's too late anyhow, they are soon hunted down by a vampire hunter &
when one of them gets a bullet in the back, they both go into the water to
avoid a worse fate ...
Nicole is left behind with what the girls call their heritage - a picture
book of old carnival posters which represents the girls' romantic fantasies of
themselves.
This is maybe one of Jean Rollin's most easily accessible films as it
features a rather straight forward narrative, & surrealistic elements are
largely absent from the plot. The film still though is typical Rollin, a blend
of vampirism, lyricism, (mild) eroticism & of coujrse a busload of
(vintage) pulp elements - & as such of course the film is highly enjoyable.
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