Sep 2014 *
I have seen Jean Rollin's The Grapes of Death (or if you prefer the French title, Les raisins de la mort) twice now. The first time was in 2007 after I asked for some foreign zombie movie recommendations on IMDb. I remember this being one of the main movies recommended and being a fan of some of the other French horror movies I'd seen around the same time, I sought this one out promptly.
Well, to put it simply: I was disappointed.
I imagine the main thought in my mind at that time was: where the fuck are the zombies? By standard ideas of what counts as a zombie both back when this was made and now, the things in this movie are not what I would call zombies and quite frankly, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for zombie movies, at least not without a warning.
However, having forgotten most of what actually happens in the movie outside of the opening and the music that accompanies it, I recently decided to give it a second try, this time with more of an open mind, which admittedly, I probably lacked back in 2007. And with that open mind, I've realized that this has a lot more in common with The Crazies (original and remake) than any particular zombie movie. It's still not a movie I want to go out of my way to buy anytime soon, but do I still hate it?
Let's find out with another... Reviews with Ballz!
The Grapes of Death starts out simple enough. Some guys are working at a vineyard and are spraying the grapes with some kind of chemical. Almost right away though, you see that one of the guys is in some discomfort and you soon find out that he's not feeling well because of the chemicals. His boss takes no pity on him, telling him to get back to work, with the promise of better masks arriving the next day for the workers. As you probably guessed by now though, the damage has already been done.
The movie then goes to the interior of a train where you meet Élizabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal, who I'm not even going to pretend to know from anything else). From here you follow her for the rest of the movie in her quest to reach her fiancee, who happens to be one of the workers at the vineyard. It's not long though before the worker complaining of not feeling well at the vineyard boards the train and sits down in the same compartment as Élizabeth. She notices a gross mark on his neck, partially covered up by his hair. At first she just stares, but as the mark spreads, she runs out of the compartment screaming and finds an emergency break to stop the train so that she can get off.
Now, it's here that I realized that the zombies in this movie are far different from any other zombie I've ever seen in any movie, TV show, video game, or book. Because instead of chasing Élizabeth endlessly, he gives up when she proves to be too fast for him and proceeds to sit down on the train tracks, looking rather depressed. Walkers, runners, or a mix of that's controlled by a parasite, I've never seen a zombie give up and sit down just because a victim proved to be too fast for them.
After this point, the movie really starts to get going and you watch as Élizabeth ventures through the French countryside, looking for anyone else along the way who hasn't been affected by the chemicals from the vineyard. More about what's going on exactly is also revealed, such as the spots that appear on people is actually rot. I guess that's why people call this a zombie movie, but considering that they can talk and even are capable of acting normal around Élizabeth when they want to be, I still disagree with calling them zombies.
To answer my question from before, no, I don't still hate this movie. It definitely has some flaws as far as the plot goes and the low budget definitely shows at more than one point, but I feel that if you watch it knowing ahead of time that it's not really a zombie movie, you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it. It's also far from the goriest movie I've ever seen, but there's a few moments of decent gore. The rotting spots on the crazed people also look pretty nasty, especially when they start oozing.
If you're in the mood for some old school, low budget, European horror, you'll probably like this. My rating: 3/5
I have seen Jean Rollin's The Grapes of Death (or if you prefer the French title, Les raisins de la mort) twice now. The first time was in 2007 after I asked for some foreign zombie movie recommendations on IMDb. I remember this being one of the main movies recommended and being a fan of some of the other French horror movies I'd seen around the same time, I sought this one out promptly.Well, to put it simply: I was disappointed.
I imagine the main thought in my mind at that time was: where the fuck are the zombies? By standard ideas of what counts as a zombie both back when this was made and now, the things in this movie are not what I would call zombies and quite frankly, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone looking for zombie movies, at least not without a warning.
However, having forgotten most of what actually happens in the movie outside of the opening and the music that accompanies it, I recently decided to give it a second try, this time with more of an open mind, which admittedly, I probably lacked back in 2007. And with that open mind, I've realized that this has a lot more in common with The Crazies (original and remake) than any particular zombie movie. It's still not a movie I want to go out of my way to buy anytime soon, but do I still hate it?Let's find out with another... Reviews with Ballz!
The Grapes of Death starts out simple enough. Some guys are working at a vineyard and are spraying the grapes with some kind of chemical. Almost right away though, you see that one of the guys is in some discomfort and you soon find out that he's not feeling well because of the chemicals. His boss takes no pity on him, telling him to get back to work, with the promise of better masks arriving the next day for the workers. As you probably guessed by now though, the damage has already been done. The movie then goes to the interior of a train where you meet Élizabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal, who I'm not even going to pretend to know from anything else). From here you follow her for the rest of the movie in her quest to reach her fiancee, who happens to be one of the workers at the vineyard. It's not long though before the worker complaining of not feeling well at the vineyard boards the train and sits down in the same compartment as Élizabeth. She notices a gross mark on his neck, partially covered up by his hair. At first she just stares, but as the mark spreads, she runs out of the compartment screaming and finds an emergency break to stop the train so that she can get off.Now, it's here that I realized that the zombies in this movie are far different from any other zombie I've ever seen in any movie, TV show, video game, or book. Because instead of chasing Élizabeth endlessly, he gives up when she proves to be too fast for him and proceeds to sit down on the train tracks, looking rather depressed. Walkers, runners, or a mix of that's controlled by a parasite, I've never seen a zombie give up and sit down just because a victim proved to be too fast for them.
After this point, the movie really starts to get going and you watch as Élizabeth ventures through the French countryside, looking for anyone else along the way who hasn't been affected by the chemicals from the vineyard. More about what's going on exactly is also revealed, such as the spots that appear on people is actually rot. I guess that's why people call this a zombie movie, but considering that they can talk and even are capable of acting normal around Élizabeth when they want to be, I still disagree with calling them zombies. To answer my question from before, no, I don't still hate this movie. It definitely has some flaws as far as the plot goes and the low budget definitely shows at more than one point, but I feel that if you watch it knowing ahead of time that it's not really a zombie movie, you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it. It's also far from the goriest movie I've ever seen, but there's a few moments of decent gore. The rotting spots on the crazed people also look pretty nasty, especially when they start oozing.If you're in the mood for some old school, low budget, European horror, you'll probably like this. My rating: 3/5
