Fascination is set in the year 1905 & starts (properly) when thief Mark (Jean-Marie Lemaire) double crosses a gang of crooks & runs off with a bag full of gold & the crooks in hot pursuit. Mark happens upon a large Château surrounded by water with only one bridge offering access, Mark feels this would make a perfect hiding place until the cover of night. Inside he finds two young attractive women, Eva (Brigitte Lahaie) & Elisabeth (Franca Mai) who just happen to be lesbians. Mark holds them hostage at gunpoint & has sex with one of them. Eva & Elisabeth try to convince Mark to stay for a mysterious reunion that they are having that very night, Mark sticks around, out of curiosity apparently, until the first guest arrives Helene (Fanny Magier). As four more female guests arrive it fast approaches midnight which seems to hold some significance that when Mark discovers what it is he wish he hadn't...
This French production was written & directed by Jean Rollin & it didn't do much for me. While I respect other people's opinions that Rollin's films are artistic, dream like & visually stunning I don't think that about Fascination at all. Don't get me wrong there are some very nice shots & imagery in Fascination, Eva wandering around with a long robe & scythe being a particularly memorable scene, the pigeon loft scene is visually unusual & the Gothic Château setting is impressive & adds a great deal to the film, but overall I just felt it was cheaply filmed with Rollin lingering on shots & keeping his camera rolling for far too long, as a consequence at times this slows Fascination down to a virtual stand still. The one area that I do agree with the general opinion is that Rollin isn't particularly interested in story telling or a coherent plot which is a shame because if he put some of the effort that he puts in his visuals into a decent entertaining film than he'd have a winner on his hands. There is virtually no dialogue in Fascination & the plot is basic & somewhat predictable. One more thing I must state at this point is that there are no traditional Vampires in Fascination at all, no fangs, no stakes through the heart & no sleeping in coffins. There is some brief blood drinking but it's not for any sort of supernatural reasoning. I also found Fascination's exploitation elements lacking, maybe I was expecting too much but there is virtually no blood or gore & the sex & nudity seemed very tame, there is one lesbian scene & two sex scenes & that's your lot. Having said that these French women are very pretty & easy on the eyes. I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here but I just didn't find anything here to gain any sort of enjoyment from apart from some nice looking locations & a bit of nudity. Finally Fascination commits the fatal mistake of being boring & slow & at just under 80 minutes that's not a good thing to think, I can forgive almost anything as long as a film entertains me & Fascination simply didn't. I just can't imagine any regular modern cinema goer getting much from this arty mess.
This French production was written & directed by Jean Rollin & it didn't do much for me. While I respect other people's opinions that Rollin's films are artistic, dream like & visually stunning I don't think that about Fascination at all. Don't get me wrong there are some very nice shots & imagery in Fascination, Eva wandering around with a long robe & scythe being a particularly memorable scene, the pigeon loft scene is visually unusual & the Gothic Château setting is impressive & adds a great deal to the film, but overall I just felt it was cheaply filmed with Rollin lingering on shots & keeping his camera rolling for far too long, as a consequence at times this slows Fascination down to a virtual stand still. The one area that I do agree with the general opinion is that Rollin isn't particularly interested in story telling or a coherent plot which is a shame because if he put some of the effort that he puts in his visuals into a decent entertaining film than he'd have a winner on his hands. There is virtually no dialogue in Fascination & the plot is basic & somewhat predictable. One more thing I must state at this point is that there are no traditional Vampires in Fascination at all, no fangs, no stakes through the heart & no sleeping in coffins. There is some brief blood drinking but it's not for any sort of supernatural reasoning. I also found Fascination's exploitation elements lacking, maybe I was expecting too much but there is virtually no blood or gore & the sex & nudity seemed very tame, there is one lesbian scene & two sex scenes & that's your lot. Having said that these French women are very pretty & easy on the eyes. I don't know, maybe I'm missing something here but I just didn't find anything here to gain any sort of enjoyment from apart from some nice looking locations & a bit of nudity. Finally Fascination commits the fatal mistake of being boring & slow & at just under 80 minutes that's not a good thing to think, I can forgive almost anything as long as a film entertains me & Fascination simply didn't. I just can't imagine any regular modern cinema goer getting much from this arty mess.