The Iron Rose – Redemption Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: France, 1973
Director: Jean Rollin
Writers: Tristan Corbière, Maurice Lemaître, Jean Rollin
Cast: Françoise Pascal, Hugues Quester, Natalie Perrey, Mireille Dargent, Michel Delesalle, Jean Rollin

Release Date: January 24th, 2012
Approximate Running Time: 80 Minutes 27 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono French, DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $24.95

"A pair of lovers have a tryst in a vacant tomb, but then find themselves unable to escape form the graves and crypts of the massive cemetery." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "mastered in HD from the 35mm negative."

The Iron Rose comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 30.6 GB

Feature: 18.1 GB

Though there’s source-related debris that crops up throughout, Overall, this source looks very good and it’s a noticeable improvement over Redemption's 2007 DVD. Colors are nicely saturated, the image looks crisp, black levels and contrast look very good, and the image looks organic.

Audio: 4/5

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in French and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Both audio tracks sound clean, clear and balanced. Included with this release are removable English subtitles for the French language track.

Extras:

Extras for The Iron Rose include French trailer A (3 minutes 42 seconds, LPCM mono), French trailer B (3 minutes 42 seconds, LPCM mono), English trailer A (3 minutes 42 seconds, LPCM mono), English trailer B (3 minutes 42 seconds, LPCM mono), English language opening credits (2 minutes 20 seconds, LPCM mono), an introduction by Jean Rollin (1 minute 16 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Natalie Perrey (8 minutes 40 seconds, LPCM stereo French with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Francoise Pascal (22 minutes 1 second, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles) and a twenty-page booklet with an essay written by Tim Lucas and a writing by Redemption Films Nigel Wingrove who discusses how he met Jean Rollin and information about this release.

Other extras include trailers for The Shiver of The Vampires (4 minutes 9 seconds, LPCM mono French, no subtitles), The Nude Vampire (3 minutes 41 seconds, LPCM mono French, no subtitles), Lips of Blood (2 minutes 20 seconds, LPCM mono French, no subtitles) and Fascination (2 minutes 30 seconds, LPCM mono French, no subtitles),

Summary:

There are some directors, like Jess Franco, that it takes a few of their films before you start to warm up to them, or in the worst case scenario, you just give up on them. I've seen a handful of Jean Rollin films like The Grapes of Death, The Shiver of the Vampires, The Nude Vampire, and Zombie Lake. I was not that impressed with the films of Jean Rollin. Then there is always that one film that finally opens your eyes to where you see what the fuss is about. And in this case, that film for me was The Iron Rose.

The Iron Rose opens with dream-like images that at times slightly remind me of Jess Franco’s The Female Vampire. The first words are not spoken until nearly six minutes into the film. Also, the scenes which lead up to the two lovers going to the graveyard are very mundane in their content and structure. The Iron Rose hits its stride once inside the graveyard, which is a character unto itself, very much like the Overlook Hotel is a character in The Shining. The story and its characters are so simple that they almost get lost in Jean Rollin’s visual tapestry of nightmare imagery.

The best horror films rely more on what you don’t ever get to see and less on what they show you. The Iron Rose keeps the horror just out of the viewers' peripheral vision and lets the actors convey the terror through their actions, words, and facial expressions. The Iron Rose’s strongest asset is Françoise Pascal, whose beauty and nativity pull us in for this dark, sinister journey in which two people let their fears separate them from the one common goal they once shared. Ultimately, The Iron Rose is a first-rate horror film which drowns its viewers in its baroque and, at times, surreal visuals.

The Iron Rose makes its way to Blu-ray via a solid release from Redemption Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extra content, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer