4. Shiver Of The Vampires
Jean Rollin is a film maker Liz and I bonded over years ago before we were in a band together. He made a trilogy of vampire movies in the early 70s that were trying to be more artistic than the average horror movie. Trying to fuse feelings and aesthetics and music together to push things forward. It was raw and basic and primitive, but it really works as a film, it’s compelling. I always come back to it. I’ve never fully worked out the story but I love it.
Also, it has a brilliant rock soundtrack. They got a band of session musicians together to form the band. We recorded one of the songs on Witchcult Today – ‘Black Magic Rituals & Perversions’ We thought we’d do a cover of somebody nobody had heard of. This is one of the greatest if you like girl vampires, aside from Vampyros Lesbos – which is the most iconic of that scene. It’s a French film but it has a very English feel. Fields that go on forever, creepy southern England. I love the idea of exploring those themes in an unexpected place. We’re in North Devon now. The West Country has always been part of our sound; we’ve drawn from that influence. I like looking back on the folklore and the occult history of the area and having a real reason to be able to quote those things rather than just like ‘I like horror movies’. We grew up in an area where there really were human sacrifices and altars and the whole lot. It really happened. Look at history, the Romans never got past Dartmoor. Christianity never really reached down to the South West – we’ve always managed to stay apart from these influences, to some degree.
