Last Chance to Help Our Indiegogo Campaign!

So, this is it! Less than twenty hours left in our Indiegogo campaign and we still have a number of great rewards available. Thank you all for the amazing response! We are all so grateful and blown away!

Our ART DECADES Store is Now Open

18.00 (SHIPPING INCLUDED) Please Specify Size Sizes

Mens Signature Soft Small Mens Signature Soft Medium Mens Signature Soft Large Mens Signature Soft X-Large Womens Signature Soft Small Womens Signature Soft Medium Womens Signature Soft Large Womens Signature Soft X-Large

MISTRESS DREAD: 
PHOTOGRAPHER:  WHITLEY BRANDENBURG
MODEL AND STYLIST:  RHIANNON LAKE MILLS
A very soft and extremely durable tee featuring superior print quality on 4.5-ounce, 100% ringspun cotton.

ART DECADES Updates

So it has been an incredibly busy last couple of weeks! For those who haven't been following the progress of Issue 1 of our upcoming print publication ART DECADES at our website, Facebook or Twitter pages here is a quick rundown. Our Indiegogo campaign is almost two weeks in and we have been thrilled with the response. We are at almost 75% of our goal and all the support has been so appreciated! Fingers crossed we can make our goal before March 28th when the campaign ends.



We did our first photo shoot for Issue 1 and it was such an incredible and beautiful experience. I know you all are going to be blown away by the work that our photographer, Whitley Brandenburg, and make-up artist and model, Rhiannon Lake Mills, did. Here is a short behind the scenes video of the shoot.

ART DECADES Issue 1: "Mistress Dread" (Behind the Scenes) from ART DECADES on Vimeo.

I also had the pleasure of conducting a Skype interview with our first cover star Celia Rowlson-Hall for the feature I am writing for Issue 1. Also, last week we had the great thrill of conducting our first in-person interview with one of our favorite bands CHAPPO! We spent about an hour chatting with these amazing guys and then caught their incredible show with Royal Teeth and Parade of Lights. Here is another behind the scenes video for you to enjoy.

ART DECADES (Issue 1) Behind the Scenes with CHAPPO from ART DECADES on Vimeo.

Even though we are still in the early stages this has already been the most emotional and exciting experience of my creative life. I am so grateful for my team of Kelley, Lake and Whitley and am blown away by all the contributors we have lined up. The idea of sharing all their work this November brings me great, great joy.

Please Help Our Dream Come True: Support ART DECADES at Indiegogo

Our IndieGogo campaign for our upcoming publication Art Decades is now up and running.  Any and all help via contributions and/or spreading the word is so greatly appreciated!  Thank you so, so much!

Help Support ART DECADES from ART DECADES on Vimeo.

Coming 2/18/2014: A Jean Rollin Box-Set from Redemption

Two New Jean Rollin Related Releases

 

Our friends at Finders Keepers Records have just issued Pierre Raph's incredible score to The Iron Rose on vinyl.  Details on ordering can be found here. 

 

 

Also the Jean Rollin limited edition Bobblehead is now available to pre-order over at Cult Collectibles. 

 

We are Waiting for You at The Jean Rollin Forum!

 

Just a couple of weeks into my Jean Rollin forum and it has already been a real blast. We are up to about 15 registered members and have had dozens of fun Rollin related chats going. As a little sneak peek to the kind of stuff members have been sharing, here is a detail from the International 3-sheet pressbook from SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES that was posted in our Scrapbook section just earlier today. So, if you love Rollin please stop by, set up an account and send me a members request to access all the forums.

The Jean Rollin Message Board is Now Live!

 

I am very happy to announce that my new Jean Rollin Message Board is now active and ready to use.  I will be sending out personal invites soon to all those who expressed interest but for those who want to go ahead and sign up here is the link.  I will be tinkering around with this board quite a bit in the upcoming days so any suggestions are most welcome.  Also, please let me know if you have any specific questions, problems or concerns.  I want this to be a fun community where we can share our love for Jean and his work and I hope many will join up.  So head on over and sign up.  Please be sure to check out the rules and send me a request to join the group so you can access all of the forums. 

Coming Soon: The Jean Rollin Forum

Since starting this blog back in 2008 I have met many incredible online friends who share my passion for everything connected to Jean Rollin.  It has been incredible getting to interact with fellow fans, co-workers and friends of Jean and I hope I hear from more and more.  Over the past several years I have had several readers here ask me about possibly starting an online forum dedicated to Rollin and his films.  I have been hesitant due to both time constraints and inexperience but I have decided the time has come for this new chapter for Fascination.  So, coming very soon I will be introducing Fascination:  The Jean Rollin Experience Forum, a message board dedicated to the fantastic world of our main man.  Business as usual will continue here but I do hope this new venture brings out some fellow fans for some fun, meaningful and thoughtful discussions about Jean.  I am working on the board right now and hope to have it set up within the next week.  I will post the link, and information, as soon as it is live.  Thank you to my readers here for their friendship, loyalty and patience!  You are all awesome...

Jean Rollin Fans Take Note of Redemption's new A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD disc

While it isn't part of their Jean Rollin line, Redemption's newest Jess Franco release A Virgin Among the Living Dead will be of great interest to Rollin enthusiasts.  This terrific new special edition of one of Franco's most satisfying films includes as an extra the entire Zombiefied cut of A Virgin Among the Living Dead, featuring the footage Rollin shot years after its first release.  This footage was previously only available on its own on disc as an extra and this marks the first time Rollin's 'cut' can be seen its entirety since the Wizard VHS  (In America at least, a friend at Facebook has pointed out that the cut was available on the 2 disc X-Rated Kult DVD set).  The disc also includes two tremendous extras by former Rollin assistant Daniel Gouyette and a great commentary track by Tim Lucas (all of which mention Rollin at various points). 
This new DVD and Blu-ray of A Virgin Among the Living Dead is one of Redemption's best and I know that many readers here will absolutely want to order a copy from Kino, Diabolik or Amazon. 
In other news, The Escapees has been announced on Redemption's Facebook page as part of the 2014 line-up!  Hopefully that will not be the only new Rollin release but it is a welcome one. 

Remembering Françoise Blanchard

I'm sure many reading here are aware that the much beloved and respected Françoise Blanchard passed away on May 29th at the tragically young age of 58.  Blanchard was a remarkable actress and many Jean Rollin fans, myself included, count her work in The Living Dead Girl as one of the finest in all of Rollin's canon.  To pay tribute to Françoise here is the (slightly revised) article I wrote on her career a couple of years back reposted.  My best to her family and friends....she will be greatly missed. 

Intelligent, charming and very talented French actress Françoise Blanchard brought something special to every role she played in a film career that stretched from the late seventies up until the early nineties. Probably best known for her work as the title character in Jean Rollin's savagely haunting The Living Dead Girl (1982), Françoise graced a number of notable films from the period including works by directors Jess Franco and Bruno Mattei.
Recalling her career on Encore's terrific interview on the DVD set for The Living Dead Girl, Françoise mentioned that it was a tragedy and a coincidence that set her career in motion in the late seventies. While trying to make ends meet as a hand model, Françoise lost her beloved brother in the late seventies. Around that time she was offered her first role, coincidentally as someone who had also lost a family member. Françoise approached the part sceptically as she remembered that at the the time she was, "aggressive against people but also a bit confused" due to the death of her brother. She enjoyed the experience though and soon threw herself seriously into acting lessons afterwards.
Her career quickly become intertwined with the legendary Eurocine company and soon she was involved in several B movies from the period. "I liked the feel of these B-Movies, especially Horror" noted Françoise to Encore, which perhaps explains one reason she became so popular to several of the most noteworthy genre directors of the late seventies. She also mentioned she didn't mind nudity and even went so far as to pose for Lui magazine in the early eighties.
After several films, for the likes of directors like Pierre Chevalier, Françoise hit exploitation paydirt with her rather unforgettable role in Bruno Mattei's sleazy but entertaining Caligula and Messalina in 1981. The following year she would appear in Jess Franco's confused but interesting Revenge in the House of Usher, and she liked Franco and admired his creativity and fire.
After another sleaze epic with Matei, Françoise shot the rather wonderful Living Dead Girl with Rollin. Françoise is extremely good in the film and delivers one of the most powerful performances in Rollin's canon. The mostly night shoot was difficult and there were many problems with the special effects but, despite some disagreements, she liked and admired Rollin and admitted to Encore that, "he is really nice and is very much there." Françoise also enjoyed working with and admired her co-star in the film, Italian actress Marina Pierro, and noted, "She was very maternal with me."



Françoise would work again with Rollin on The Sidewalks of Bangkok, a film which she had a lot of fun making, and recently she appeared in his newest production La Nuit des Horloges opposite Ovidie. A talented and lovely lady, Françoise Blanchard's contributions to Jean Rollin's filmography should not be undervalued.

-Jeremy Richey-