The Living Dead Girl - La Morte Vivante

(aka "The Living Dead Girl" )

directed by Jean Rollin
France 1982

An earth tremor causes the spill of toxic waste being stored in a family crypt. This awakens young Catherine Valmont (Françoise Blanchard) with an insatiable bloodlust. Her childhood friend Helene (Marina Pierro of Borowczyk's LOVE RITES and THREE IMMORAL WOMEN), feeling guilty for not keeping her vow to follow her friend in death, scours the village for suitable victims for her pitiable friend. Meanwhile, an American photographer (Carina Barone) finds out the girl she photographed walking through a field has been dead nearly a year and, along with her boyfriend (Mike Marshall), stumble upon Helene's activities. This alternately elegant and grisly horror film was reportedly the inspiration for Rob Zombie's song "Living Dead Girl." With the help of France's now-prominent make-up effects artist Benoit LeStang, Rollin ups the gore over the erotic content (as with GRAPES OF DEATH) though his poetic sense remains, anchored by the performances of Blanchard and Pierro with a genuinely tragic ending.

Eric Cotenas

Poster

Theatrical Release:

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DVD Comparison:

Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC vs. Encore Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for all the Screen Caps!

(Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Encore Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Image Entertainment Region 0 - NTSC	Encore Entertainment Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	1:29:42	1:26:12 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.64:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.74 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.91 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Image Entertainment
Bitrate: Encore Entertainment
Audio	French (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)	French/English (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono); German (Dolby Digital 2.0 mono)
Subtitles	English, none	English, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Image Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterboxed - 1.64:1 Edition Details: • French Theatrical Trailer (1:06) • Slideshow Gallery (3:25) DVD Release Date: 9 November 1999 Amaray Chapters 16	Release Information: Studio: Encore Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Introduction by Françoise Blanchard (in French with English subtitles - 0:28) • Theatrical Trailer (1:27) • Disc Two • Introduction by Jean Rollin (in English - 13:11) • Selected Scenes Commentary by Françoise Blanchard ( in French with English subtitles - 26:55) • Interview with Françoise Blanchard (in French with English subtitles - 22:00) • Interview with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou (in French with English subtitles - 30:14) • Interview with composer Philippe d'Aram (in French with English subtitles - 15:38) • Alternate scenes (3:17 min) • Disc Three • Soundtrack CD (7 tracks - 15:45) • 64 page booklet DVD Release Date: 30 November 2005 Digipack in Sleeve Chapters 8

Comments

While Encore's RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE (comparison HERE) was stretched from 1.66:1 to 1.78:1 for anamorphic enhancement compared to the non-anamorphic 1.66:1 Image DVD, Encore's anamorphic disc of LA MORTE VIVANTE has the same vertical framing as the Image DVD but reveals more information on the sides with no stretching. It should be mentioned that Image's initial Redemption transfers were correctly converted to NTSC and thus exhibit none of the PAL speedup and conversion artifacts of their later Redemption titles. Encore's DVD also favors a warmer look than the Image DVD which darkens the blood but does not always look accurate for night exteriors (see capture 7).

The Encore disc also includes the German soundtrack which features an alternate music score. Extras are also in Encore's favor with an introduction and selected scenes commentary by actress François Blanchard and lengthy interviews with the still gorgeous Blanchard, Rollin, composer Philippe D'Aram, and actor/crew member Jean-Pierre Bouyxou (the victim in capture 2). Also included on a third disc is the soundtrack CD. It runs a scant 15 minutes and 45 seconds so it is unfortunate that some of D'Aram's other Rollin scores were not included. As with RAPE OF THE VAMPIRE, the 64 page booklet is almost worth the price of the set alone with many rare production photographs and a lengthy essay by Rollin.

- Eric Cotenas

DVD Menus
(Image Entertainment - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Encore Entertainment - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)