Rent A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)

Spoilers ... - A Virgin Among the Living Dead review by NP

This was made in 1971 but released two years later, and then again in 1981 as a zombie film with additional sequences directed by Jean Rollin. Of its many titles (Une Vierge chez les Morts Vivant · Christina, Princess of Eroticism · The Erotic Dreams of Christine · A Young Girl Among the Living Dead . Una Vergine tra gli Zombi), ‘A Virgin Among the Living Dead’ is among the least advisable as it gives away a major spoiler. There’s little use in carefully building up the suspicion that the relatives Christina visits aren’t quite ‘normal’, when the truth behind their behaviour is revealed in the title!

The constant zooms in and out of locations and items often seem haphazard and unnecessary, but there are times (when Christina goes for a night-time wander prior to finding a hanged man) when the approach effectively communicates a trance-like state. The ending, too, is extremely effective – by far the best sequence in the film. Although Christina’s fate is tragic, it is handled beautifully, with the rest of the ‘family’ standing by, seemingly in a somnambulist state with a haunting incidental score.