''La rose de fer'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: ''The Iron Rose'', also known as ''The Crystal Rose'') is a 1973

horror drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

film directed by

Jean Rollin Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil (3 November 1938 – 15 December 2010) was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his work in the fantastique genre. Rollin's career, spanning over fifty years, featured early short films a ...

. It stars Françoise Pascal,

Hugues Quester Hugues Quester (born 5 August 1948) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than 60 films and television shows since 1969. He starred in Raúl Ruiz's 1983 film '' City of Pirates''. Hugues Quester also performed on the theater stage. Particul ...

Nathalie Perrey Nathalie Perrey (born Marie–Therese Amelie Perrey; 28 February 1929 – 25 March 2012) was a French actress, best known for her many years working with director Jean Rollin. Her long career also included regular work as a film editor and s ...

, Mireille Dargent and Michel Dalessalle. It was his first film not to feature vampires, a theme for which he was best known, but it still features all the dream-like qualities associated with his films.

Plot

A young woman and man meet at a wedding reception and arrange a date. They meet at a railway station and go for a picnic and bike ride. While cycling, they see the entrance of a lonely cemetery and decide to go inside. Once inside the huge cemetery, the woman becomes anxious. The man calms her and persuades her to enter a crypt with him. A strange man watches the couple. The man and the woman make love in the crypt. A clown places some flowers on a nearby grave and leaves. An old woman closes the cemetery gates. When the couple finally exit the crypt, night has fallen and they cannot find their way out. They begin to panic. They discover a small building; inside are several child-sized coffins holding small skeletons. The woman becomes moody and exhibits bizarre behavior and personality changes. She locks her lover in the crypt and he suffocates. Dawn finds the woman dancing around the cemetery, and later entering the crypt herself. The old woman reopens the cemetery gates. Finding the crypt closed, she puts flowers on top of it.

Release

''The Iron Rose'' was released 12 April 1973 by Les Films ABC.

Home media

''La Rose de Fer'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

in its original aspect ratio of 1.62:1 on 20 January 2005 in Europe by X-Rated Kult DVD, in the UK on 28 March 2005 by

Redemption Films {{unsourced, date=February 2021 Salvation Group is a UK-based media company, specialising in exploitation film and alternative music. The company's original name and current trading name is Redemption Films. The Salvation Group was dissolved in No ...

and in the US on 25 September 2007 by Redemption. It was released on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on 24 January 2012 by

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

/Redemption in a newly restored HD remaster in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, containing an English dubbed version and the original French audio, both in LPMC 2.0, with the inclusion of optional English subtitles. Special features on the set included trailers, interviews with Pascal and Perrey, and a booklet essay by ''

Video Watchdog ''Video Watchdog'' was a bimonthly, digest size film magazine published from 1990 to 2017 by publisher/editor Tim Lucas and his wife, art director and co-publisher Donna Lucas. Although devoted chiefly to the horror, science fiction, and fant ...

'' editor

Tim Lucas Timothy Ray Lucas (born May 30, 1956) is an American film critic, biographer, novelist, screenwriter and blogger, best known for publishing and editing the video review magazine ''Video Watchdog''. Biography and early career Lucas, born in Cinc ...

. The film was additionally released on Blu-ray by Redemption as part of a five-disc collection, along with ''Fascination'', '' La Vampire Nue'', '' Le Frisson des Vampires'' and '' Lèvres de Sang''. In 2017, it was announced that ''The Iron Rose'' will be released on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom by Screenbound Pictures subsidiary Black House on 16 November 2017; it will be the first Rollin film available in the UK in that format.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iron Rose 1973 horror films 1973 films 1970s horror drama films French horror drama films Films directed by Jean Rollin 1970s French-language films 1970s French films