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To the tune of deceptively placid, almost whimsical music, we see a crew of men spraying pesticide in a vineyard. Anyone familiar with Sleeping Corpses or the many ecological horror films of the '70's (Frogs, Prophecy, etc.) knows that we're in for trouble, especially as the men are wearing obviously inadequate, makeshift masks against the fumes (the airtight masks, they're told, will arrive soon!) Next we meet two young women, Elizabeth (Marie-Georges Pascal) and Brigette, traveling on a seemingly empty train through a rural region of France. Again, even the novice Eurohorror fan will recognize that this scenario can only lead to disaster, and sure enough, Elizabeth is soon fleeing for her life through the French countryside. Everywhere she goes, the locals are acting very strange (impaling people on pitchforks, for example). It transpires that a plague has stricken the villagers near the Roubelais vineyard, causing them to transform into zombie-like creatures, physically decaying and committing senseless acts of murder. The increasingly desperate Elizabeth teams up with two men, Paul (Felix Marten) and Francois, who are blasting their way through the violent masses until help can arrive. Eventually the three make their way to the vineyard in search of answers to the mysterious outbreak...but none of them are prepared for what awaits them there...

In the liner notes accompanying the disc, Nigel J. Burrell notes the financial and creative debt The Grapes of Death owes to Night of the Living Dead. While Romero's film is by far the more intense and well-crafted, I concur with Burrell that Rollin's is in some ways more disturbing because his "living dead" are neither dead nor fully human: they're in a hellish limbo, rotting away at an alarming rate, unable to control their violent impulses, yet still somewhat aware of their horrendous condition. After committing a gruesome murder, one man begs Elizabeth to destroy him; horrified, she crushes him with a car. Another memorable image has a purifying plague victim pleading for help outside the locked door of Elizabeth's car -- in desperation he bangs his head against the window, smearing it with blood and pus (disgusting even by genre standards). Viewers may also be reminded of The Last Man on Earth during a nighttime scene when Brigette Lahaie (star of Rollin's porn effort Vibrations sensuelles, among others) offers sanctuary to Elizabeth inside the house of the town's deceased mayor. The creatures outside moan and bang on the doors and windows, but Lahaie assures Elizabeth that they won't dare enter the house. We soon find out why.

The film's production values and style are variable. I can't agree with Burrell's description of the film as "fast paced"; indeed, viewers' patience may be taxed during the opening third of the film, as events proceed unhurriedly, with far too much footage of Elizabeth wandering through the deserted countryside. Rollin does work in some breathtaking imagery though, in particular a striking long shot of Elizabeth crossing a mist-shrouded train trestle, a shot that's pure poetry. Elizabeth's purple blouse is a subtle but constant reminder of the winery that is the wellspring of the horror. The FX are a mixed bag as well. Most are slightly underplayed to good effect, though one shot of a dead man with one eyeball slowly slipping from its socket would not be out of place in an Argento film. A decapitation by axe is admirably horrific, but the FX here lapse badly: some judicious editing could have improved the impact of scene tremendously. The acting is not the film's strong point, but it is more than adequate, and better than in some of Rollin's other works.

Even more so than in Romero and Grau's films, there is a strong central theme of contagion which quickly develops into "us vs. them." In this respect it's more reminiscent of Cronenberg's Rabid, with infected people shot down in cold blood. There's some telling (and prescient) dialogue between the two men here:

Francois: "You enjoy shooting them like rabbits, don't you? They can't help what they've become...

It's a plague. It's not their fault."

Paul: "Then why do they have it and we don't?"

Need more be said?