Canadian micro-publisher Spectacular Optical is pleased to announce a new book focused on the career of French fantasy and horror filmmaker Jean Rollin, LOST GIRLS: THE PHANTASMAGORICAL CINEMA OF JEAN ROLLIN, edited by Samm Deighan and penned by all women critics, scholars and film historians. Set to be released in the summer of 2017, this collection of essays covers the wide range of Rollin’s career from 1968’s LE VIOL DU VAMPIRE through his 2010 swansong, LE MASQUE DE LA MÉDUSE, touching upon his horror, fantasy, crime and sex films—including many lesser seen titles. The book closely examines Rollin’s core themes: his focus on overwhelmingly female protagonists, his use of horror genre and exploitation tropes, his reinterpretations of the fairy tale and fantastique, the influence of crime serials, Gothic literature and the occult, as well as much more.

“Lost Girls is an exquisite book about the acclaimed French film director Jean Rollin, a master of the surreal and the poetic, whose classic films with their haunting images embody a dark playful female aesthetic. The essays in this fine collection capture Rollin’s love of the supernatural, the dreamlike, poetic gore and female vampirism – to mention a few of themes that Rollin subjects to his strange subversive eye. This outstanding collection pays tribute to Rollin’s world of surreal fairy tales, sadean narratives and disturbing journeys into the dark side of the soul. Lost Girls is a must for lovers of the cinematic underworld in which female characters reign supreme.” – Barbara Creed, author of The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis

“No serious student of the cinefantastique will want to be without this beautifully illustrated collection of essays dedicated to the eerie, sensual cinema of Jean Rollin.” – Maitland McDonagh, author of Broken Mirrors, Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento

The book features a foreword by Françoise Pascal, the star of Rollin’s beloved La rose de fer, and cover art by Jessica Seamans, known for her work with Landland and posters for MONDO.