Just as fascinating  and influential in its own way is Louis Feuillade’s Les Vampires (Kino, Not Rated, 416 min., $39.95), a 10-episode serial from 1915 that is 6 and one-half hours long (and is considered one of the longest films ever made).  Though it was shown in installments, Les Vampires has none of the Perils of Pauline’s cliffhanger endings.  Instead it forms one surreal twisting narrative that is not about blood-sucking supernatural creatures, but follows the exploits of a journalist who attempts to expose and stop a ruthless underground criminal gang known as Les Vampires (certain of these French gangs of that era were known as "Apache" due to their savagery, which was reported to equal that attributed to the Apache tribe in the American Southwest).

Kino’s 2-disc Blu-ray box of Les Vampires brings to North America the Cinematheque Francaise's superlative restoration of the silent classic that features very sharp images throughout and comes complete with tinting and an excellent score.  Les Vampires is a true cinema classic that had a profound influence on the films of Fritz Lang and Alfred Hitchcock, but watching it in one sitting is definitely a tough go for modern audiences.  Feuillade’s film has none of the cross-cutting, moving camera, and technical mastery of other films of the era like D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation and its pace can seem glacial to contemporary audiences at times.  Feuillade’s genius lies in his surrealistic plotting (Luis Bunuel cites him as a major influence) and in his penchant for remarkably bizarre imagery, especially the shots of Musidora as the Irma Vep, the most deadly and elusive member of Les Vampires, who skyrocketed to fame with audiences during World War I and remains fetching in her one-piece catsuit almost hundred years later.