Filmmaker Jess Franco is a prolific, enigmatic director. If you think Woody Allen and Robert Altman made a lot of movies, well Franco leaves them both in the dust.
At his peak in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s his most exploitative films usually feature murder, blood, a wild jazz score, nudity and many of the same cast members. Occasionally he’s gotten some name stars to appear in his films.
In 1962 he created a horror character called Dr. Orloff who would reappear in many future films. Even Orloff’s servant Morpho showed up in other films (at least in name)! But his films suffered from low budgets, rushed filming, bad dubbing, censors and Franco’s insistent use of zoom senses. He used numerous pseudonyms and several versions of one movie were sometimes released for different countries! Some sources claim hardcore sex scenes were even added to some versions! Much of his output seemed obsessed with The Dracula Legend (and vampires in general), sadomasochism and lesbian love scenes. He’s still going strong today making films with names like KILLER BARBYS VS. DRACULA and BAD DAY AT THE CEMETERY but his output has decreased considerably. The following three movies were all made around the same time in 1971. This was the year after Franco made a fairly competent version of DRACULA and the imfamous EUNGENIE...AND THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY-1971-A scientist working with hormones and embryos (it almost sounds like stem cell research!) is rejected by 4 of his colleagues. He can’t accept the rejection and goes crazy, eventually committing suicide. His wife (Franco regular Soledad Miranda) takes revenge. She seduces the three men (Howard Vernon, Paul Muller and director Franco himself) then stabs and castrates them. The fourth is a woman who she also seduces then suffocates with a pillow. Later she drives off a cliff with her dead hubby beside her. The story isn’t much but this is a Jess Franco movie so there’s a loud jazz score to keep you interested and everyone wears bright clothing.
VAMPYROS LESBOS-1971 –This is the cult movie Franco made around the same time as SKIE and it seems to have the same musical score. Nadine, the daughter of Dracula (Soledad Miranda again) sets her sights on Linda who seeks the help of Dr. Seward (Franco regular Dennis Price) because she thinks it’s all a dream. Nadine and another woman do a nude erotic dance twice. The nude scenes of Nadine and Linda probably caused a stir at the time but I’m not sure if this was even released in the US in 1971 ! Paul Mueller and Franco are also in it.
THE DEVIL CAME TO ALAKASA-1971-This is a more typical Franco mess…er…movie. A scientist and his wife have a legendary stone that among other things can kill people exposed to it. Fred Williams (Jonathan Harker in Franco's production of DRACULA the year before) plays a Scotland Yard detective who investigates. He’s aided by another agent (Franco) and eventually helps and falls in love with an undercover government agent (Miranda) who’s posing as a stripper.
Meanwhile, a wheelchair bound Lord (Walter Rilla) and his mysterious servant (Howard Vernon) lurk in the background. Lots of people are killed in the confused plot that is hampered by bad dubbing and editing. Also the characters do and say things that I wasn’t really sure were intentional humor or not! Miranda was killed in a car accident soon after this was completed (maybe before as the ending seems tacked on).
Thanks for reading!
5 comments:
What other Franco movies have you seen? I've actually not see any of the three you just reviewed here, but I will! He's definitely hit or miss, but when he *does* hit I usually really like the result. My favorites of his so far are The Diabolical Dr. Z, Eugenie... the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion, Venus in Furs and Eugenie de Sade. Faceless is a guilty pleasure, too. Everything I've seen of his from 1990 on up is TERRIBLE!
I've seen Dr. Z, Eugenie, Attack of the Robots, Dracula, Lust for Frankensten. I haven't seen Faceless yet. I saw a version of Killer Barbys but it was in Spanish with no sub-titles!
I heard the Killer Barbys movies were awful so I avoided them. I was GOING to watch Lust for Frankenstein since I love Michelle Bauer but Mari-Cookie and the Killer Tarantula (which she's also in) was so bad I kept away from it, too.
I have a decent collection of his movies in my stockpile, such as The Awful Dr. Orloff, Dr. Orloff's Monster, Succubus, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, The Screaming Dead, Night of the Skull and Wicked Women that I still need to watch. Might just start with Orloff and work my way up. :)
I forgot about Dr. Orloff, although I mentioned it in my review! That would be a good place to start. The version I have is not restored. Hope yours is!
I have the Image DVD so I assume it is. Guess I'll try it out sometime here soon.
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