Jess Franco

[Demoncrat]

Sticking my tuppence worth in....

If you watch Lorna... the Exorcist, this is dually in at the deep end and a test of yr metal, in that if you can handle it, the rest will be a doddle.


Imho.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

X312 - Flight to Hell (1971)

A plane crashes in the South American jungle. As the survivors attempt to reach safety, it seems some have secrets they'd rather keep from the others. Meaning headhunters and revolutionaries might be the least of their worries.

X312 is a fun action adventure. For the most part Franco dispenses with the sex and amazingly Lina Romay too, in this bullet strewn romp. Once the plane crashes (You don't actually see the plane crash of course, this is a Jess Franco film) the plot dives straight into character development and things do fall a little flat, however Franco does know how to wake males, well, me anyway, up from their slumber - he gets the voluptuous Esperanza Roy to bathe in the river.

Despite it steering clear of the usual softcore fumblings, being a Jess Franco film there is plenty of nudity and even the odd scene of girl on girl action (Good old Esperanza ), however the bulk of the second half of the film is thankfully well staged action as the survivors attempt to flee from Howard Vernon's armed revolutionaries.

Of the rest of the cast, Fernando Sancho, a veteran Spanish actor most famous for bandit roles in westerns is a suitably sleazy villain and also the planes steward, and Tom Hunter, who went on to write the excellent Kirk Douglas film The Final Countdown (1980) makes for a typically heroic type. Another of Franco's regulars, the excellent Paul Muller, also pops up in a small but pivotal role as the film takes a left field turn in the final act.

X312 - Flight to Hell isn't a great film but as a diversion from the norm for the director it's well worth seeking out for fans.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Succubus (1969)

Janine Reynaud stars as Lorna, a performer of an S&M act at a nightclub. Under the influence of her enigmatic manager, Jack Taylor, she begins to lose her grip on reality and her dreams become real life hallucinations in a dangerous game played by the Mephistopheles like Taylor.

Succubus is an odd film in the Jess Franco canon. Dreams and hallucinations are things he'd always go back to throughout his career but Succubus becomes a surreal viewing experience as the viewer also loses all concept of Reynaud's reality and the plot becomes ever so incoherent yet still remains a quite fascinating viewing experience.

I suppose how much you enjoy Succubus depends on Janine Reynaud as the film is her vehicle and rests solely on her performance. Despite several smaller roles Succubus was her breakthrough performance, at the age of 39. Despite IMDB saying Franco discovered her in a bistro in Rome, this isn't true. She was married to actor Michel Lemoine who was known to Franco's co-producer and actor Adrian Hoven. When Lemoine was cast, Franco still had no star and chose the former model due to her association with Lemoine and her gorgeous but unconventional look as well as a lack of inhibition due to her modelling. Her casting also helped the film as friend and designer, Karl Lagerfeld, produced her costumes.

I think Reynaud is brilliant. She has the statuesque figure that would easily dominate both women and men in any sexual act but is also equally at home when in the presence of actors like Howard Vernon, her range swinging from derangedly perverse to elegantly insecure.

Franco introduces Reynaud's fever-dreams or hallucinatory reality through soft focus, high grain camera techniques which look decidedly odd at first but you soon get used to it and the blurring of dream and reality often means scenes are filmed using this and normal camera lenses as the film continues.

Succubus isn't a fast moving film, nor is it especially gory. Naturally there's a fair amount of sleaze and Reynaud nudity as well as some glorious oddball scenes such as the shop dummies seemingly coming alive to murder an unfortunate girl or truly inspiring cinematography from Franco.

The film's other highlight is the truly magnificent score from Austrian composer and pianist Friedrich Gulda who ensures Succubus has an air of the sensual amidst the sleaze onscreen.

Succubus is an often disorienting decadent film and is never less than interesting, especially in it's weirdness, making it in my opinion one of the director's best works.

[Demoncrat]

Great reviews Dem!!

For my tuppence this time, I have been mostly watching my blus.

Vampyros Lesbos (UK Severin)
By gum it's LOUD. Can anyone confirm/deny that this is a straight port of their US disc???

Satanic Sisters (Golden Goya)
How to make a scuzz masterwerk even scuzzier. HD Remastering!! Who woulda thunk it?? A pockmarked delight, this is the bees knees imo.

Women in Cellblock 9 (GG)
Hands up, this I hadn't seen previously, so whilst the print looks reasonably clear....not as outherelikepluto as Wicked Women nor as grim as Barbed Wire Dolls, the rewatch is in the schedule!!

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Great reviews Dem!!

For my tuppence this time, I have been mostly watching my blus.

Vampyros Lesbos (UK Severin)
By gum it's LOUD. Can anyone confirm/deny that this is a straight port of their US disc???

I asked them that and yes they are the same exact discs the only difference being the what's printed on the label and the lack of the bonus DVD or CD.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I asked them that and yes they are the same exact discs the only difference being the what's printed on the label and the lack of the bonus DVD or CD.

Ta then!! Just couldn't afford the US one at the time. C'est La Vie!!

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Ta then!! Just couldn't afford the US one at the time. C'est La Vie!!

I think Vampyros came with a different cut of the film but it's not in great condition while She Killed... came with the soundtrack CD which I've had in my collection since the mid 90's anyway

My Count Dracula disc came the other day and it's region free and looks fantastic! Severin have said they can't release that in the UK because someone else owns the rights unfortunately. I can't remember for sure but it was around £12.00 from WowHD.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Justin101

I think Vampyros came with a different cut of the film but it's not in great condition while She Killed... came with the soundtrack CD which I've had in my collection since the mid 90's anyway

My Count Dracula disc came the other day and it's region free and looks fantastic! Severin have said they can't release that in the UK because someone else owns the rights unfortunately. I can't remember for sure but it was around £12.00 from WowHD.

Duly noted then!!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Mansion of the Living Dead (1982)

Four young women turn up at a remote holiday resort and a largely empty hotel awaits them, an hotel empty but for the deranged owner, the wife he keeps chained up in a room and a band of living dead monks.

Despite having some potential, Mansion of the Living Dead is a rather weak horror film from Spanish directorial legend Jess Franco. Concentrating more on the four girls including regular Lina Romay, the film's first half is non-stop soft core sex courtesy of Franco's roving camera.

It's not until the half way stage that we are introduced to the dead monks who look uncannily like Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead Templar's. Franco's film comes over as a pale imitation lacking the class and atmosphere of de Ossorio's masterpieces.

The living dead monks look okay in their white hooded cloaks and skeletal faces but unfortunately lack any real menace, in fact all they do is rape Romay and another girl at different points of the film...and that's about it. The sub plot regarding the hotelier and his imprisoned wife seems like a time wasting affair to make this a feature length production and doesn't really add anything to what little storyline there is.

However if it's female flesh you want to see then you won't be disappointed. Romay, again billed here as Candy Costa, and her three friends waste no time in disrobing or wearing the most revealing outfits possible and make their intentions clear within the first five minutes. 'If we can't find a man, then we'll have fun ourselves' is a line said more than once in the introductory sequences.

[Richard--W]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Great reviews Dem!!

....

Women in Cellblock 9 (GG)
Hands up, this I hadn't seen previously, so whilst the print looks reasonably clear....not as outherelikepluto as Wicked Women nor as grim as Barbed Wire Dolls, the rewatch is in the schedule!!

COUNT DRACULA (1970) is my favorite of Franco's films, if only because of Christopher Lee's amazing performance. I understand he did his own costume and makeup and provided his own dialog right out of the book. He finds a whole new energy to play on than we'd seen him do before. He is Dracula in the film, really feeling his emotional business. Franco was the only director to give Lee a chance to do that. I had seen CASTLE OF FU MANCHU in a theater and a few of Franco's films on vhs and found them so inept I didn't want to see anymore. Three decades pass. Then a friend made me watch Women in Cellblock 9 (1977) and I got it. I began to "get" Franco. Now I have 90 of his films, and everytime a new blu-ray comes out, I upgrade.