Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
... View MoreThis is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
... View MoreIt’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
... View MoreExcellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
... View MoreThe title of this says it all, and the fact it is directed by prolific Spanish Director Jess Franco lets the audience know exactly what it is in for. Soledad Miranda's mesmerising Countess Nadine Carody is a powerfully erotic force of nature, and she has set her sights on American Linda (Ewa Strömberg). Catching Linda's attention during an erotic dance display at a local club, she then haunts her through dreams. It is a convincing dream-like entrapment, made more so by the beautiful and well-directed Turkish locations. Of all the Jess Franco films I've seen, this is his most effectively directed – there is less reliance on endless zooms in and out of the action than usual, and the legendary psychedelic music score, especially with its occasional weirdly distorted vocals, adds to the delirious atmosphere.Swirling red lined stairways, sun drenched castles and ornate buildings are all filmed beautifully, and yet as always with Franco, the storyline meanders into the inconsequential. Only when Dennis Price's Doctor Seward has a stand-off with Carody is a real kind of tension invoked (Price, who was nearing the end of his life by this time, looks healthier than he does in other films he made during this period).Whilst this never descends into an endless parade of soft-core 'action' like 'Female Vampire (1973)' and there is actually an element of supernatural horror here, things tend to drag, especially in the middle portion of the film. And yet ultimately, this is my favourite Franco film (so far). The wraith-like presence of the sensuous Miranda combined with the more tangible acting chops of people like Dennis Price lends a definite nobility to the trance-like, vaguely erotic horror.
... View MoreThe late, extremely prolific Euro cult legend Jess Franco reaches true heights of eroticism in this variation on a common theme in the 1970s. Namely, that's the genre of highly sexualized female vampires working their wiles on a succession of female victims. The film may be much too sedately paced for some moviegoers, and in truth it's much more about titillation and atmosphere than anything else. Some people may admire it for the way that it so completely melds an artistic sensibility with pure exploitation. There's more eye candy going on here than just the female human form.Ewa Stromberg stars as lawyer Linda Westinghouse, who has been having sexy dreams about a mystery lady (Soledad Miranda, Francos' muse until the time of her premature death). She's then surprised to see the lady turn up in reality, as a Countess who's just come into an inheritance. She becomes utterly fixated on the Countess, to the exclusion of all else."Vampyros Lesbos" is likely to succeed in at least one way for many viewers, by making them a fan of the alluring Ms. Miranda. She seems right at home in this predatory role. The cast features other familiar faces: Dennis Price as a clinic doctor with an interest in the supernatural, and Paul Muller as a psychiatrist, but it's Miranda who will command most of ones' attention.This is all very well shot on stunning locations in Spain, Germany, and Turkey. The only real debit for this viewer was the music score, which is much too loud and overbearing. Costumes and set decoration are strikingly used throughout.Franco and company know all too well how a vampire story can be inherently seductive and mysterious, and this has to rank as one of the directors' more memorable works.Eight out of 10.
... View MoreWell, I taped this movie because I found the title Vampiros Lesbos (or one could translate it to Lesbian Vampires, or the Vampire of Lesbos, or whatever - there isn't one) interesting. My friend also directed me towards it, though I do rarely listen to him. My conclusion though is that I really wasted my time watching this movie as it was dull, boring, and pointless.Dracula fell in love with a woman and made her a vampire, and this vampire only loves woman. One woman, a journalist or something, kept on dreaming about this vampire, and saw her one night in a weird restaurant. She then went to her island and had weird things done to her, and then after she goes to hospital and then is released, returns to the island to kill this vampire.It is a very bizarre, almost pointless movie. One of my friends says that to appreciate one movie, one needs to watch movies of other countries, and I agree that some movies from other countries had a style and ideas that are not found in those of America. Also, garbage like this also comes out, just as garbage comes out of everywhere.
... View MoreOne of Jess Franco's most famous works, "Vampyros Lesbos" is also one of the most distinctive and fresh low-budget horror films that sprung in Europe during the early 70's. While it is a flawed affair, particularly as far as substance is concerned, it's style is so unique and otherworldly, that it's guaranteed to haunt and entice you for a long time after you watched. Adopting a stream-of-consciousness narrative, the film takes you into a feverish daydream (literally, as there are no night scenes in this one), loosely adapted from Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula", exploring the world of fetishes and sexual fantasies, through breathtaking psychedelic imagery of eroticized violence and exotic locales, as well as one hell of a groovy, nostalgic score by Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab. Of course, the film wouldn't been nearly as memorable without the casting of Soledad Miranda in the role of Countess Narody - quite possibly the sexiest vampiress to have ever graced the silver screen, with her unforgettable exotic beauty and bone-chilling screen presence. Overall, an excellent little psychedelic gem, that even if bothers some viewers with it's strange appeal, is a must see if only to be entranced by Miss Miranda.
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