Review by Roger Carpenter
Few filmmakers are as polarizing as Spanish director Jesus Franco. Some hail him as a trash film king while others denigrate him as a complete hack. His overuse of the zoom lens causes some viewers to twitch while others apologize for his sometimes convoluted plots by describing them as dream-like and insisting his films are multi-layered and filled with meaning. Regardless of which side of the fence you may be on with regards to Jess Franco, most viewers praise his early genre works as artistic, gothic classics of European horror.
Long before he wallowed in softcore lesbian adventures, cheap knockoffs of genre hits, and hardcore pornography, Franco created a series of black-and-white gothic chillers which were well-received upon release, with titles such as The Awful Dr. Orlof, The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus, and Kino Lorber’s latest Franco release, The Diabolical Dr. Z.
Dr. Zimmer, an acolyte of the discredited Dr.
Few filmmakers are as polarizing as Spanish director Jesus Franco. Some hail him as a trash film king while others denigrate him as a complete hack. His overuse of the zoom lens causes some viewers to twitch while others apologize for his sometimes convoluted plots by describing them as dream-like and insisting his films are multi-layered and filled with meaning. Regardless of which side of the fence you may be on with regards to Jess Franco, most viewers praise his early genre works as artistic, gothic classics of European horror.
Long before he wallowed in softcore lesbian adventures, cheap knockoffs of genre hits, and hardcore pornography, Franco created a series of black-and-white gothic chillers which were well-received upon release, with titles such as The Awful Dr. Orlof, The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus, and Kino Lorber’s latest Franco release, The Diabolical Dr. Z.
Dr. Zimmer, an acolyte of the discredited Dr.
- 2/19/2018
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein
Written and directed by Jesús Franco
Spain/France, 1972
Since May of this year, I have embarked on an ongoing exploration into the cinema of Jesús Franco. After first viewing Justine (also known as Deadly Sanctuary), one of seven Franco films released in 1969 (his filmography boasts 203 directorial credits from 1957 to 2013), I sought out more of what this infamous Spanish auteur had to offer. Like Justine, some of these films have been extraordinarily entertaining: The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973), Female Vampire and Women Behind Bars (both 1975), and Bloody Moon (1981). Others, however, have been downright atrocious: Emmanuelle Exposed (1982) and Red Silk (1999), one of the worst films I have ever seen.
The latest addition to what is now a 25-films-and-counting “Summer of Jesús Franco” is The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, available on a new Blu-ray edition from Redemption Films, which has released several other Franco titles.
Written and directed by Jesús Franco
Spain/France, 1972
Since May of this year, I have embarked on an ongoing exploration into the cinema of Jesús Franco. After first viewing Justine (also known as Deadly Sanctuary), one of seven Franco films released in 1969 (his filmography boasts 203 directorial credits from 1957 to 2013), I sought out more of what this infamous Spanish auteur had to offer. Like Justine, some of these films have been extraordinarily entertaining: The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973), Female Vampire and Women Behind Bars (both 1975), and Bloody Moon (1981). Others, however, have been downright atrocious: Emmanuelle Exposed (1982) and Red Silk (1999), one of the worst films I have ever seen.
The latest addition to what is now a 25-films-and-counting “Summer of Jesús Franco” is The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein, available on a new Blu-ray edition from Redemption Films, which has released several other Franco titles.
- 8/4/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Prolific Spanish film-maker who specialised in psychedelic gothic horror – often laced with sex and violence
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Spanish film-maker Jesús Franco, who has died aged 82, directed 199 films, from El árbol de España in 1957 to Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies in 2012, a record few can match in the era of talking pictures. Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies, his overall tally might be considerably higher.
Born Jesús Franco Manera, he was most often credited – at least on international release prints – as Jess Frank or Jess Franco, though he used a host of pseudonyms, writing scripts as David Khune, composing music as Pablo Villa and co-directing pornographic films (with his long-term muse Lina Romay) as Rosa Almirall. He was a true man of the cinema, whose CV ranged from...
According to the Internet Movie Database, the Spanish film-maker Jesús Franco, who has died aged 82, directed 199 films, from El árbol de España in 1957 to Al Pereira vs the Alligator Ladies in 2012, a record few can match in the era of talking pictures. Given that many Franco films exist in three or four variant versions, sometimes so radically different that alternative cuts qualify as separate movies, his overall tally might be considerably higher.
Born Jesús Franco Manera, he was most often credited – at least on international release prints – as Jess Frank or Jess Franco, though he used a host of pseudonyms, writing scripts as David Khune, composing music as Pablo Villa and co-directing pornographic films (with his long-term muse Lina Romay) as Rosa Almirall. He was a true man of the cinema, whose CV ranged from...
- 4/5/2013
- by Kim Newman
- The Guardian - Film News
Jess Franco, who has died aged 82, was a dedicated exponent of weird sex who leaves a vast and complex body of work
When the grand dames and gentlemen at Spain's 2009 Goya Film Awards sat drinking their champagne, I doubt many of them expected to see, before the night was through, a naked man and woman tied up and whipped in a circle of knives, two scimitar-wielding lesbians duking it out on a hilltop, a sadomasochistic orgy in a brothel or a coven of elderly witches massaging their nipples with a crucifix. Such, though, was the explosion of licentiousness in a montage of images from the career of Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco Manera, aka Jess Franco, who received that night a lifetime achievement award.
Franco died in Málaga this week at the age of 82, but he leaves behind a vast and complex body of work – more than 180 movies in 54 years. Casual...
When the grand dames and gentlemen at Spain's 2009 Goya Film Awards sat drinking their champagne, I doubt many of them expected to see, before the night was through, a naked man and woman tied up and whipped in a circle of knives, two scimitar-wielding lesbians duking it out on a hilltop, a sadomasochistic orgy in a brothel or a coven of elderly witches massaging their nipples with a crucifix. Such, though, was the explosion of licentiousness in a montage of images from the career of Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco Manera, aka Jess Franco, who received that night a lifetime achievement award.
Franco died in Málaga this week at the age of 82, but he leaves behind a vast and complex body of work – more than 180 movies in 54 years. Casual...
- 4/4/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
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