FEMALE VAMPIRES OF 1971: Forbidden Blood & Sapphic Shadows!!

DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS (1971) d. Harry Kumel (Belgium/France)
VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971) d. Jesus Franco (Spain)
THE VELVET VAMPIRE (1971) d. Stephanie Rothman (USA) 

TWINS OF EVIL (1971) d. John Hough (UK)
LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971) d. Jimmy Sangster (UK)
THE SHIVER OF THE VAMPIRES (1971) d. Jean Rollin (France)
THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN (1971) d. Leon Klimovsky (Spain)

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1971 was a remarkable year for the female vampire — seductive, dangerous, liberated… and deeply entangled in the contradictions of exploitation cinema. Tonight, we’re exploring a remarkable cycle of films from that year, on both sides of the Atlantic, that transformed these immortal bloodsuckers into figures of erotic power and cultural tension.

THE VAMPIRES OF 1970 (COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE LOVERS, DARK SHADOWS, DRACULA, NUDE VAMPIRE)

COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1970) d. Bob Kelljan (USA)
HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970) d. Dan Curtis (USA)
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970) d. Roy Ward Baker (UK)
COUNT DRACULA (1970) d. Jesus Franco (Spain)
THE NUDE VAMPIRE (1970) d. Jean Rollin (France)

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1970 was a landmark for vampire cinema. No longer confined to fog-shrouded castles or Victorian settings, vampires were reimagined through the lenses of filmmakers across the U.S. and Europe, allowing the vampire mythos to explore shifting cultural and political attitudes with more sex, skin, and blood on full display. Tonight we’ll be looking at five significant films released that year, each offering a unique and transgressive spin on the undead.

COUNT DRACULA (1970) Blu-ray review

COUNT DRACULA (1970) d. Jesus "Jess" Franco (Spain + others)

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Welcome to Episode #7 of THE STACK!

Tonight, we'll take a look at Severin Films' new 4K UHD Blu-ray release (4 discs!) of Jess Franco's attempt to bring the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel to the screen... and it's not too bad! Starring Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Klaus Kinski, Maria Rohm, Soledad Miranda, Jack Taylor, Paul Muller, and Fred Williams, this handsome production is given the five-star treatment from Severin, with oodles of special features, documentaries, soundtrack CD, etc.

SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY (1971) Blu-ray Review

She Killed in Ecstasy (1971) d. Jess Franco (West Germany/Spain)

For his daring experiments in genetically modifying human embryos to eliminate birth defects and disease, an ambitious young doctor (Fred Williams) is disbarred and hounded from the medical community. Despite the efforts of his beautiful wife (Soledad Miranda), he lapses into inconsolable depression and eventually takes his own life. Driven mad with grief, she swears vengeance on the quartet of doctors who destroyed her husband’s career (played by Howard Vernon, Ewa Strömberg, Paul Muller, and writer/director Franco), seducing and murdering them one by one.

VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971) Blu-ray review

Vampyros Lesbos (1971) d. Jess Franco (West Germany/Spain)

Lesbianism in horror films had been teased at as early as Dracula’s Daughter (1936), becoming slightly more overt in the ’60s with Claire Bloom’s bisexual medium Theo in The Haunting before baring it all in 1970 with a flood of Sapphic bloodsuckers led by the box office suck-sess of Hammer’s The Vampire Lovers. Once the luscious Ingrid Pitt had stepped out of the bathtub in her altogether and chased young Madeline Smith around the room, the fanged femmes launched an all-out cinematic assault, with titles such as Daughters of Darkness, The Blood-Spattered Bride, Lemora: A Child’s Tale of the Supernatural, Vampyres, and Jean Rollin’s art-house horror efforts titillating the hearts and wallets of red-blooded hetero men (and a few women, no doubt) with a lethal combo of same-sex flesh and blood.

BLOODY MOON (1981) Blu-ray Review

Bloody Moon (1981) d. Jess Franco (Germany)

Gorgeous Angela (Olivia Pascal) joins her comely group of lasses at a remote spa/language school (nice combo, that) in Spain, unaware that the exotic locale was the site of a brutal murder five years prior. Wouldn’t you know it, the offending party, Miguel (Alexander Waechter), has just been released from a mental institution into the care of his sister Manuela (Nadja Gerganoff), the smokin’ hot chiquita with whom he previously shared an incestuous relationship. But wait, there's more! Further complicating matters is the fact that Manuela runs the school with the handsome Alvaro (Christopher Brugger), but is openly hated by her crippled countess aunt (Maria Rubio) who holds the purse strings. Needless to say, when pretty girls start turning up dead, there are suspects aplenty, including students, teachers, studly tennis instructors (Peter Execoustos), and drooling mongoloid red herrings.

DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN (1972) movie review

Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (aka Dracula contra Frankenstein) (1972) d. Jess Franco (Spain)

This is Franco in his “I ain’t got no money, but I got some actors and a castle to play in” prime. The “script” makes absolutely no sense at all, with Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) deciding to revive Dracula (Howard Vernon) for no other reason than to, um, have a vampire around? Somehow, this is also supposed to prove that he has mastered the bridge between life and death, but he also delights in the fact that the Count seeks out a semi-crazed artist (Genevieve Robert) and turns her into an undead as well. (As one of my fellow viewers noted, “That guy writes 'Success!' on every page of his diary.”)

LORNA THE EXORCIST (1974) / CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969) movie reviews

(Only got two flicks in this week, but since I had a bit to say about them, I figured I'd give them their own slot.)

I’ll come straight out and say it: I’m not really a fan of Jess Franco’s films. I’ve seen at least twenty of the prolific Spanish auteur's efforts at this point and there’s not one that I can point to as a “favorite” or even one that I genuinely “enjoy.” There are some that have more interesting elements than others (Venus in Furs, Awful Dr. Orloff, Vampyros Lesbos, and Eugenie), some of which even manage to entertain on occasion (though never, let it be noted, as a cohesive whole). When sitting down for a Franco flick, I am now braced for tedium, disappointment and/or questionable cinematic technique; while watching, I am frequently reminded of other, better films that proved more engaging, competent, challenging, artistic, etc. The guy might have made hundreds of features, but somehow this never translated into his becoming a genuinely accomplished filmmaker – in itself is a pretty amazing feat.

THE BLOODY JUDGE (1970) movie review

The Bloody Judge (aka Night of the Blood Monster) (1970) d. Franco, Jess (Italy/Spain)

A surprisingly well-mounted combo of historical war film, adventure, love story, and misguided justice/witch hunt horror, sparked by the success of Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General. In the third of the actor’s seven collaborations with the notoriously erratic Spanish filmmaker, Lee plays the infamous real-life Lord Jeffreys, mercilessly persecuting all who oppose King James II as well as numerous comely female “witches.”

Wishing I was in Belgium, Part One (Offscreen Film Festival)

From Belgium, courtesy of Cult Reviews and our good, dear friend and fellow film freak Gert Verbeeck, comes this report about the Offscreen Film Festival!

A year has come and gone and Offscreen Film Festival is ready to kick off the third edition of their annual festivities. From the 4th of March to the 21st, this year’s program will again take you on a voyage across extravagant cinematographic landscapes. A trip down Japanese, European & Italian genre cinema from past days as well as an introduction to some freshly released films from today’s world cinema.

“Film fans with a taste for the unconventional and the unusual, rejoice!”

In this news flash you’ll find the trailer of this year’s edition, a blurb from Offscreen’s website explaining briefly what all you can expect and to get your cinephilic juices flowing, we’ve compiled a photo gallery with some poster art & movie stills all related to the films on Offscreen’s 2010 program.

Images often say more than words, so we’ll leave it at that. Now proceed and go click on some things below… and be amazed!