Cries of Pleasure/Night of Open Sex

Director- Jess Franco

Cast- Lina Romay, Antonio Mayans
 

Country of Origin- Spain

Distributor - Severin

Number of Discs - 1/1

Reviewed by  Scott MacDonald

Date- 03/03/2020

   Anyone who reads EuroCultAV for any extended period knows I personally have a certain obsession with the films of Jess Franco, and for me it's hard not to. Once I was on Franco's wave-length, each film became a greater piece of a larger puzzle. Franco directed over 200 films in his career, and each formulates a greater piece of this often erotic and bizarre slice of cinema he has left fans to dissect for decades to come.

     Though many labels have released Jess Franco's films to Blu-ray and DVD over the years it would appear that none show greater appreciation for the works of the Spanish auteur than Severin films, and in February 2020 they are releasing 2 of Franco's early 80's "Golden Films" Releases Cries of Pleasure and Night of Open Sex. 

     Cries of Pleasure and Night of Open Sex are both from Franco's Golden Films period in the early 80's and shot after Franco returned to Spain after over a decade shooting films in other European countries that had less-strict censorship laws.   Specifically, they were shot during a period when Spain had something called an "S" rating, which allowed directors of softcore sex cinema to really push the limits of the genre.

    Cries of Pleasure is the first of the two films I watched, and it follows Antonio (played by Antonio Mayans aka Robert Foster), who has brought his latest girlfriend Julia (The iconic Lina Romay) home for the weekend. His plans involve lots of sex, and the murder of his just released from the mental-hospital wife, Martina. However, the plan might not go off as Antonio has planned.

    Cries of Pleasure I found as a rather striking film. I don't have a lot of experience with chamber dramas, so when I come across one I automatically begin to consider Bergman's Silence of God Trilogy, but that comparison doesn't really apply here. I will say the film can compare at times to Fassbinder's Chinese Roulette, but also Franco's earlier works Eugenie..., and How to Seduce a Virgin.

    The films soundtrack is an eerie mix of library music by Daniel White, and some sparse guitar tracks. Franco's camera work here is long, steady, and causes the film to have a subtle creepy ambiance.  Cries of Pleasure was unexpected in the way it struck me, and is certainly one of the best Franco's I've seen from this period.

    Night of Open Sex sees Franco in familar "noir-ish" territory. The film sees Lina Romay playing Moira a nightclub dancer, who ends up involved with organized crime, and a search for Nazi gold.

    Night of Open Sex is  more of the unhinged Jess Franco, that hardcore fans have come to know and love over the years. The film uses thes the adventure/noir template as a way to string together some strange images and scenarios (And also an absurd amount of boundary pushing sex scenes).

    Both films were scanned in 4k and presented in 1080p transfers. Everything here looks mostly solid there are some moments where things look a bit faded, and grain can be overwhelming, but colors pop, and  detail is quite solid throughout. The DTS-HD MA track sounds quite solid and without issue. Extras include In the Land of Franco Part 1 and 2 which sees Stephen Thrower explore Franco locations throughout Portugal.  We also get interviews with Donald Farmer with Jess and Lina split into 2 parts, and interviews with STephen Thrower on each disc. HIGHLY RECOMMENENDED.