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Jess Franco has over the last few years become my favorite director of all time. Which is odd, because when I first came to his work through a VHS release of Jack the Ripper I was totally put off by it. Over the last 7-8 years I have watched over 60 of his nearly 200 film filmography, and while I cannot say I've loved every single one of his films, I have taken something away from each.
Also, each film seems to add a clearer view of what Franco was trying to do with his films, and when going back or watching another film it adds another layer. Of course with that many films to his name, and not shooting on video until the last 2 decades of his career, he has a lot of films that are able to be upgraded to Blu-ray, and so fans of the director have gotten dozens of the director's films on the format over the 5 years. Over the last month we have had 4 Franco and Franco-skewing Blu-ray releases Le Chat Qui Fume has released Sinner: Secret Diary of a Nymphomanic and my all-time favorite Franco film Lorna the Exorcist, while MVD Classcs has put out one of Franco's Cannibal films Diamonds of Kilimandjaro and the Franco written, but Jalian Pavet directed Golden Temple Amazons.
Lorna The Exorcist
Director– Jess Franco
Starring – Pamela Stanford, Guy Delorme
Country of Origin- France
Distributor - LE CHAT QUI FUME
Discs - 2
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
Patrick (Guy Delorme) is a middle-aged business man who has seen much success in his life. That success, however, was at a cost. When Patrick was a younger man he made a pact with Lorna Green a mysterious woman who promised him great wealth in exchange for his first daughter Linda. It is the eve of Linda's 18th birthday, and she wants to spend her birthday in St. Tropez with her friends. Unfortunately, for the family a phone call from Lorna changes their plans. Patrick changes their destination to a resort town in the South of France where he and his wife previously resided, and where Lorna remains. Patrick is determined to prevent Lorna from taking his daughter from him, but what horrors will the family endure to prevent her capture.
The Exorcist is one of the most successful horror films of the 70's, if not all time. In the wake of its massive popularity many filmmakers chose to make demonic possession films to capitalize on that film’s success. Lorna the Exorcist, much like his later film Exorcism (aka Sadist of Notre Dame)seemingly utilizes the words Exorcist in the title, but aside from that has nothing to do with that particular film. Rather, Lorna the Exorcist takes its inspiration from Faust.
Lorna the Exorcist, I must say, is everything I love about Franco’s cinema (and EuroCult films in general) in one package. Lorna is a sleazy, weird, and unabashedly fun film that never truly wears out its running time. Lorna the Exorcist feels like it straddles the line between Franco's more mediative and poetic films (A Virgin Among the Living Dead, Female Vampire) and his more exploitive works (Exorcism, Jack the Ripper). It has a pacing that at times feels slow, and deliberate that leads into more intense and bizarre moments. If there is one major thing this film has going for it, it is certainly filled with bizarre imagery, crabs coming out of vaginas, a deflowering by wooden dildo that has to seen to be believed, and Lorna herself looks like the female version of Divine, and seemingly owns every moment she's in.
There is, of course, Lina Romay, Franco's muse from the early 70's through her recent death. Lina tends to get overshadowed in this period by the late Soledad Miranda, but knowing that Lorna The Exorcist comes within a year of Female Vampire it puts her abilities into perspective. In Female Vampire she definitely feels like she's playing the part of a centuries old vampire just through body language alone. Here she definitely plays the part of a young and confused 18 year old girl with the same aplomb.
Le Chat Qui Fume presents Lorna the Exorcist in a solid 1080p AVC encoded transfer that is prefaced with a note about the source material for the transfer. The film is taken from 2 35mm prints of varying quality at such this is not a perfect transfer and should be judged accordingly. When the transfer looks good it looks great, but the other source has the same flaws that were inherent in Mondo Macabro's DVD release of the film, as these are the same materials used to prep that. However, this is a very solid upgrade and easy to recommend. Audio is handled by French and English DTS-HD mono tracks. Extras include an interview with Jacqueline Laurent (in French, but subtitled) another interview with Pamela Stanford (In French and subtitled), and also an interview with Franco author Alain Petit (French, no subs).
The Film - 5/5
Audio/Video 3/5
Extras 3/5
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Sinner - The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac
Director– Jess Franco
Starring – Montserrat Prous, Anne Libert
Country of Origin- France
Distributor - LE CHAT QUI FUME
Discs - 2
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
Franco's golden age existed from the Mid-1960's through the Mid-1970's. He did, of course, direct many excellent films on both sides of those dates, but his best and most popular films were made between those 2 dates. Sinner (aka Diary of a Nymphomaniac) is one of many films made during that period, and is in fact one of 8 feature films he made during the very prolific year (for him) 1973. It also comes during the period where Franco was essentially between his two great actresses Soledad Miranda had died shortly before, and he had yet to meet Lina Romay who would continue to act in many of his films until her death in 2012.
Franco made so many films over the course of his career in such a variety of genres each with his own unique spin that it is always interesting to see the Franco-ized version of a genre or story. Sinner as a genre exercise feels like the psychotronic Jess Franco version of a after school special, something that has been done in film since the Reefer Madness-type films of the 30's and 40's, and had recently been made popular again with the German series of Schoolgirl Report films. The difference between Sinner and the latter series is that the Franco variation on the theme is feature length, and much more stylish. It also features a more involving narrative in comparison to the short stories that compromise the Schoolgirl Reports films.
Sinner opens with a scene that is a true attention-getter with a nightclub sequence that introduces Linda (Montserrat Prous) a young woman who is currently a performer in a lesbian sex show. After the show has ended she catches the attention of an older gentleman in the audience, they spend the evening together drinking much champagne, getting increasing drunk and frisky until Linda convinces him to take her back to his hotel. As the beginnings of what appears to be a typical sexual escapade begins, the man passes out, and Linda fatally stabs herself. As she lies dying, she hands the man the knife, smears him in her blood, and calls the police accusing him of her murder.
He is arrested, and held for her murder. His wife is brought in for questioning, and is disturbed by his cheating behavior, but listens to his pleas that he did not commit the crime that he is being held for, and thus she begins to investigate Linda's background in the hopes she might be able to prove her husband’s innocence. This reveals that her husband, when Linda was younger was responsible for the turn of events her life took after he raped her on a Ferris Wheel after arriving in the city from the country as a teenager. The film follows the investigation as the gentleman's wife interviews a Countess and a prostitute that Linda had relationships with, and discovers the story of her life in the city.
The opening scene of Sinner alone is worth the price of admission; it is a truly shocking moment that easily draws one attention into the films narrative. It is quickly resolved who the gentlemen was in Linda’s overall history, but the investigation into her background makes great exploitation fodder, and Franco handles every sleazy moment as only he could. The plot although loose, is engaging, and the performances from the cast are truly fitting to the material. Sinner is top-shelf Franco, and if you’ve not seen it yet, this disc from Mondo Macabro is certainly a good opportunity to check it out.
Le Chat Qui Fume did fantastic work bringing Sinner: Diary of a Nymphomaniac to Blu-ray. The 1080p AVC encoded transfer has excellent detail, and an overall solid organic film look with natural looking colors, and flesh tones. There isn't much in the way of damage from the source here, so everything here just looks great. Audio chores are handled by DTS-HD mono tracks in both English and French and come through clear and crisp. There are 3 interviews in extras one with Franco biographer Alain Petit, the 2nd with filmmaker Gerard Kikoine. The third being with actress Jacqueline Laurent. The first 2 are in French with no subtitles, the third is subbed, and is quite an interesting overview of Laurent's career. Also included with the purchase of Lorna and Sinner is a book of liner notes and promotional photos that is pretty sturdy and also pretty awesome. I was surprised to get it, and happy to have it.
The Film (4/5)
Audio/Video (4/5)
Extras (3/5)
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Diamonds of Kilimandjaro
Director– Jess Franco
Starring – Katja Bienert, Antonio Mayans
Country of Origin- France, Spain
Distributor - MVD Classics
Discs - 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
When she was young, Diana was involved in a plane crash that took the lives of the other occupants, but miraculously spared her life. She is taken in by the tribe, and its "Big White Chief" (it makes as much sense as anything else in this one). Decades later, after she has grown up, and becomes a Goddess to the Mabuto tribe that has taken her in, a search party which recently discovered her existence is sent in to “save’ her. Unfortunately, she has no interest in returning, and the group that went in to get her has angered the cannibalistic tribe that she is a part of.
Jess Franco is my favorite director bar-none. And I'll admit I can be an apologist when it comes to his cinema. I even like his other jungle/cannibal film Devil Hunter, however, this one I found mostly painful. Diamonds of Kilimanjaro was largely a meandering affair that had little going on, and felt very confused throughout its running time. If I was 14 I could recommend it, on the topless Katja Bienert. However, that's not enough to make this one work. The one element that kept jumping out at me throughout the film's run time was the consistently great score by frequent Franco collaborator Daniel White.
MVD Marquee Classics presents Diamonds of Kilamandjaro in a 1080p AVC encoded transfer. The film for the most part looks fine. The first reel has some damage, but after that clears up everything looks quite solid, albeit soft. Audio is an English dub track and is audible, but dialogue is low in the mix, and I had to spent a lot of the viewing time juggling with it. The only extras are some trailers.
The Film 1.5/5
Audio/Video (2/5)
Extras .5/5
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Golden Temple Amazons
Director– Alain Payet (as James Gartner), Jesús Franco
Starring – Analía Ivars, William Berger
Country of Origin- France, Spain
Distributor - MVD Classics
Discs - 1
Reviewer- Scott MacDonald
OK, so this one is technically not directed by Jess Franco. Though it is speculated he may have co-directed it without taking a credit for tax reasons with Alan Petit doing primary directing duties here. That being said the film is written by Franco and he apparently came up with the story. The film also has narrative similarities with Diamonds of Kilimandjaro with the cannibal tribe being replaced with a male-led Amazon tribe (go figure). Both of these films saw a DVD release in the U.S. via Media Blasters and eventually were released in a 3 Pack called Jungle Girls with Amazonia - The Catherine Miles Story, so that should place the tier of these films for you.
Golden Temples Amazons follows a young woman Liana, who is taken in by an Amazonian tribe after they kill her family who stole their gold. She finds out what happened years later, and goes about seeking her revenge against the tribe with the help of some newly found accomplices (including a chimp)!
This is not a great film, and maybe because I ran a double feature of Diamonds..., and this film I felt like this may have been the weaker of the two. That being said watching the two of them separately may be the way to go here, as their might be some entertainment value in this one, if you didn't just watch a film with pretty much the same story and tone. There is the requisite nudity, some violence, but not much else... well the chimp.
MVD Marquee Classics presents Golden Temple Amazons in a solid 1080p transfer. There is some damage throughout from the source, but overall that's expected with these Eurocine transfers at this point. Audio is an English dub which again sounds muddled, but overall is at least audible. Extras include trailers.
The Film (1/5)
Audio/Video (2.5/5)
Extras (.5/5)
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