Just finished watching the recent Redemption DVD release of Daughter of Dracula. The Redemption titles seem fairly easy to track down, but I haven't had any luck finding any of Full Moon's recent "Franco Collection" titles....
I just watched Redemption's recent reissue of The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus, and noticed a bit of a discrepancy. The running time of the new disc is 100 minutes, whereas the old Image DVD (under their "Euroshock Collection" banner) was only 95 minutes. Is the Redemption reissue a longer cut of the film? Or could the difference just be due to a variation in frame rate between the two transfers? I didn't see any mention of a longer version in any reviews, and I don't know the film well enough to spot any extra footage on my own.
In the past year I've managed to track down 4 of them: - Love Camp - Women in Cellblock 9 - Voodoo Passion - Sexy Sisters
The films he made with Soledad Miranda (Eugenie De Sade, Vampyres Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy etc..) are well worth a second or third viewing, but after her passing the sleaze levels did climb to almost unwatchable levels at times. Still I am a fan and have around 65 of his films, but only a handful were made after 1985, the quality of his film dropped dramatically in the late 80's and 90's.
I've got 70+ of his films, but only about 3 or 4 of them are from the post-1985 era. Many of those later films are available on DVD, but they seem to be pretty rare.
The early 80’s Golden Films period represents some of Jess’ most intertesting and overlooked work. I’m hoping Stephen Thrower’s 2nd volume on Franco’s films will generate interest in these titles finding distribution.
I managed to snag a copy of the 3 disc version of "The Hot Nights of Linda" during Severin Films' Black Friday sale. Now if only they would send my order!
Yes of the handful of Franco films I've seen post 1985 or so, most of them are pretty terrible. I enjoyed "Faceless" and "Killer Barbys" has a certain charm but that's all that really sticks out for me. I find the shot-on-video films almost completely unwatchable.
Just recently saw Night Has A Thousand Desires and Two Female Spies With Flowered Panties (love that title!) and enjoyed both. Anyone have a good list of Franco movies available in the US or region free on blu-ray?
Are those the only Franco films you've seen? If so, those are some interesting ways of discovering Jess Franco! There are a bunch on the Redemption label that are essential if you're just getting into Franco's stuff.
No, I've seen other. I have Vampyros Lesbos and She Killed In Ecstasy, so I've seen those multiple times. And I've seen others, I just can't remember for sure what they are. Oasis Of The Zombies and The Awful Dr. Orloff, I know I've seen. Probably a handful more if I looked over a list.
Essential: The Diabolical Dr Z- Kino Lorber Blu Ray due in a couple of weeks Venus in Furs- Blue Underground DVD Eugenie DeSade- Blue Underground DVD A Virgin Among The Living Dead- Redemption Blu Ray Vampyros Lesbos & She Killed in Ecstasy- Severin Blu Ray Erotic Rites of Frankenstein- Nucleus Films in the UK has a brand new restoration out on Blu Ray Lorna the Exorcist- Mondo Macabro DVD The Perverse Countess/Pleasure for 3- Mondo Macabro Blu Ray
Faceless, Killer Barbys and Golden Temple Amazons are the only post '85 Franco films I own and the only one would I recommend to any wanna-be Franco fans is Faceless.
A couple new Franco titles coming to blu-ray for the first time (that I know of). The Sadist Of Notre Dame (1979) Sinfona Erotica (1980)
SADIST is a reworking of EXORCISM(1974) and is much improved. SINFONIA is inspired by De Sade and incorporates Liszt into the score. Lina Romay’s performance is very good. The Golden Films period of the early 80s is the least seen of Franco’s work but the period most deserving of evaluation. He was given free reign to make whatever he wanted and with a crew of 5 or so shot at a breakneck speed until the company ran out of funds. The 10 or so films of this period I’ve seen are well photographed and don’t display the slapdash nature of his 90s output.
The Sadist of Notre Dame (Blu-ray) Sinfonia Erotica (Blu-ray) The review for Sadist made my head spin and I'm very familiar with Exorcism. The early DVDs weren't enough so I went gray market. 3rd gen VHS with lousy framing in French with Dutch subtitles sort of thing. The folks putting all the work into these BDs aren't getting rich so my thanks to them. Murderous Passions by Stephen Thrower is an onslaught of information. Vol 1 covers 1959-1974. Vol 2 Flowers Of Perversion is out in June.
Freaking genius. Could do no wrong, particularly around 1970-1974. There are days when I simply want to lose myself in one of Jess Franco’s fever dreams.
He may have made some films that justify the criticism he endured, but he also made some remarkable films that are all the more incredible for the speed and efficiency in which they were produced. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be shooting two films simultaneously, with the actors sometimes wondering why the costumes or dialogue weren’t matching up with what they were previously doing. He often did this to collect footage to take to investors to raise money to continue shooting.
Has anyone upgraded from the Kino version of The Demons to the UK Nucleus blu-ray? It seems the new UK disc offers several improvements. Whenever I see Kino attached to one of these Euro directors, I usually try to find other releases. Most of the UK Arrow Mario Bava discs, for instance, are superior to the domestic Kino discs.
Thanks for pointing that out. I just recently purchases Exorcism, but haven't opened it yet. From the review posted above, it sounds like there is about 20 minutes of difference in footage. I'll keep Sadist Of Notre Dame on a wishlist and maybe get it if there is a bargain in the future.
Marc Morris is behind Nucleus and did some major restoration work on THE DEMONS. This is from my friend Stephen Thrower's FB post: THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE DEMONS: two peak period Jess Franco movies that no serious fan should be without, now available from Nucleus Films ( - Nucleus Films | Cult Movie Releasing + Production ) and featuring on camera interviews with yours truly! I'd also say that these two films are well worth buying if you're curious about Franco but uncertain about where to start. Some will counsel caution and recommend the slightly more sober and conventional 1960s titles, but to hell with all that. Why not throw caution to the wind and grab these two - they'll give you a fantastic insight into his freewheeling style in the 1970s. Nucleus majordomo Marc Morris has done a huge amount of extraordinary work restoring THE DEMONS in particular. Here's a list of some of the work he's done which viewers and reviewers may not otherwise be aware of: 1. Incorrect aspect ratios on numerous shots fixed throughout. 2. White line frames removed throughout. 3. The soundtrack was out of synch throughout (sometimes by as much as 6 seconds). Marc has fixed this. 4. The soundtrack was missing audio, and in these scenes had been badly looped. Marc has located audio from alternate sources and replaced the annoying looped audio with correct audio where possible. 5. There was some German dialogue on the French soundtrack, which Marc has replaced with the correct French dialogue. 7. There were numerous instances of actors speaking with no dialogue heard on the soundtrack - now fixed. 8. There were numerous instances of dialogue spoken, with the actors' mouths not moving - now fixed. 9. The dissolve from face freeze frame to skull was completely missing - Marc has added this back. 10. He has also created from scratch an English language master, which is believed to match the original English language export version. 11. German Trailer - On the Kino Blu-ray, this was incorrectly dubbed with random French audio from the movie. This has been replaced with the original German soundtrack. 12. Marc has also corrected the frame rates from 23.976 fps to 24 fps, so if you have exquisitely perfect musical pitch the soundtrack will now match your LP record of Jean-Michel Lorgère's Trafic Pop! And finally, look out for the startling fx shot included in the French trailer for Erotic Rites of Frankenstein which as far as I can recall doesn't appear in any currently available version of the film. Face-ripping! I've have both and dumped the other BR on Ebay.
Just about every era of Franco's career had its fair share of terrible films. Lately I've watched several of his late-70's films (mostly the ones from Full Moon's "Franco Collection", such as Voodoo Passion, Blue Rita, Slaves, etc)... and they're all pretty awful, even by Franco standards. (It doesn't help that the dubbing is possibly the worst in cinema history, either!) If it wasn't for the near-continuous female nudity, I don't think I could sit through them again.
