Vampyros Lesbos (1971)

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nTitle: Vampyros Lesbos (1971)

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nDirector: Jesus Franco

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nCast: Soledad Miranda, Ewa Stromberg, Dennis Price, HeidrunnKussin, Jose Martinez Blanco, Jesus Franco

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nYou could say I started off on the wrong foot as I explorednJesus Franco’s body of work. My first impression of his films was thendreadfully boring Oasis of the Zombies (1983), a tough watch if there ever wasnany, I just couldn’t find anything good about it. Personally, Oasis of thenZombies felt like a cheap rip off! And not in the sense that it was ripping offnother movies, but in the sense that it ripped me off! I followed that withnFranco’s Count Dracula (1970), which while not a terrible film, wasna dull take on Bram Stoker’s legendary book. But I kept hearing good thingsnabout Vampyros Lesbos, so I decided to give it a chance, and I’m glad I did!nNow this was a Jesus Franco film I thoroughly enjoyed! It’s surreal, dreamlikenand sexy, elements that I find alluring on any film. In a way, it wasnappropriate that I saw Franco’s Count Dracula first because it became obviousnto me while watching it that Franco was completely inspired by Bram Stoker’snbook while making Vampyros Lesbos. It is in many ways  a modern retelling of the Dracula legend. Fornevery character in Vampyros Lesbos, you can find a counter part in Bram Stoker’snDracula. We get a Lucy, we get a Reinfeld, we even get a Van Helsing, but all siphonednthrough Franco’s twisted, yet artistic point of view, now aint that anninteresting premise!

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nOn Vampyros Lesbos we meet Lucy Westinghouse, a lawyer whonhas to travel to a mysterious island to meet a woman named Nadine Oskudar sonshe can finish signing some legal papers, you see, this Nadine Oskudar has justninherited a piece of real estate from someone named Count Dracula, wonder who that coulde be? Anyway, Lucy ends upnskinny dipping in the beach with Nadine. Nadine tells her “you don’t have to benshy with me!” as she runs naked towards the water. Lucy, a sexually frustratednwoman, likes what she sees and feels so she agrees and jumps in the water with Nadine; then they bathe naked in the sun. One thing leads to another until Nadine finally seduces Lucy! After this, Lucy ends up forgettingnall about what happened to her! She can’t even remember who she is, or how she ended up in an insane asylum. Will she ever meet Nadine again? What reallynhappened on that mysterious island?

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nSo out of all the lesbian vampire flicks I have seen, mynfavorite one so far has been Harry Kumel’s Daughters of Darkness (1971), to me that onenwas a classy vampire flick, so beautiful to look at, so sultry. The other one Inenjoyed was Hammer Films The Vampire Lovers (1970), starring the ultra sexy Ingrid Pitt. But out of all those, it’s Vampyros Lesbos that in my opinion engulfs the whole Lesbianntheme to the max. Not only is it the most sexual of the three, containing thenmost amount of nudity and sexual situations, but this being a Jesus Franco film, henisn’t afraid to embrace the lurid themes the film touches upon; it displays them in an unabashed manner. It’s as if with hisnvisuals he was saying “this is a film about lesbian vampires in love, and don’tnyou forget it!” As an added bonus it is the most surreal and dreamlike of thesenfilms. Franco decided to infuse his story with these dream sequences that actnas a strange, subconscious call, as if Lucy’s repressed sexual desires wherencalling her out. Loved that about the film. These dream sequences have antheatricality to them, they brought to mind the sexy vampire dances seen innfilms like Vamp (1986) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1994), I wouldn’t be surprisednif this was the film that inspired those.

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nThe film isn’t perfect technically, sometimes it shows itsnlow budget nature, which is the way Franco almost always worked, but to his creditnI will say the film does look a hell of a lot better than it has a right to,nthis is something only a true artist can achieve. This is why I compare Francona bit with Rollin, they both did a lot with very little. They both took advantage of existing locales to make their low budget films look beautiful;nultimately, this is something that benefits us as an audience, as voyeurs ofnthe worlds they’ve created. The way Franco constructed some of the scenes in the film isnjust alluring, you feel like you are being hypnotized. A lot of that has to donwith the score for the film which by the way is pretty memorable, I believe it’snactually one of the things that stands out the most about the film. Once you hear this soundtrack, you’ll probably want to own it, I know I did.

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nAnother stand out element of the film is Soledad Miranda’snperformance as the Countess Nadine Oskudar. She plays it silent for the mostnpart, but there’s this scene in which she confronts the Van Helsing of thisnfilm that is just awesome, she has this commanding voice! She is definitely andomineering presence on this film and I might add in the relationship thatndevelops between her and Lucy. Thematically speaking, the film shows a lesbian seducingna “straight” woman who harbors homosexual desires. She has a man in her life,nbut she’s not satisfied, so she looks elsewhere. It just so happens that thatnelsewhere is a woman, and a vampire! Sexuality has always been an important elementnin the vampire formula; the Dracula legend has always served as an allegory fornmen seducing women, the tricks of the trade so to speak. You ask Dracula and he’llntell ya, hypnotic looks and the right words can get you far with a woman! WhatnVampyros Lesbos does is deal with that same subject manner but from a lesbiansnpoint of view. All in all a very sexy film filled with haunting, dream likenimagery and lots and lots of sensuality. So far, the best Jesus Franco film Inhave seen and one of the best Lesbian Vampire movies I’ve seen. I’ve yet to seenVampyres (1974), so we’ll see how that one fares, but so far, Vampyros Lesbosngets high marks from me. It’s not a perfect film, especially when it comes to its slow pace and its sometimes amateurish “script” which I have a feeling didn’t go past a few pages, but even through its imperfection, a strange sort of beauty shines through, well worth a watch.

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nRating:  3 out of 5   

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