Absurd, grotesque and a total put-on this is Franco's commentary on sexual hypicrosy, specifically related to the Inquisition and the twisted rituals carried on by mad monks who inhabit a monstery near a resort in the Canary Islands. I once termed this a blind dead film without blind dead, but it's not part of that series of 1970s films. Franco inverts the imagery and finds jet black humor as the "undead" rape, torture and murder the scantily clad friends of Lina Romay. But nothing is as it seems in this subversive burlesque of Spanish Horror.
Based on a novel by "David Khunne"[?!] this is a gorgeously shot film which only reveals itself after repeat viewings, if then. We very much look forward to the upcoming DVD from Severin Films which restores the film to its 2.35:1 OAR, most important in a mise en scene where objects and spaces gradually displace conventional narration, dialogue and character. We'll be previewing this much anticipated presention in detail soon...
3 comments:
Has ANY novel by "David Khunne" ever surfaced?
Good question! Nope, not one "David Khunne" novel has ever surfaced as far as I know. Jess Franco continues to insist he wrote novels/novelizations under this name and if that's true they would be instant collector's items. Perhaps he means they were unpublished novels or outlines/stories on which he based the screenplays of some of his films. I tend to doubt if any were actually published. In the last shot of BRUTAL NIGHTS OF LINDA he makes one of his typical in-joke references to this by showing a close up of a novel the main character (Alice Arno) has been shown reading as a "David Khunne" novel entitled "Mais Qui Donc a Viole Linda?" which was the film's French title.
A discovered David Khunne novel would make a terrific DVD extra...
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