SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX: AIDS, THE 20 THE CENTURY PLAGUE (1986)

Francoise Blanchard as LA MORTE VIVANTE...



Ms Blanchard went on to appear in the Jess Franco related Oasis des filles perdues, NEVROSE, GOLDEN TEMPLE AMAZONS and SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX...


SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX: AIDS, THE 20 THE CENTURY PLAGUE (1986)


Yönetmen: Jesus Franco

Yapım Yılı: 1986
Firma: Golden Films Internacional S.A.
Dil: İspanyolca
Ülke: İspanya
Görüntü: Renkli
Ses Düzeni: Mono
Oyuncular:
(Roller) Françoise Blanchard
Bill Hoversten
Ricardo Palacios
Michel Rollin
Lina Romay
Ikki Vargas

Müzik: Daniel White

Senaryo: Brian Epstein (yazar)
Jesus Franco (yazar)
Marius Lesoeur (yazar) (A.L. Mariaux)

Yapımcılar: Emilio Larraga


Who are the heroes and who are the villains in Jess Franco's outrageously conceived and titled AIDS exploitation project? Or is everyone a victim? Probably, but it's equally probable we won't ever get to see it on a future DVD considering it's reportedly locked up by Eurocine. Nzoog has just reminded me over at the discussion of this on CINEMADROME that Cronenberg was already there in terms of AIDS allegories and I wonder if THEY CAME FROM WITHIN (1975) and RABID (1976) would make a good triple bill with SHINING SEX... (1975), and I wonder if either Franco or Cronenberg were aware of each other's work at the time.

Ricardo Palacios is also in SIDA..., a villain in many Jess Franco and Hollywood films including ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS, THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU, THE WIND AND THE LION, TAKE A HARD RIDE and THE SPIKES GANG, among others. His face, if not his name, is a familiar one from international coproductions [especially numerous Spaghetti Westerns] with Spain since the 1960s. Hear his voice as the narrator of Jess Franco's 1983 LOS BLUES CALLE POP... . He still looms large in SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX... I can picture him in the Dr. Seward/alien hunter role, which Jess Franco played in SHINING SEX. And who is Bill Hoversten? Michael Rollin is the son of the superior French character actor, Georges Rollin [of Franco's LA MUERTE SILBA UN BLUES and EL LLANERO).

Shot under the title MISSION SIDA for Emilio Larraga's GOLDEN FILMS INTERNACIONAL SA company it is a re staging of SHINING SEX-la fille au sexe brillant (1975) and was shot very much in the style of BANGKOK, CITA CON LA MUERTE and LA ESCLAVA BLANCA, both 1985 micro-budgeted action genre productions lensed by Juan Soler with his typically luminous compositions. At that timeFranco and Soler were using Agfacolor stock to shoot a flurry of cheaper porno titles [EL MIRON Y LA EXHIBICIONISTA] with excellent results at the time.

Francoise Blanchard, the pathetic title character in Jean Rollin's LA MORTE VIVANTE is the female lead. While Lina Romay, who played the stricken protagonist in SHINING SEX is also in this remake. A disease which has been fatal to so many for decades and a worldwide scourge, is hardly a first-thought exploitation subject. But fatal diseases are often the subtext of horror films, if SIDA... can be considered horror at all.

Yet another notorious title in a career of notorious titles.

I'll be reviewing the rarely seen 100m version of SHINING SEX: LA FILLE AU SEXE BRILLANT at some point in the future. However, don't hold your breath for SIDA: LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX.

(c) Robert Monell, 2008