RESTORED.... Finally!

Read this important preview by Tim Lucas about the restoration of one of Jess Franco's key films.

Tim Lucas Video WatchBlog: Franco's AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO Restored!

videowatchdog.blogspot.com

Additional scene added to upcoming Blu-ray

d.

Timeline Photos

The queen is not happy. Her scenes have been removed from CHRISTINA, PRINCESS OF EROTICISM (because they did not originally belong there). We explained to her that they will be viewable as a separate entity, in their entirety, on the Blu-ray of A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD. But she is still not pleased.

by: Redemption Films

I'm very pleased Redemption is releasing this on Blu-ray in the original director's cut and with a lot of Special Features, including the later "zombie" version with inserts shot by Jean Rollin. This was the first version I saw on grey market from VSOM, a composite of all the footage, including this amusing, sexy-surreal insert of Alice Arno as a "queen" presiding over an orgy on the lawn of a villa. Franco regulars Pierre Taylou (Exorcism) and Wal Davis (THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR, YUKA) can also be seen in this scene. This will be presented as a separate element. Also included is a commentary by Tim Lucas. Look for it in August!

New DEVIL HUNTER DVD

Here's the link to David's review on TOMB IT MAY CONCERN
http://david-z.blogspot.com/2013/06/manhunter-jess-franco-savage-unleashed.htmlhttp://david-z.blogspot.com/2013/06/manhunter-jess-franco-savage-unleashed.html

Jess Franco's Final Film coming on Blu-ray!

Producer Ferranz Herranz sent the specs and cover for the coming BD and DVD of Jess Franco's final film.

I'm listing here the specs of the "Al Pereira" BD and DVD
July 10th - Cameo Media
"AL PEREIRA VS. THE ALLIGATOR LADIES"
1080 24p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: Spanish stereo DTS-HD
Subtitles (film): English, Italian, German
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
TRAILERS:
Theatrical Trailer (2’)
Trailer of the documentary “A ritmo de Jess” (3’)
THE SHOOTING:
Behind the scenes (24’)
The Wrath of Jesus (documentary short) (3’)
Camera tests (1’)
Interviews: Jess Franco and Antonio Mayans (questions by Álex Mendíbil and Francesco Cesari) (19’)
THE PREMIERE:
Pies de Gato TV: Chronicle of the Barcelona premiere (13’)
Estreno en el Maldad (documentary short) (10’)
La Nuit des Alligator Ladies (documentary short) (15’)
Malaga Film Festival premiere (4’)
WEBSERIES:
Return of the Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies, by Alex Bakshaev and Robert Monell (24’)
BUFF! SHORT FILMS (Bizarre & Underground Film Festival):
Arrozzorra, by Naxo Fiol, starring Irene Verdú (12’)
Coños y barro, by Naxo Fiol, starring Irene Verdú (4’)
Horrormania, by Juan Carlos Gallardo (12’)
Jenny, by Julio Cerrillo (5’)

LOS BLUES DE LA CALLE POP (aventuras de Felipe Marlboro, volumen 8 (1983)

2. 1:59

   Jess Franco introduced in LOS BLUES DE LA CALLE POP

    

   One of my favorites, but in need of a proper OAR DVD. A colorful, satirical neo-noir, this would be perfect for Blu-ray, which takes place in "Shit City" where Jess Franco is the piano man, Antonio Mayans is the corrupt PI and Bogart looks down from the CASABLANCA poster on the wall. 

   A terrific score by Fernando Garcia Morcillo, in the jazz-blues vein, illuminated by blinding lens flares, it looks like a Punk graphic novel on film.

   Most amusing of all is that all the main characters are named after cigarette brands. Mayans is Felipe Marlboro, Jess Franco plays Sam Chesterfield! A hoot and one to search out.

   Only Jess Franco could have made this delightful film, iconoclastic, experimental and packed with cryptic jokes, secret codes and outrageous hairstyles.

SEXORCISMES now online!

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VHSRip. Original UNCUT French version. Storyline: Mathis Vogel (Jess Franco) is a former priest who has been excommunicated by the Church for practicing the methods of the Inquisition. Now he writes extreme sadistic stories for a sleazy magazine in Paris. His fanatical religious fervour drives him to kidnap torture and kill sexually promiscuous young women in order to save their souls. (Banned in Europe and the US except France when it first came out in 1975 Jess Franco later released a tame English version for the international audience in 1979. The English version entitled Exorcism is available here on Vee.)

• 1:00 Jess Franco's Exorcism

SEXORCISMES, the rarely seen alternate, harder/ "uncut" alternate version of Jess Franco's EXORCISM, in now available for online viewing at Veehd.com. This version retains the superior original French language track with the director's crucial voice performance as Mathis Vogel. It also contains scenes not in any other versions, including footage of women chained in a torture chamber in Vogel's attic. Jess Franco can also be seen participating in some of the erotic action in this version! A must see. But don't download the plugins at Veehd.com, Codec and Vaudix are associated with Malware which can damage your computer. Good luck!

GOODBYE TO FRANCOISE BLANCHARD

Goodbye to French actress Francoise Blanchard who passed away two days ago in France. No cause of death has been reported as of yet. She was 58. Her striking looks and the ability to project emotion subtly and without words is best demonstrated as the title character in Jean Rollin's 1982 rural zombie tale LA MORTE VIVANTE. She plays a young woman who rises from the dead when an earthquake causes revivifying chemicals to spill into her subterranean tomb. Her anguished cry at the end of  LA MORTE VIVANTE never fails to sends a chill up my spine while bringing tears to my eyes.  A silent, very moving performance from an actress pretty much unknown, outside of cult circles, here in the US.

She also appeared in Rollin's THE SIDEWALKS OF BANGKOK and Jess Franco's REVENGE IN THE HOUSE OF USHER (1983).



Since I originally posted this I have been informed by Alain Petit that her scenes in USHER, which were shot as post [original Spanish*] production inserts, were shot by Franco himself. There had been a question about this previously. Alain posted this explanation on my FACEBOOK timeline: "Jess himself did the inserts for NEVROSE, mostly in a parisian Jazz club called "Le Caveau de la Huchette."  The original Spanish version is quite different than the French version and Francoise does not appear in it.  Thanks to Alain for this clarification. 

Francoise Blanchard as Melissa in NEVROSE aka NEUROSIS: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (USA DVD/Video title), the Eurocine alternate version of LOS CRIMENES DE USHER (1985).

 OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO lists her as the female lead in his still unreleased 1986 AIDS thriller SIDA-LA PESTE DEL SIGLO XX. She also appears as an Amazon in GOLDEN TEMPLE AMAZONS and found work in a number of 1980s Eurocine projects [OASIS OF  LOST WOMEN]. She also reportedly has a role in the Eurocine backed, unreleased CHASING BARBARA, a composite adventure film made up of footage shot by Jess Franco and Jean Rollin.

[Below] In SIDEWALKS OF BANGKOK (1984); With Marina Pierro in LA MORTE VIVANTE.
 




German poster for the Eurocine WIP OASIS OF THE LOST WOMEN and a more recent image of Francoise as seen in an interview on the LA MORTE VIVANTE DVD.

I sometimes wonder if she's the stand-in for Christina Von Blanc hiding behind the flowing blonde hair in the Eurocine zombie inserts directed by Rollin for the alternate 1980s era version of  Franco's A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD.

*LOS CRIMENES DE USHER was the Spanish theatrical release title for what would eventually be reworked in NEVROSE. 

VIAJE A BANGKOK, ATAUD INCLUIDO: Scene

Here's a screencap and the dialogue from a scene in Jess Franco's 1985 adaptation of Edgar Wallace's Sanders Come From the River.  This is a delightfully updated reboot of the director's 1966 Eurospy CARTES SUR TABLE, but this time with a Zen spin. Agent Sanders (Jose Llamas) and Howard Vernon investigate a series of attacks on international officials by zombie like assassins wearing sunglasses! No Eddie Constantine but Howard Vernon rules with his shocking white mustache and wicked cane. It's worth the price of admission to watch him smoking a pipe in a bubble bath....

SANDERS: Blimp, Daniel Blimp. He’s an English colonel.
HOTELIER: I’m sorry but the colonel’s no longer in the hotel.
SANDERS: But that’s impossible!
HOTELIER: It’s less than half an hour ago that they came to pay the colonel’s bill and take away his luggage. Here’s the voucher they signed when they removed his luggage.
SANDERS: Who signed it?
HOTELIER: Let’s see if I can read it. It says “Charles Dickens”. Never heard of him. Do you know who it is?
SANDERS: He rings a bell. Anyway, do you know the number of Marion Wentworth’s room?
HOTELIER: I’m afraid you’re out of luck, sir. Her bill’s been paid too, and her luggage’s been taken away.
SANDERS: Was it also that Charles Dickens man?
HOTELIER: That’s right, sir.
SANDERS: But how could you have possibly allowed him to take way the belongings of two customers? Couldn’t you have asked him who he was?
HOTELIER: Mr. Dickens struck me as quite a gentleman. We simply assumed the colonel and the lady were looking for some quite corner, if you know what I mean.
SANDERS: I see. Didn’t they leave an address?
HOTELIER: One never gives addresses in such cases!
[Thanks to NZOOG for the image and the dialogue translation. We might present further Jess Franco scenes like this in the future.]

COMING SOON FROM SEVERIN!

So you know how we said we'd never seen a more tarnished element as the HOUSE ON STRAW HILL neg? Well that's nothing compared to the minefield that is the assembly of the long-awaited disc debut of the rare masterpiece THE HOT NIGHTS OF LINDA. But we're working all hours to deliver both this summer. LINDA has some incredible extras too including Jess and Lina together discussing the film a couple of years ago. An incredible movie, particularly for Franco-philes. Anyone seen it?

Yes, I have seen it, and it's an under appreciated gem from 1973, a very busy year for Jess Franco, in which he directed a dozen feature films! This is a rather mind bending genre mix of eroticism, murder mystery, comedy and family melodrama. Kind of like Douglas Sirk meets the Marquis De Sade. I've seen at least four different variants, from hard to soft core, French to English language versions. All fascinating. Great music and terrific performances from Alice Arno, Lina Romay and the always reliable Paul Muller. 

Totally unique and 100 percent Jess Franco. I've been waiting for this for over 20 years.....

Coming in August 2013 from REDEMPTION!

A Virgin Among the Living Dead Blu-ray

Christina, princesse de l'érotisme / Among the Living Dead / Christine, Princess of Eroticism / Une vierge chez les morts vivants Redemption | 1973 | 79 min | Not rated | Aug 20, 2013 

 I'm really looking forward to this BD presentation of a very special Jess Franco film. One of the director's most personal and experimental journeys into an alternate dimension beyond life and death. Had a chat recently with David Gregory, the producer of the bonus material, about the complicated history of the numerous alternate versions of this key Jess Franco title. This will feature the Director's Cut and the alternate "Zombie" version: "Two complete different versions of the film (Christina: Princess of Eroticism (Franco's Director's Cut) AND the more commonly known A Virgin Among the Living Dead which featured zombie footage shot by Jean Rollin), Featurette: ''Mysterious Dreams'' - one of the last on camera interviews with director Jess Franco (shot not long before his death), Interviews with former friends and collaborators discussing Franco's legacy (broken out into several segments among these new Franco releases), Deleted Scenes, ALL NEW Audio Commentary by Tim Lucas, Trailers and more...."

PAROXISMUS... The alternate version of VENUS IN FURS: [continued]

interview

In the previous blog about his curious Italian version of VENUS IN FURS I wanted to express my own personal reactions to this cut. Rather than a VIDEO WATCHDOG style comparison between this Italian version and the VIF we all know I plan do a series of shorter blogs on various aspects of both cuts, with some specific comparisons to come. First, the music.

The link at top left leads to a fascinating interview with Mike Hugg about his memories of composing and producing the music track for the original VENUS IN FURS.

 Maria Rohm as the object of desire in PAROXISMUS... PUO UNA MORTA RIVIVERE PER AMORE?

First and foremost BLACK ANGEL, as Jess envisioned it, was a love story steeped in the realm of jazz. Directly inspired by Chet Baker's observation that his own playing often transported him into a transcendent place. That element remains central in both versions.

Hugg states that he wrote the songs and the instrumentals were composed by him and Manfred Mann. But a lot of the music in the American cut came from other places, and there is still other music in the Italian version.

The film has always struck me as a unique musical-horror-fantasy on the themes of love and death. In a way all Jess Franco's films could be considered musicals, and he has described himself as a musician who makes films.

Manfred Mann, the popular Rock group which had a number of hit records in the mid 1960s before working on the soundtrack for VENUS IN FURS....

Stay tuned for further information and commentary on PAROXISMUS... the Italian version of VENUS IN FURS.

(c) Robert Monell 2013

Jess Franco: Surrealist?

Rene Magritte's THE LOVERS vs Jess Franco's 99 WOMEN. Thanks to Howard S. Berger for leading me in the right direction... again! Coincidence... or how one artist influences another? This is one for the ARTS & IDEAS blog.... but I also thought it would be apropos here. Dali is the most famous Spanish Surrealist painter and Jess Franco has used imagery of his but this comparison illustrates other possible influences. Jess Franco is most definitely a Surrealist, a true Surrealist in the classic sense of applying the principles of that discipline to an underlying visual realism (cf the films of Luis Bunuel, who collaborated with Dali on UN CHIEN ANDALOU and L'AGE D'OR and also incorporates Magritte and other Surrealism imagery into his cinema).

T

The above image is part of Maria Rohm's back story flashback in 99 WOMEN, which is my favorite scene in the film.

Other excursions into Surrealism would appear in the Franco filmography. The 1967 game-changer for the director was NECRONOMICON aka Succubus, stuffed with surreal imagery,  erotic fantasies, S&M stage performances, a non linear construction and the indelible presences of Janine Reynaud, Michel Lemoine as the puppet and puppet master in a metaphysical puzzle.

A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD was another significant detour into the territory of Surrealism, featuring another female protagonist lost in a sinister netherworld of familial phantoms which lead her into madness and death. 

We'll be illustrating some more Jess Franco Surrealist adventures in future blogs.





(c) Robert Monell 2013

PAROXISMUS...The Ectoplasmic Cut of VENUS IN FURS you've never seen!

The title credit of PAROXISMUS...


Wanda (Maria Rohm) is approached by a medium who is introduced discussing "ectoplasm" in PAROXISMUS: ...Puo una morta riviere per amore?, the Italian remix of  Jess Franco's VENUS IN FURS, in one of several scenes shot by Jess Franco but not in the US release version. These additional scenes, plus much more of interest, appear in this edit.

First I would like to thank Howard S. Berger and blog co-administrator Nzoog for recently making it possible for me to see the rare Italian edit of Jess Franco's VENUS IN FURS (1969). Franco had wanted to call it BLACK ANGEL, but that title and many of his original ideas fell by the wayside to the demands of the distributors of the film. I'll be discussing those ideas and just how the VENUS IN FURS we know today came into being and how it was recut by Bruno Mattei for Italian consumption some time later. I call this version the "Ectoplasmic" Cut, for reasons I will explain in a future blog when I have absorbed what this version reveals.

PAROXISMUS is a very different animal than VIF, eliminating the entire voice-over narration of James Darren and the colored filter-wavy image optical effects added in post production to make it more salable in the US market to the members of the psychedelic generation. But the Italian version adds even more bizarre effects and makes for a fascinating viewing for comparison and contrast
 In my next blog I'll go into more detail and provide more images from this alternate version. Stay tuned....

Additional thanks to Francesco Cesari and Eric Cotenas.

(c) Robert Monell 2013

THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN: Blu-ray notes

I'm looking forward to the REDEMPTION Blu-ray release of this important, favorite Jess Franco title. It will be coming later this year. I have already spoken with their representatives and encouraged them to remaster the shorter "Director's Cut" rather than the longer, censored/covered Spanish version, made to comply with the tough censorship there in the early 1970s. REDEMPTION has assured me they have all the necessary elements in hand, including the stronger, more explicit version. I'm hoping it will be remastered with it's French track with English subtitles.

► 6:02► 6:02

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEx5CUcBbt0

Sep 17, 20

Jess himself told me he prefers the "erotic" version, which would run around 70m NTSC. The longer version features the late Lina Romay in her first appearance in a Jess Franco film. It's a rather unnecessary role in what I find rather off base filler, although the appearance of the white shrouded ghouls in the mist is effective. 

The shorter version would be the French Les Experiences Erotiques de Frankenstein. Rather confusingly, there's a 90m runtime listed in OBSESSION: THE FILMS OF JESS FRANCO for this version. A version this long has never surfaced.

The covered Spanish version is La Maldicion de Frankenstein [The Curse of Frankenstein], released by IMAGE DVD in 2005 as THE RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN [85m] with the original Spanish language track. My local public library actually has it in their collection!

I'll be following up on this in the near future, including as assessment of this outre, fumetti influenced Franco version of  the Universal classic, THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN....

DELIRIUM: legendary alternate ending of NECRONOMICON/SUCCUBUS

I finally got to see the legendary Italian ending of Jess Franco's NECRONOMICON, titled SUCCUBUS for North American release as an X film. It was recut as DELIRIUM, possibly by future director Bruno Mattei, for release in Italy. The site, which is linked below, has clips from the complete presentation broken up into bits running from seconds to several minutes. It was all camcorded off a video monitor, so quality is poor. But this is a must-see for Jess Franco followers/scholars/historians. I'll be researching this in the future and will attempt to watch the entire collection of clips. It won't be easy, but it should be fascinating and fun.

Robert likes Finale inquietante on Dailymotion.

All this certainly was not approved by Jess Franco, who wasn't even aware of this ending. Frames from an Italian fumetti version of this cut appeared in VIDEO WATCHDOG #1, 23 years ago [!], where I first viewed these images. I never expected I would ever see proof of its existence on film.


More clips, images and information will be forthcoming. Stay tuned....


Thanks to The Franco Lounge on THE LATARNIA FORUMS, where I noticed the link posted

Maria Towers remembers Jess Franco

Many thanks to Maria Towers for this memoir of working with the late Jess Franco on eight of the nine films he directed for her husband, British producer Harry Alan Towers. She infused those films with a certain radiance, warmth, mood of sensual mystery, demonstrating the ability to play a variety of roles.

Her hypnotic presence as Wanda Reed in VENUS IN FURS and Mme de St. Ange in EUGENIE...THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION, two of Franco's most memorable works, provide those films with an essential emotional center.

 "Jess was a very interesting director to work with. Without a doubt he was very talented. His first love was music, jazz to be precise, and we would talk about and listen to jazz for hours. There was a nightclub in Paris called Calvados with live jazz where we spent a lot of time. Like many creative people Jess had off days which were not so much fun. But when he was "on" he was a delight to work and be with.

With 200 or so films under his belt I believe Jess was able to express most of what he felt and wanted to say as far as films were concerned. I was not able to talk to him in person after Lina passed away but I got a couple of messages to him via friends. As you know he was working until the end which very much reminds me of Harry who was working on developing projects until the last day.  All the best, Maria..."

Dear Jess..... RIP (1930-2013)

Jesus Franco Manera passed away earlier today at the age of 82 in the wake of a massive stroke which he suffered last week. He was preceded by his life long mate, muse and caregiver, Lina Romay (Rosa Maria Almirall), who succumbed in February, 2012.

 Rather than write a grieving obituary I choose to celebrate his life and work here. After the initial shock of hearing about his death I felt a sense of gratitude that he was able to make one final film in the last year of his life, AL PEREIRA VS. THE ALLIGATOR LADIES, a marvelously entertaining fantasia which encapsulated his entire career in a Fellini style circus atmosphere. It even got a limited theatrical release in Spain, his first in nearly 20 years. Jess was back and up to his old tricks again! I also felt gratitude for the lifelong inspiration he gave me in my career as a journalist, a writer of plays, scripts and stories, and in my own films. I made my first film in 1971, already somehow under his spell, although I had yet to understand his significance and am still involved with writing and producing films, a continuing passion which is always refueled and refreshed by infusions from his extensive 60 year long filmography. Thank you, Jess.

 I first came across the name Jesus Franco while reading a cinema magazine in 1969. The name, which composited the founder of Christianity and the then dictator of Spain, stuck with me. I went through a period of hating his work after seeing EL CONDE DRACULA on TV in the mid 70s. It just seemed the height of ineptitude and boredom to me. Give me Terence Fisher any day! Years later, on cable TV and during the VHS boom, I would begin to discover his hermetic, intensely personal world.

  There was something about his films which made them unique, difficult to get a handle on, and wonderful. He made films as a free man, fearless films. His last film was perhaps the most free form, personal and fearless of all. He enjoyed life, which was for him making and planning films. The shooting was almost a second thought. He always was planning more films. I spent many hours interviewing him in 2005 and found him to be a trickster (he insisted he was born in 1935), but also a generous, humble, dedicated cineaste. He was, as he said, a musician who made films and could talk endlessly about music. We spent a long time talking about classic American cinema, which he especially admired.

There was also a child like quality about him. He loved Walt Disney cartoons, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse (their images are in some of his films) and spoke about them fondly. He became irritated when I inquired about his health. No problems there, he insisted, obviously concerned about his status as an insurable, bankable filmmaker. When I asked him who his favorite director was he answered without equivocation, Orson Welles. He also enthused over the Mexican master of Fantastique Chano Urueta (THE BRAINIAC) and film noir master Robert Siodmak (THE KILLERS).

In a way Jess Franco was the Aldous Huxley of cinema in that his films explored the limits of perception and attempted to open the doors of consciousness to alternative cinema and present new ways of perceiving and experiencing reality. But he was no obscure maker of experimental cinema. He was, from the beginning, a worker in the salt mines of mainstream commercial cinema in Spain, then France, then Switzerland, then internationally, finally returning to his base in Spain for his last few decades of production. And did he ever produce! Over 200 features, including alternate versions. He's not the most prolific commercial feature film director (Joe D'Amato and William Beaudine may have him beat) but he's the one who most consistently made personal, experimental, obsessively improvised and transgressive, genre films (and sometimes created his own genres). At the end he became his own brand, his last film is one million percent "Jess Franco" and the film of someone who has nothing left to hide or lose. 

He was a genuine auteur, but one who emulated old time Hollywood directors who just got the job done. He sometimes worked on 4 or 5 films at once, keeping his notes to himself (he disliked completed scripts). There are several years in the 70s and 80s where he completed 12 feature films, one for each month! 1973 may have been his Great Year, the year of LA COMTESSE NOIRE, AL OTRO LADO DEL ESPEJO, LA COMTESSE PERVERSE, all of them no-holds-barred, no-budget, visionary journeys into uncharted alternate worlds. Delirious, erotic horrors which traveled under the radar and directly into your nightmares.

 There are many ways to examine his filmography and individual films, you can watch one a half dozen times and see a different film each time. They are multi dimensional, multi linear, polyphonic entertainments, unpretentious and often filled with technical gaffes which somehow become endearing on repeated viewing. 

He worked in every genre, turning out musicals, film noirs, gothic horrors, comedies, women-in-prison epics, westerns, cannibal/gore films, XXX porno, martial arts adventures, jungle films and even fare suitable for the whole family. He never stopped working and stretching his limits.

And now the necessary, updated reevaluation of his career must begin. He wasn't a hack, although he seemed at times to be one, he was closer to the kind of anarchist-artist figure so prevalent in the late 1960s. His heroes were jazz musicians like Miles Davis and Clifford Brown (a frequent JF beard on films made after 1970). There's so much more... the music of Jess Franco, the actors and actresses of his world, the locations, the hidden codes....

There will never be another Jess Franco...

I will be leading a reevaluation right here, starting right now....

Give my regards to Lina, Jess....