Anantha Krishnan
6. Succubus (1968)
The late ’60s saw Jess Franco developing his filmmaking style and signature trademarks. In his ’80s films like Night has a Thousand Desires, he copied off of a lot of his earlier works, but none of them captured the energy (or efficient lack thereof) present in movies such as Succubus. This film is similar in a lot of ways to other Franco flicks of the time, but sets itself apart with a near-total lack of plot and focus on dream sequences. Watching this film is quite the hallucinogenic experience, and I believe it to be, due to its literary connections and influences, the filmmaker’s most poetic effort. Once again featuring a terrific score, this time by Jerry Van Rooyen, the bizarre nature of the flick is better complemented by the character of a striptease artist whom we follow, as she tries to come to terms with and further understand her surroundings.
7. Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (1977)
Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun was as mainstream as Jess Franco’s cinema got. It has a story to which nudity plays a secondary role. The film deals with the Christian church, and follows a young 16-year-old girl forced into a convent of Satanists who manipulate her into performing sinful deeds. Under cult movie categorizations, this film would probably come under the ‘nunsploitation’ genre, but it isn’t sleazy or dumbed-down silly like the films one would come to expect out of that specific kind of cinema. Instead, it’s a serious film, with emotions that are actually felt, direction that is pretty superb (with applaudable framing and structuring), and a message about the hypocrisy of religion that it communicates through its rather cheap means. Though bits of it feel flawed and dated, this is a fascinating showcase of Jesus Franco’s hidden talents.
8. The Perverse Countess (1974)
A sub-genre of horror that Jess Franco was particularly fond of was the ‘vampire’ film. The Perverse Countess is perhaps his most enjoyable feature from that category, being a retelling of The Most Dangerous Game, injecting into its formula a little bit of erotica, a little bit of Franco-istic zooms and pans, and a little bit of ghastly, supernatural elements (considering the original story, written in the 1920s, was about people stuck on an island being eliminated one by one by other people). The film has its fair share of nudity, with actress Lina Romay being clothless for pretty much the entire time she’s on screen. It is a lot more sleazy than everything else I’ve covered here so far, and from here on forward we’ll be covering similar sleaze-flicks, which should give you a brief idea of the other 170+ films directed by Jess Franco.
9. The Demons (1973)
Another tight cover-up of the ‘nunsploitation’ genre, The Demons feels like it’s all set out to be creepy. Definitely an atmospheric piece of cinema, the focus seems fixated on sensual filmmaking, hence there isn’t much of a coherent plot here. That being said, the film looks fairly well-budgeted, with decent acting and pretty neat cinematography. The film, I feel, is a little confused about what it wants to be though. Partly a movie about witches and partly a sexploitation piece, what provides saving grace here is the plot, which I kind of like despite it being all over the place. As expected of exploitation cinema, torture is present here, and though it is pretty gruesome, it doesn’t last very long and isn’t as affecting as I would’ve liked it to be.
10. Count Dracula (1970)
Following some of the Hammer cult classics like 1968’s Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (my personal favorite of the lot) was Jess Franco’s re-imagining of the character, once again played by the dynamic Christopher Lee. This is a Dracula film that you wouldn’t get anywhere else. It is strictly a product of Franco’s mind, and accustoms the Count with a couple of women to sustain his existence on the Earth. There’s something about the cheapness in production that allows this flick to be a lot more terrifying than it would’ve been otherwise. Though bits of it are definitely a little too over-the-top and unbelievable (even considering that this is about a vampire), it is a decent film in Franco’s filmography, and for once, has some great acting present, from Lee and a good portion of the supporting cast involved.
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