Verdict
Summary
From erotica maestro Jess Franco, Vampyros Lesbos is perhaps one of his most indelible and iconic films with dreamy imagery, sexy couplings, gorgeous women, and empty but stunning exotic locations where Franco’s sparse narratives are allowed to drift on through like naked ghosts. Franco’s strong suit was never narratives, but rather imagery and sexuality, which doesn’t necessarily require narratives to enjoy. Here, he flips the Dracula mythos around and plays with it, and while it’s not exactly a masterpiece, it’s certainly a distinctly erotic and strange film, one for a certain type of cinema fan.
Plot:
Dracula’s legacy is reimagined in a gender-swapped erotica.
Review:
Adrift in her life, beautiful blonde Linda (Eva Stromberg) is told by her analyst to “take a new lover,” and so she drops everything and goes on a vacation to Istanbul where she has an inheritance awaiting her. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend Omar is sidelined at the hotel while Linda explores the nightclub in town where a powerfully seductive Hungarian performance artist named Nadine (Soledad Miranda) virtually hypnotizes both men and women in the packed audience with her erotic performance. Nadine lures Linda to a private island where she lords over a beautiful and scenic resort that is all hers, and as it turns out, Nadine is a countess from the family Dracula. She is a vampire! When Linda finds herself falling for Nadine – mind, body, and soul – she begins losing her mind and her memory, and when she wakes up in a hospital without memories of how she got there, she realizes that she’s part of a pattern for Nadine, who sucks the life force out of her victims. But, for her, it just might be worth everything to be one of Nadine’s victims.
From erotica maestro Jess Franco, Vampyros Lesbos is perhaps one of his most indelible and iconic films with dreamy imagery, sexy couplings, gorgeous women, and empty but stunning exotic locations where Franco’s sparse narratives are allowed to drift on through like naked ghosts. Franco’s strong suit was never narratives, but rather imagery and sexuality, which doesn’t necessarily require narratives to enjoy. Here, he flips the Dracula mythos around and plays with it, and while it’s not exactly a masterpiece, it’s certainly a distinctly erotic and strange film, one for a certain type of cinema fan.
Severin’s lovingly delivered 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray combo pack for Vampyros Lesbos has been newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative, looking as sharp as sheen as a sword blade, and there are more than 5 Hours (!) of bonus features that should keep the fan going happily along. The limited edition comes with a slipcover.
Special Features
- Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author Of Daughters Of Darkness
- Audio Commentary With Film Professor Aaron AuBuchon And Oscarbate Film Collective’s John Dickson And Will Morris
- Interlude In Lesbos – Interview With Director Jess Franco
- Fever Dracula – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema Of Jesús Franco
- The Red Scarf Diaries – A Jess Franco Career Appreciation By Academy Award®-Winning Filmmaker Sean Baker
- In The Land Of Franco Part 12
- Sublime Soledad – Interview With Soledad Miranda Historian Amy Brown
- Jess Is Yoda
- German Opening Title Sequence
- German Trailer
