Brief film history lesson: Jesus Franco was a Spanish director who, despite his ridiculously prolific career (he directed about 160 films over 50 years), has remained a largely fringe figure in cinematic history. Well, that might be fair - to quote (the Jesus Franco wikipedia article, obv, this isn’t academia folks) “Franco’s themes often revolved around lesbian vampires, women in prison, surgical horror, sadomasochism, zombies, and sexploitation”. But what’s a well rounded film diet without some B cinema from time to time?
Regardless of where you stand on his filmography content wise (personally, he had me at “lesbian vampires”), his work is undeniably and exquisitely beautiful. His films are dreamy and haunting, almost other worldly… a world where it’s perfectly acceptable to lounge around listening to a jazz band in a fur coat in lingerie… or plotting your revenge while wearing a plunging velvet two-piece suit.
