Jess Franco

Has anybody here seen a Jess Franco film? I haven't but, from the suggestions of a member of another forum, I'm going to give a few of his films a try. I think within a certain group he's known as the king of sleaze. I was just wondering if this forum is sleazy enough for him.

Sleazy enough for me.

I don't mind what I've seen of Franco, it's varying in quality to quite a degree. I wouldn't call myself a fan and I think I've only seen stuff from the 70's, maybe a few 80's ones, but I don't think so. I've only really seen his stuff because of my interest in exploitation cinema and horror.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I've seen The Awful Dr. Orloff, Vampyros Lesbos, Venus in Furs, Eugenie...the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion and Count Dracula, Considering he churned out about 200 movies, that's not much. I'm also assuming they're some of his best, although I wouldn't give any of them more than . They try to be sleazy, but most of these also try to be artsy-fartsy and surrealistic too, so that mitigates the sleaze factor. Of course, these are all over 40 years old too. Hopefully Used Future will drop by here since I think he knows more about him.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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I hope he drops by as well. I have seen some of his threads and he seems to be very knowledgeable in exploitation and horror. I have an interest in both as well, but I am fairly new to exploitation.

I've seen 9 of his films so far. My ratings:

A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973) 8/10
Eugenie De Sade (1973)
Two Undercover Angels (1969) 6/10
The Bloody Judge (1970) 6/10
The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968) 6/10
El secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) 6/10
Vampyros Lesbos (1971) 5/10
The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) 5/10
Kiss Me Monster (1969) 5/10

The Diabolical Dr. Z 6/10
Count Dracula 5/10
The Awful Dr. Orlof 5/10
Venus in Furs 5/10
Jack the Ripper 5/10
Les démons 5/10
The Bloody Judge 5/10
Succubus 5/10
She Killed in Ecstasy 5/10
A Virgin Among the Living Dead 5/10
Eugenie 5/10
Bloody Moon 5/10
Marquis de Sade's Justine 5/10
The Blood of Fu Manchu 5/10
Vampyros Lesbos 5/10
Night of the Eagles 5/10
Lorna the Exorcist 5/10
Female Vampire 4/10
Ilsa, the Wicked Warden 4/10
Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein 4/10
Kiss Me Monster 4/10
The Castle of Fu Manchu 4/10
Mansion of the Living Dead 4/10
Oasis of the Zombies 3/10

Ooooohhhhh, don't get me started on him. Little known fact: No director has two movies in my top 10. Franco has 3 movies in my bottom 5... Oasis of the Zombies, Castle of Fu Manchu, and uuuughhh... Lust for Frankenstein.


The only reason I've ever watched a Jess Franco movie was to see how bad he was. In the end, his movies made better fodder for my bottom 100 movies list (still in progress) than most MST3K. I've seen about 15 of his movies, and I'll say it, Fred Olen Ray and Charles Band are geniuses compared to him.

I have seen several of his. I don't mind them. Of course we know I like erotic cinema. He is the King of it.

He and Tinto Brass rule that part of the cinematic world.

I don't even know how many of his films I've seen. I've probably forgotten a few. And they are wildly uneven. Mansion of the Living Dead and Orloff vs The Invisible Man are pretty terrible. But he also has some genuinely good stuff like Vampyros Lesbos, Awful Dr Orloff, Succubus and Diabolical Dr Z. I don't really go out of my way to seek him out though.

My favourites from the 18 I've seen so far:


Vampyros Lesbos
She Killed in Ecstasy
Doriana Gray
A Virgin Among the Living Dead
What a Honeymoon!


He only really clicked for me after I watched a bunch of his movies in a relatively short time span late last year. That is probably the best way to tackle him, as he returns to a few common themes and images obsessively so you can savour the differences, but also that way madness lies, so I would suggest trying to program enough of his better regarded films in there.


But I also like Oasis of the Zombies, which almost nobody does, so any advice I give his highly suspect.

Give me Indecent Proposal over Lust for Frankenstein anyday.

I watched a few years ago, but back-to-back and they all blend together so I'm not sure which one is which. The Demons is the only one that stood out.

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As long as you can tell Lina Romay and Soledad Miranda apart, that's all that matters.

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I can definitely tell Anne Libert and Britt Nichols apart!