“Only love can save us from boredom and numbness.”
My review of 1972’s brilliant, albeit bleak, Sinner can be found here.
Virgins & Vampires
“I started shooting for my personal pleasure exclusively, since the others had rejected me.”
My first exposure to Rollin came in 1993, when Redemption released Requiem for a Vampire on VHS. I’ll have a review of this signature work up in the next week.
Edited to add, it can now be found here.
Jess the Francophile
“I am a shadow among the shadows.”
Franco directed approximately 30 films between 1971 and 1974, the overwhelming majority of which were funded in whole or in part with French money. This is the period in which he worked extensively for Robert De Nesle, in which he renewed his working relationship with Marius Lesoeur of Eurocine.
I will be covering this period with three essays, which will breakdown as follows:
‘Christina on the other side of the mirror ’ will deal with A Virgin Among the Living Dead and The Other Side of the Mirror.
‘Robert De Nesle and The Monsters from Hell’ will deal with Dracula Contra Frankenstein, The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein and La Fille de Dracula.
‘La Comtesse Romay’’ will look at Plaisir a Trois, La Comtesse Perverse, La Comtesse Noire, Lorna the Exorcist and probably Exorcism.
I may supplement these with reviews of individuals films which do not sit easily within these groups, such as The Demons and Sinner, perhaps even The Lovers of Devil’s Island.
Black Angel’s Death Song
I’m afraid life has got in the way of late and my essay on the films Franco made with Soledad Miranda is taking much longer than expected. In the meantime, I’ve uploaded old reviews of two adult movies from 1981, Svetlana’s Bad Girls and Roberta Findlay’s The Tiffany Minx.
Updated to add ‘The Million Eyes of Soledad’ can now be found here.
A Certain Tendency of French Cinema
It occurs to me that building a blog around the careers of two directors could be seen as a tacit acceptance of auteur theory, of the idea that the director is in a sense, the author of the film, its principle creative force. Of course, film is an inherently collaborative artform. Even a renaissance man like Franco, who has been known to write, direct, score and operate the camera, could not work in isolation. Films are made by groups of people.
They are also made, in most cases, as commercial propositions. They are financed by people who hope to see a return on their investment, in most cases. One doesn’t need to dig too deeply into the filmographies of our principles to find examples of producers requesting specific content to increase a film’s saleability, sometimes in specific territories.
The producer’s role often extends beyond even that, to hiring a director to helm a particular project, and this nudges us towards my point. If we accept the Franco and Rollin are (were) auteurs – that their films bear their mark, either in content, execution or both – are they always auteurs, in all circumstances? Should we treat Rollin’s pornographic films – which were made pseudonymously in order to pay the bills – with the same seriousness as his core filmography, whatever that may be? It’s difficult. Franco made numerous films pseudonymously, as a hired gun, in genres for which he had disdain. Do we ignore those?
In the general sense, as a fan and a cinephile, minor works are of interest, regardless of the production history and / or circumstances in which they were made. In practical terms, well, that may be a different story. It was never my intention to cover every Franco film – how could I – but on some level I had intended to cover every Rollin. I think it’s more likely I’ll take my lead from Virgins & Vampires – indirectly from Rollin himself – which means I will not be covering the Michel Gentil films but I will look at Phantasms.
The Green Eyes of the Devil
“Films are outmoded, don’t you agree?”
My first exposure to Jess Franco’s cinema came in 1993, when Succubus appeared as part of Redemption’s initial tranche of VHS releases in the UK. It would be disingenuous to say I remember my response to that first viewing, but I think there was a degree of bewilderment, perhaps even disappointment, and this may have been in part due to the film’s failure to deliver on the promises of its box art. How naive I was. It’s probably also fair to say I lacked the patience – or at least the experience – to cope with its ambiguities, its extended dream sequences and elliptical structure. Click here to find out to what extent that has changed.
Le Frisson de Jean Rollin
“I am your friend. I have things to tell you, to explain to you, to show you.”
My review of Le Frisson des Vampires, which I tend to think of as the first fully-formed Rollin, can be found here.
The New Vampire
“For my second film, I really wanted to make something a little more temperate than Le Viol . . .”
My thoughts on Rollin’s second feature can be found here.
Give Me the Kiss of the Vampire.
“He has freed the vampires. He’s a dangerous madman.”
My thoughts on Rollin’s divisive debut can be found here.
Flowers of passion, flowers of perversion
“There are thorns everywhere,
but along the path to vice roses bloom above them.”
I have not forgotten about this blog and hope to have another essay up in the next week or two. I’m about two-thirds of the way through a piece on the films Franco made with Harry Alan Towers.
Edited to add, the article is now ready and can be found here.
Carnal Cinema 