Movies

Jess Franco’s VAMPYROS LESBOS at The Hi-Pointe Midnights This Weekend

By Tom Stockman | February 2, 2015

VAMPYROS LESBOS screens midnights this Friday and Saturday (February 6^th and 7th) at The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117)

I can’t believe after all these years I’m finally getting to see a Jess Franco movie on the big screen. This weekend at The Hi-Pointe Theater, Andy at Destroy the Brain is offering up one the late Spanish director’s most noteworthy and beautiful films, VAMPYROS LESBOS, as part of the Late Night Grindhouse Midnight series.

I first discovered the captivating allure of Jess Franco as a child when his COUNT DRACULA (1970) and ATTACK OF THE ROBOTS (1966) would constantly air on the creature feature syndicate. Even as a kid, I was captivated by Franco’s hypnotic, dreamy style and I can remember being puzzled by a narcotic quality I wasn’t used to. It was when VHS tapes were introduced in the early ‘80s that I really sought out his work. A crazy mom and pop video store in South St. Louis called Televideo, carried a lot of Franco titles and it was where I was introduced to the meat of his output, constantly renting titles such as MANDIGO MANHUNTER, THE INVISIBLE DEAD, and DEMONIAC. Little was written about Franco in those days so in the late-80’s I attempted a 2-part article called ‘Jess Franco on Tape’ for my home-made fanzine The Shock Review. I came up with a whopping 20 titles (Franco directed well over 200 films)! I had the opportunity to meet Jess Franco at a horror movie convention in 1998. He was there with his then-wife Lina Romay, who clearly took care of him, and translated all of his fan’s question, as he did not speak English. Franco signed my Belgian posters for his JACK THE RIPPER and DAUGHTER OF DRACULA and a U.S. lobby card for SUCCUBUS. Since then, much has been written about Franco. Video Watchdog editor Tim Lucas co-wrote the (rare and long out-of-print) book Obsession, the Films of Jess Franco in 1996. I was one of the first to purchase it, so my copy came signed by Lucas, co-authors Lucas Balbo, Christian Kessler and Peter Blumenstock as well as Franco’s stars Howard Vernon and Jack Taylor (both now deceased). When I met Franco and Lina in Chicago, I had them sign it as well.

So hats off to Destroy the Brain for their bold choice for this weekend’s midnight film. Franco’s stylish and erotic VAMPYROS LESBOS (1971) is about exactly what the title would lead you to think it was about: lesbian vampires. The stunning Soledad Miranda (who died in a car crash at age 27 just after this film was completed) plays the mysterious Countess Carody, turned into a vampire by the original Count Dracula, who goes about acting in a suggestive, lesbian nightclub act and seducing all the nubile young women she can find. But then she meets the curious young Linda (Ewa Stromberg), an American living in Istanbul, and for the first time in her life, she falls in love. Linda is equally smitten, though she’s not sure how she feels about that turning-into-a-vampire thing. It helps that the two leads are incredibly attractive women… because Franco’s camera tends to stop and slowly linger whenever one or the other is partially or fully unclothed, which is much of the time. There are a couple of scary bits, but the movie is more of a romance than a horror movie and I wonder how the Late Night Grindhouse regulars are going to react. VAMPYROS LESBOS’ famous groovy, acid-dropping soundtrack by Manfred Hubler, full of psychedelic jazz complete with weird backward voices and sitar strumming, only increases the films dreamlike flare.