Female Vampire

Rating:
Summary: FEMALE VAMPIRE IS CUT!
Review: Ah, we can always rely on Image entertainment to satisfy our strange desires for Euro-oddities on DVD. This curious erotic vampire tale is, in its original version, actually one of Jesus Franco's best - crude and experimental, yes, but fans of Vampiros Lesbos and the rest of the director's work will know what to expect. Lena Romay, Franco's favourite female star, turns in a fine performance as the mute female vampire, while Franco's ever-wobbly camera seems obsessed with her, lingering over her body in close-up. Expect ample sex, violence, combined with high art, for a unique and satisfying european flick. The scenes of Romay walking through the wood in the fog are amoung the most beautiful Franco ever shot.

Rating:
Summary: another great euro-horror from Image!
Review: Ah, we can always rely on Image entertainment to satisfy our strange desires for Euro-oddities on DVD. This curious erotic vampire tale is, in its original version, actually one of Jesus Franco's best - crude and experimental, yes, but fans of Vampiros Lesbos and the rest of the director's work will know what to expect. Lena Romay, Franco's favourite female star, turns in a fine performance as the mute female vampire, while Franco's ever-wobbly camera seems obsessed with her, lingering over her body in close-up. Expect ample sex, violence, combined with high art, for a unique and satisfying european flick. The scenes of Romay walking through the wood in the fog are amoung the most beautiful Franco ever shot.

Rating:
Summary: The Vampire Eye of Jess Franco
Review: Female Vampire was the first film Jess Franco made after the death of his star and lover, Soledad Miranda, and the film is a haunting and mournful examination of fate and loss. On the surface there does not seem much to warrnt the very high opinion I have of this film: the dialogue is ludicrous, often pretentious, and the acting merely passable, at best. Viewed as horror or porno the film would seem to have none of the qualities we desire from either of those genres: deliberate pacing, various props to create atmosphere, an internal logic, no matter how warped. So while it may seem immediately facile to say so I think this film has more in common with 60's and 70's avant-garde that with, say, Hammer, or Corman. Stan Brakhage came to my mind after watching Female Vampire. Both Brakhage and Franco are obsessed with film as a purely visual medium, but whereas Brakhage sought to reproduce the way the mechanism of the eye perceives information, without interpreting the stimuli, Franco is more concerned with the memory's hold on what the eye takes in. Franco's camerawork can only be described as insatiable--it is the most tactile and grasping use of the lens imaginable. The line on Franco is, and you hear it repeated over and over, that he 'overuses the zoom lens' but he does so, I feel, to imbue the film's space with consciousness, to feel every inch of the subject in the lens (usually the luscious Lina Romay). But like all vampires, Jess Franco's starving eye can never hold, keep, or own, that which it craves so desperately, namely lost Soledad, the pulsing blood of time itself. . . .

Rating:
Summary: The Vampire Eye of Jess Franco
Review: Female Vampire was the first film Jess Franco made after the death of his star and lover, Soledad Miranda, and the film is a haunting and mournful examination of fate and loss. On the surface there does not seem much to warrnt the very high opinion I have of this film: the dialogue is ludicrous, often pretentious, and the acting merely passable, at best. Viewed as horror or porno the film would seem to have none of the qualities we desire from either of those genres: deliberate pacing, various props to create atmosphere, an internal logic, no matter how warped. So while it may seem immediately facile to say so I think this film has more in common with 60's and 70's avant-garde that with, say, Hammer, or Corman. Stan Brakhage came to my mind after watching Female Vampire. Both Brakhage and Franco are obsessed with film as a purely visual medium, but whereas Brakhage sought to reproduce the way the mechanism of the eye perceives information, without interpreting the stimuli, Franco is more concerned with the memory's hold on what the eye takes in. Franco's camerawork can only be described as insatiable--it is the most tactile and grasping use of the lens imaginable. The line on Franco is, and you hear it repeated over and over, that he 'overuses the zoom lens' but he does so, I feel, to imbue the film's space with consciousness, to feel every inch of the subject in the lens (usually the luscious Lina Romay). But like all vampires, Jess Franco's starving eye can never hold, keep, or own, that which it craves so desperately, namely lost Soledad, the pulsing blood of time itself. . . .

Rating:
Summary: FEMALE VAMPIRE IS CUT!
Review: Great flick but Image has done it again. Cut the film of ahardcore scene so the can sell more copies. The print itself is so full of flaws that it's like watching a video. Did Image ever hear of REMASTERING! Don't get this watered down piece of !

Rating:
Summary: Emanuelle meets the undead.
Review: I really must alert all of you out there, Do not get this film if you're expecting a nice little vampire picture.The Female Vampire (aka The Bare Breasted Countess) is disturbing. I recieved this sick,sad tale from e-bay a few months ago. Whether you get the SEX version or the BLOOD version, you will be speechless. The sex version has the Vampire walking around nude, all but for a thick leather belt, boots and a cape. She kills her prey via oral intercourse, (she feeds off the hormones) That's the story. The blood version is just as sick. If you like a little nudity with your horror, I'm certain Hammer has something more your style. I'm Not a prude either.

Rating:
Summary: BAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF!
Review: It never fails that every time I experience this film, and I've seen it now about three times in the past year, it produces a vastly different reaction each time I view it. I bounce from absolute admiration for Franco's directorial style, dreamy camerawork and musical score, and committed performances from the cast, to thinking that this is nothing but a cheap, porno-wanna-be-flick with absolutely nothing to do with "vampires", and no artistic integrity whatsoever. Fortunately, the positive vibes win out over the negative and I, once again, admire this film and all that is right and wrong with it. If I fail to make sense, well good then, because neither does this flick. Ms. Romay is, to say the least, totally uninhibited as she romps about the beautifully filmed outdoor scenes while a Chopin-like score lusciously underscores her every movement. Her scenes with the bed posts are, er...., quite a moment in the Euro-Erotic field, and the way she swishes and moves about on her bed like a pent-up, totally horny young woman about to have an orgasm for the first time is, well...... something to see. I love the moments of male frontal nudity, especially a scene where Ms. Romay is seducing a hotel masseur. The simulated sex is quite laughable, especially since our young man can't seem to "get it up". This is quite an atmospheric film and, if you love your 70's horror/vampire flicks, I think you will find much to admire in this one.
Luigi - NYC


Rating:
Summary: Weird and fun film by Jess Franco.
Review: Lina Romay, just dressed in high boots and a cape, slowly walks around in the foggy woods. The wonderful titlemusic by Daniel White is playing. Director Jess Franco is zooming in on her genitals, then he zooms out again. She is now walking towards the camera... and hitting her face in the cameralense. This is the so-called poetic intro of this weird film. Romay plays the vampire who must suck... ,well it's not blood exactly, to survive. The real hard-core scenes are censored from most versions of this film. So here we have a porn, with most of the explicit scenes cut, and left is the weird story, if we could call it a story. This is just a strange mess set on a hotel. A female reporter is going to interview Romay, who can't talk so she just have to nod or shake her head to answer. It ends up in lesbian sex ofcourse. Some cops are researching the murders and one, played by Jess Franco himself, believes it can be a vampire involved. Jack Taylor plays the male lead (yes, the guy from Polanskis The Ninth Gate). He is dubbed by a guy talking so bad english that it gives the impression that Jack is retarded. This is weird fun if you are into strange euro films, guess you know yourself if you wan't to see this film. I like it but I would lie if I said it was a good film.

Rating:
Summary: Famale Vampire (1969) d: Franco, Jess
Review: Linda Romay bares her considerable assets as Irina, a blood hungry bisexual vampire who sucks more than just necks. Directed by exploitation master Jesus Franco under the alias of J.P. Johnson, this French-Belgium production exists in many different versions. A European porn version entitled The Loves of Irina, with hard-core deep-throat sex scenes, and no vampires. A softer version called The Bare Breasted Countess, which this version of Female Vampire most closely resembles, and the censored North American horror only version which goes under the title Erotikill, and has almost 30 minutes cut from it. (As an added bonus this disc contains horror scenes from Erotikill not included in The Bare Breasted Countess [aka: Female Vampire]). Other versions said to exist in Europe are Sicarius - The Midnight Party; Jacula, and The Last Thrill. The so many different versions of this and many of Jess Franco's other films, make them very fun to collect. Some sources credit him with an amazing 150 films, while others claim his body of work goes as high as 200 movies. Many have attacked him for using the zoom lens too much, however this was a common cost-cutting measure during the 1970's. Jess Franco himself appears as Dr. Roberts, a forensic surgeon. Linda Romay [who later became the directors wife] stars as Countess Irina Karlstein, a mute descendant of a vampire family who, while vacationing in Portuagl and satisfying her thirsts for various bodilly fluids, falls in love with metaphysical poet Jack Taylor.

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: That Jess Franco sure was wacky. This ultra-sexy 70's vamp flick probably arouses me more than any modern softcore film, but it's still not as good as Vampire Femmes or Vampyres. The woman here isn't really a vampire in the monster sense of the word. She's more of an energy sucker, kills by sucking sexual energy from her victims. The bad acting will get on some's nerves, and the plot is ludicrous, but if you buy this film to begin with, you can't expect Citizen Kane. A good b-movie sexfest.