★ 6 / 10
A perfectly mediocre movie. Not awful like Oasis
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A perfectly mediocre movie. Not awful like Oasis of the Zombies, nor as great as A Virgin Among the Living Dead. The production value and direction are of a…
A perfectly mediocre movie. Not awful like Oasis of the Zombies, nor as great as A Virgin Among the Living Dead. The production value and direction are of a higher standard than Virgin, yet the whole film is much less interesting. Perhaps because Virgin was a much wilder piece of work - you never knew what might happen next. In this case it all goes about as you'd expect, with some of the supernatural aspects a little unexpected (since I expected this to be sort of a rip-off of Ken Russell's The Devils). It's still nice to see a more expensive looking Franco film, and it was a hell of a lot more entertaining than Oasis or Female Vampire (not to mention it had much better dubbing). Maybe someday I'll seek out the director's cut, which is supposed to be a major improvement. In its cut form it's definitely average Franco, sort of like Count Dracula.
★ 4 / 10
Jess Frank's Spanish/French coproduction about a pair of nuns become possessed by demons and tortured, being relentlessly pursued by witch hunters.
ma-cortes
The film is an inferior follow-up, regarding a vicious witch-hunter who terrorizes , judges and executes to suspicious villagers. Lord Chief Justice Judge…
The film is an inferior follow-up, regarding a vicious witch-hunter who terrorizes , judges and executes to suspicious villagers. Lord Chief Justice Judge Jeffries (Cihangir Gaffari) of seventeenth century England condemns women as witches to further his political and sexual needs and while in the dungeons takes place brutal tortures executed by his nasty verdugo. The condemned prisoners approach the judge for clemency but are rejected when they don't give in to the lust of the judge . A witch is tied to a pole, as the scarlet flames lick her pale and desperate face while the feeble body is eager to succumb, the vindictive unrepentant witch doomed by the Grand Inquisitor Jeffries and Lady de Winter to die at the stake vomits her last malignant and sulphurous curse to all those guilty of her ordeal. But within the nunnery's thick stone walls, rabid desire and evil possession govern, the burnt witch utters her last words: a death curse against her accusers: Lord (Alberto Dalbés) and Lady DeWinter (Karin Field) to be carried out by her daughters. Terrified by the curse, they set out on a search for the witch's heirs and they meet them to be nuns (Anne Libert, Britt Nichols) and in particular, Kathleen and Margaret who have been raised as Sisters in the Blackmoor convent since childhood. Only one daughter has ¨The Kiss of Death¨. Only one daughter has the power to avenge her mother's death. Which one is granted the power of vendetta? Let the Exorcist Beware, the Demons are Here! Their Lips are Divine but the Kiss is Deadly. They are Sisters with Spirit... Divine and Deadly. Erotic horror... Torture... Witchcraft. Horror will hold you helpless!This 'Les démons' (1973) is one kind of sequel to ' The Bloody Judge' or 'Night of the Blood Monster' or Il trono di fuoco (original title) (1970) deals with a graphic delineation of witch-hunting in England, that's why the story recycles roles, history, and incidents from that film shot three years earlier. Here there's a fired witch, as a result, petrified and with the curse of demise upon the accusers' heads, Lord and Lady de Winter set out to trace the witch's dark bloodline, during the Monmouth rebellion period and overthrowing King James II and subsequently William of Orange taking his place. This film has been framed of painting too violent and bloody a picture of the old times, but its power is slightly remarkable and strongly sordid. The production values is mediocre considering its short budget. There're also some scenes dealing with British historical events, along with a lot of sleaziness, images of naked women and others submitted to cruel tortures . It is a twisted tale of strange desires , betrayals , perverse pleasures , prurient men and corruption. Cihangir Gaffari takes the role of Christopher Lee as Lord Justice Jeffries, giving obviously a worst acting. The Judge Jeffries role was real, in fact he was a nasty witch finder who condemned women as witches and rebels as traitors, while unleashing a reign of fire and fury. Co-stars two ravishing beauties: Anne Libert and Britt Nichols. And outstanding Karin Field as the wicked Lady De Winter, along with Franco's regular Alberto Dalbés as Thomas Renfield. And another Franco usual: Howard Vernon, overacting , as always. Being a Spanish/French production , there're Spaniard actors appearing here and there: Carmen Yazalde, Luis Barboo, Alberto Dalbés, Rosa Palomar and French ones: Anne Libert, Doris Thomas, Andrea Montchal. Special mention for the colorful cinematography by Raúl Artigot , in a luxurious copy adequately remastered , shot on location in Portugal and Castillo de Santa Bárbara, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana.The motion picture was middlingly directed by the prolific Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco or Jess Frank. Most people agreed that some Frank's works resulted to be acceptable , but most of them were botcher films. Jess was a Stajanovist, restless writer, producer, director who realized over 200 pictures. His career spans over 50 years with a few successes and lots of flops, making all kind of genres : thrillers, adventures, action and with penchant for Terror and erotic genre . Jesus used to sign under pseudonym, among the aliases he used apart from Jess Frank or Franco Manera, were the following ones : Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune, James P. Johnson, David Though, among others. Franco used to use ordinary trademarks, such as : zooms , nudism, foreground on objects , filmmaking in DIY style and managing to work extraordinarily quick in very low budget, as well as frequently releasing various titles at the same time. He was a prolific filmmaker, directing a lot of lousy movies. In his beginnings he soon applied all his knowledge and experience as director assstant, musician, editor to his feature directorial debut, Tenemos 18 años (1959). His Succubus (1968) was nominated for the Festival of Berlin, and this event gave him an international reputation. His career got more and more consolidated in the following years, and his endless creativity enabled him to tackle films in all genres, from "B" horror films to pure hardcore sex films. However, making some passable films, such as : We are 18 years old, The awful Dr Orloff, The Bloody Judge , Count Dracula, 99 women, The Blood of Fumanchu, Faceless and a few others. And many of them were heavily cut and with double versions. Rating : 4/10. Inferior and below average exploitation movie. Only for Jess Frank completists.
17%
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· 50 ratings
5.2/10
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Uncle JESSus rules!