Horror Movie Reviews
More Details...Price: $19.99 |
Title: Vampyros Lesbos (2004) |
|
Review of Vampyros Lesbos
- The sexy Nadina, a vampire with an insatiable thirst for female blood, lures women to her isolated island to love--then kill--her victims. Recently resurfacing as a cult classic after over 25 years, Jess Franco's "Vampyros Lesbos" has re-started a dance craze phenomenon across the globe with its amazing musical score, recently heard in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown."
Description
- Beyond being Jess Franco's masterpiece, Vampyros Lesbos is a highpoint of the lesbian vampire film genre. Like Daughters of Darkness, The Vampire Lovers, and the New Wave vampire film, The Hunger, Vampyros features an extremely hot vampire, Countess Nadina Carody (Soledad Miranda), who dances at strip clubs in her spare time. In a brutally sexy opening scene, Miranda hypnotically seduces audience member Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Strömberg), calling her to her castle in Anatolia, on business from which Westinghouse never returns. Linda's boyfriend, Omar (Andrés Monales), eventually finds Linda institutionalized, cared for by one Dr. Seward. The characters in Vampyros Lesbos are foils for the cast of Bram Stoker's Dracula, in radical opposition to the traditional, clichéd horror film stereotypes. Psychedelic moments, like when Linda is seduced by the Queen of the Night, recall the grainy, erotic scenes of Jean Rollin's Requiem Pour Un Vampire, and Le Frisson Des Vampires. To dwell on the convoluted plot is clearly missing the point. With arguably the best horror movie soundtrack every released, Vampyros Lesbos revels in the sultry aspects of vampirism, resulting in long, romantic sequences of nude women playing in ocean waves, lying on chaise lounges, and making out in bed. Franco's other films, like She Killed in Ecstasy and Venus in Furs, serve as sequels, so see this first. In fact, see this film period. --Trinie Dalton
Amazon.com
[ Back to Homepage | Back to Horror Movie Reviews Index ]
HellHorror.com not responsible for reviews/comments and they may be removed at any time.
Submit Comment
Login / Join/Register for a free account
Comments for Vampyros Lesbos
- Posted on 2008-06-25
Vampyros Lesbos: A gem in the rough.
I just picked up a copy of this movie used and I must say that I am not at all disapointed with it. It has a very trippy, kind of haunting soundtrack and I tend to agree with some of the other reviews. If you go into this movie expecting a bloodbath you will be disappointed, but if you like a movie that challenges your mind then this a good one to watch. Most of the reviews on here criticize it for being too cheezy or campy or just plain bad and I only can say that you are all wrong. It was a good film and obviously not made on a super high budget, so you get what you pay for. It does feature a timeless and tragic beauty in the form of Soledad Miranda, who sadly enough was taken from this world in a car accident at a very young age shortly after this movie was filmed and released to the cinemas.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-02-19
It's Jess Franco, how good can it be?
Vampyros [censored for Amazon consumption] (Jess Franco, 1971)
Why oh why do I keep watching Jess Franco films? Well, I do know the answer in this single case: Soledad Miranda. A stunningly beautiful woman, easily on a par with any of today's "supermodels", cut short in her prime. While she made quite a few movies, you can't find too many of them in domestic release on DVD, so you take what you can get, and you're thankful for it. Unfortunately, most of them are Jess Franco films. Ah, well.
Miranda here plays Nadine Carody, a Transylvianian countess who has inherited everything owned by the last of the Dracula family. She, too, is a vampire (though it would be tough to recognize this by the general conventions of the genre; she has, among other things, quite a passion for [censored for Amazon consumption] sunbathing). Unlike most female vampires (at least, those about whom movies have been made), she hates men thanks to a childhood traumatic event, thus the title of the movie. Pretty obvious, huh? Ewa Stromberg, another of Franco's regulars (she and Miranda had previously teamed up in The Devil Came from Akasava) plays a lawyer who is tasked to execute Count Dracula's will. While on her way to the island where the reclusive (when she's not dancing in a strip club, anyway) Nadine lives, she is accosted by an odd little man at her hotel (played by Franco himself-- who looks for all the world like my father-in-law, which didn't help matters much) who warns her to stay away from the Island, for "death reigns there." Ah, wonderful horror movie foreshadowing! She gets to the island, finds out that Nadine is the woman she's been seeing in her dreams, and that Nadine has a lot more to discuss with her than some musty old artifacts that have been left to her-- and that much of the discussion must be [censored for Amazon consumption]...
Yeah, the plot is thin as paper, as is the case with many of Franco's movies, and is only there to provide a framework for all the really attractive [censored for Amazon consumption] people slithering around all over one another. And maybe I'm not a typical male, but you know, really attractive [censored for Amazon consumption] people slithering around all over one another can only take a movie so far. Franco's a competent enough director when he puts his mind to it, and his mind was to it here, but the awful script, the pathetic attempts at symbolism (oh, the poor scorpion!), the terrible pacing, the garish set design... it's a tough movie to watch when Soledad Miranda's not on the screen. Still, to get a Soledad Miranda fix, I'm sure many, many people have done much, much worse. **
Score: 2
- Posted on 2007-12-18
Wow!
Un film superbe,
Psychédélique, groovy et sexy à souhait.
Soledad Miranda est purement magnifique, ses yeux noirs nous hypnotisent, son visage expressif, sa sensualité crèvent l'écran à chaque apparition et que dire de cette voix chaude... Définitivement, elle est une vampire redoutable qui sait user de ses charmes pour attendrir ses victimes!
Franco nous offre un univers fantastique coloré, à la photographie fort intéressante (notamment pour les passages avec le psychiatre bidon), de décor délirant (Quelle merveille ces mèches de laine rouge qui pendouillent du plafond! comme des gouttes de sang géantes!) et enveloppé d'un trame sonore psychédélique exceptionnelle (et cela est presque un euphémisme)
L'histoire est simple, les métaphores sont belles (et pas hermétiques du tout en passant...), les personnages dignent des meilleurs BD pour adultes (les acteurs ne sont pas tous du même calibre mais leurs forces sont bien utilisées). Le tout inspiré de l'oeuvre de Bram Stoker et servi en un film délicieusement onirique.
Un essentiel! Laissez-vous séduire et propagez le mal!
Bon cinéma :)
Score: 5 - Posted on 2007-10-06
very artistic filmmaking
i love the symbolism here--everytime nadine wants to make a strike, the camera zooms in on a scorpion walking the premises of her castle. the stripshow performance is also very classy--where the countess much like her actions outside of the club controls the movements of her victims--and switches clothing with them (becomes one with the ones she loves). very tastefully done, and hypnotic to watch-and the two main characters are exquisitely beautiful women--where they complement each other perfectly--the vampire is dark, and her victim white. wonderful.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2006-07-05
my first lesbian vampire film
My first lesbian vampire film turned out to be a great film to play while I'm cleaning the house. It is also a nice film to play if you need to get to sleep. The lesbian action and background music is "groovy", but I wish I would have rented it instead.
Score: 2