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This movie has maybe the least appealing collection of bearded dudes I’ve seen in a movie. Just uniformly awful, shouldn’t be anywhere near a camera. As a bearded dude in real life, I’m glad that this movie isn’t all that widely seen, as I’m not sure we would recover from the negative representation. If the movie were about Lina Romay and Michelle Bauer killing off all these gross bearded dudes, it might not have been an entirely unwelcome development. That is not what the movie is about. What the movie is about is that a bearded dude convinces Lina Romay, playing a character named Moira Frankenstein, to help him seek revenge. He does some of this convincing by having her listen to one of his records, a punkish hard rock song that wasn’t entirely unpleasant to my ears. Of course, as Romay plays Frankenstein, she must have a monster, and the one here is played by Michelle Bauer, who helps Romay enact her plan while pretty much always completely nude. What ensues are a bunch of violent and/or sexy shenanigans, with a Sadean bent. As you’ve likely guessed by now, this is a Jess Franco joint.
This is a movie he made in the late ‘90s, a period in his career that seems to be not at all well regarded, and this movie in fact has a 2.8 rating on IMDb, which is below what most consider the acceptable band for a good movie. As a result, I went in with extremely low expectations, and I actually didn’t mind the movie. Some of that of course is the expectations, but some of that is the angle from which I’m approaching Franco. This is not my observation, but Franco is someone who returns to a certain set of themes and images obsessively, and the interest in his arguably lesser films comes from the way they fit into his whole body of work, and the variations they offer on said themes and images. A while back, I read this excellent article on Franco’s digitally shot films, and the context it offered definitely helped me appreciate this movie more. This was apparently one of the last movies he shot on film before his transition to (digital) video, and you can see how it uses the lower grade film stock, creaky slow motion and crude video effects to alter the DNA of those classic Franco images. The nude woman with the knife. The zoom (this time on a cute dog). The low angle shot of trees. The extended striptease. The shots on the shore, the characters’ clothes fluttering in the breeze. The reflective surfaces. Their presence here lacks the fluidity and ethereal qualities of Franco at his best, but I found that very lack of elegance interesting. (I do think the video effects make Romay look extra cool in sunglasses.)
The team-up here of Romay and Bauer is like Arnie and Sly joining forces in Escape Plan. Both are past their prime, but it’s nice to see them work together in any case. Of course, in a movie chock full of nudity, I would much rather look at Romay and Bauer than Arnie and Sly, and I do think it’s sweet that Franco’s gaze is so loving and appreciative of Romay even as she’s aged. (That being said, I kinda wish they took off their socks and shoes during their sex scene.) There is definitely a Sadean quality to the sex in the movie, although as the sound mix on the copy was pretty awful, I had trouble following the particulars. At one point I think there’s an incestuous threesome, but don’t quote me. I did chuckle at the sex scene where the participants are stacked on top of each other, like human jenga, and also thought it was nice when Romay helped Bauer get off while the latter humped a tree. There is one moment that taps into some of Uncle Jess’ classic BDSM magic, although to enjoy it, you’ll have to tune out what happens immediately before and after. Which moment is none of your damn business, but hope you can compartmentalize.
This is also pretty self referential, with Romay wearing a Succubus t-shirt at one point, a spider web behind the bed, and posters of Franco’s films scattered on the wall. In a key moment, Romay and Bauer stand on a beach, having disposed of one of their victims. Bauer is for once clothed, yet her breasts are exposed. Romay chastises her, and she responds, “I like to be provocative.” That got a smile out of me.
Lust for Frankenstein (Franco, 1998)
This movie has maybe the least appealing collection of bearded dudes I’ve seen in a movie. Just uniformly awful, shouldn’t be anywhere near a camera. As a bearded dude in real life, I’m glad that this movie isn’t all that widely seen, as I’m not sure we would recover from the negative representation. If the movie were about Lina Romay and Michelle Bauer killing off all these gross bearded dudes, it might not have been an entirely unwelcome development. That is not what the movie is about. What the movie is about is that a bearded dude convinces Lina Romay, playing a character named Moira Frankenstein, to help him seek revenge. He does some of this convincing by having her listen to one of his records, a punkish hard rock song that wasn’t entirely unpleasant to my ears. Of course, as Romay plays Frankenstein, she must have a monster, and the one here is played by Michelle Bauer, who helps Romay enact her plan while pretty much always completely nude. What ensues are a bunch of violent and/or sexy shenanigans, with a Sadean bent. As you’ve likely guessed by now, this is a Jess Franco joint.
This is a movie he made in the late ‘90s, a period in his career that seems to be not at all well regarded, and this movie in fact has a 2.8 rating on IMDb, which is below what most consider the acceptable band for a good movie. As a result, I went in with extremely low expectations, and I actually didn’t mind the movie. Some of that of course is the expectations, but some of that is the angle from which I’m approaching Franco. This is not my observation, but Franco is someone who returns to a certain set of themes and images obsessively, and the interest in his arguably lesser films comes from the way they fit into his whole body of work, and the variations they offer on said themes and images. A while back, I read this excellent article on Franco’s digitally shot films, and the context it offered definitely helped me appreciate this movie more. This was apparently one of the last movies he shot on film before his transition to (digital) video, and you can see how it uses the lower grade film stock, creaky slow motion and crude video effects to alter the DNA of those classic Franco images. The nude woman with the knife. The zoom (this time on a cute dog). The low angle shot of trees. The extended striptease. The shots on the shore, the characters’ clothes fluttering in the breeze. The reflective surfaces. Their presence here lacks the fluidity and ethereal qualities of Franco at his best, but I found that very lack of elegance interesting. (I do think the video effects make Romay look extra cool in sunglasses.)
The team-up here of Romay and Bauer is like Arnie and Sly joining forces in Escape Plan. Both are past their prime, but it’s nice to see them work together in any case. Of course, in a movie chock full of nudity, I would much rather look at Romay and Bauer than Arnie and Sly, and I do think it’s sweet that Franco’s gaze is so loving and appreciative of Romay even as she’s aged. (That being said, I kinda wish they took off their socks and shoes during their sex scene.) There is definitely a Sadean quality to the sex in the movie, although as the sound mix on the copy was pretty awful, I had trouble following the particulars. At one point I think there’s an incestuous threesome, but don’t quote me. I did chuckle at the sex scene where the participants are stacked on top of each other, like human jenga, and also thought it was nice when Romay helped Bauer get off while the latter humped a tree. There is one moment that taps into some of Uncle Jess’ classic BDSM magic, although to enjoy it, you’ll have to tune out what happens immediately before and after. Which moment is none of your damn business, but hope you can compartmentalize.
This is also pretty self referential, with Romay wearing a Succubus t-shirt at one point, a spider web behind the bed, and posters of Franco’s films scattered on the wall. In a key moment, Romay and Bauer stand on a beach, having disposed of one of their victims. Bauer is for once clothed, yet her breasts are exposed. Romay chastises her, and she responds, “I like to be provocative.” That got a smile out of me.