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	spacer Vampyros Lesbos 1970 Color - Jess Franco, Director German Version - Subtitled in English _________________________________ Reviewed by Christopher Fulbright spacer
	Download the Trailer from Synapse Films: Vampyros (4.3 MB - Windows Media Player) Jess Franco's 1970 classic Vampyros Lesbos is a whirlwind mix of sound, color, and sexy scenes hot enough to make you squirm. The beautiful Spanish scream queen Soledad Miranda plays lead vamp Countess Nadine Carody, who works at a strip club by night while residing on a removed island getaway by day. The other main character, Linda Westinghouse, goes with her fiance to the exotic strip club where the countess performs her mesmerizing dance-ritual. She can't get the countess out of her mind as she leaves that night. The next day, it just so happens that the company she works for is overseeing a transfer of property from a Count Dracula to Countess Carody - the property that has already become her island den of sin. The movie is definitely filmed in the free sex aftermath of the 60's, with both women skinny dipping in the ocean together within minutes of meeting one another. The seductive powers of Countess Nadine Carody are pretty believable in light of Miranda's charisma; you can hardly blame Linda for becoming so quickly obessed with the woman. After a fascinating exchange at the dinner table, Morpho - the countess's personal Igor - shows Linda to her room, where Nadine later shows up in little more than a few see-through scarves and black high heels. So begins the first of several sexually liberated exchanges between Linda and Nadine, all of which are interspliced with symbolic images hewn together with some 60's pornopop music.

	Despite first appearances, Vampyros Lesbos manifests itself as more than simple erotica. Nadine is a complex character with a unique predisposition. The reason for her homosexuality is revealed in a passionate exchange with the partially exsanguinated Linda. Nadine speaks half-entranced by the memory of her relationship with Dracula and the horrors he subjected her to: "He was addicted to my body ... men still disgust me."	Linda shows concern for her vampiric mistress Nadine. They're very close.

	The plot is a simplified version of the orginal Dracula, and has been cited as remake of Universal's 1930 "Dracula's Daughter." There is the professor who houses and studies one of the countesses' victims, and who has a near unhealthy obsession with vampires and the paranormal. In him we see a metaphor for mankind's facination with the machinations of evil and perversion, in the way his study of the vampiric lesbians becomes something that both repulses and entices him. Not wanting to spoil this gem, I'll say the movie ends with a fresh twist that makes Vampyros Lesbos a unique vampire movie with a heart of its own. (And the soundtrack is groovy, man.)

	There's some stylistic quirkiness about Vampyros - the interspliced clips of scorpions ready for the attack, or kites flying away, or bugs trapped in webs - that actually works, even if was a bit overdone. To me, this symbolism proves that Vampyros was a film made to convey a unique amount of depth.	Soledad lies down, feeling a bit dizzy after digging a splinter from her eye.

	At times it runs like an acid-trip - the hallucinations make it hard to differentiate what is real and what isn't at times - but that's also part of its beauty, symbolic of Linda's fall into the dreamlike world of the undead. This movie comes highly recommended, but as you may have guessed, it's sexually explicit. It may be hard to follow for some, particularly with the subtitles. If you're a fan of foreign horror films, though, this one will shine through as a macabre work of art.

	The Star - Soledad Miranda Soledad Miranda's stunning beauty contributes to the masterpiece value of this movie. While it may perhaps have been one of her crowning acheivements, Vampyros is not the only movie starring this enchanting maiden of the dark.	We want this poster.	Miranda's dance of vampiric seduction includes a mannequin that turns into a real woman.

	Miranda appeared in more than 30 Spanish and Italian B-horror films and westerns throughout the 60's. These included other films by Jess Franco such as She Killed in Ecstasy, Eugenie, and The Devil Came from Akasava. She died an untimely death in a car accident shortly after the opening of Vampyros Lesbos in 1970.

	The Director - Jess Franco Spanish Director/Producer Jesus "Jess" Franco has made 160+ movies from 1956 to 2001 under a various assortment of names, and he's still producing movies today, though some are bit hard to find. His movies consistently meet with controversy even today due to their lurid and violent content - such is the nature of his special brand of dark sexploitation. The website CultCuts reports that Christopher Lee starred in El Conde Dracula, made by Franco just before *Vampyros Lesbos* in 1970. When El Conde Dracula was released, Lee inisted on having his name removed from the credits due to the film's "violent nature." Franco has had a longer and more interesting career than there is room to recount on this page. Click the links below for more information. Other films by Jess Franco starring Soledad Miranda can be purchased in DVD or on VHS through links on the following websites ...

	Related Links Mondo Erotico: The Films of Jess Franco Jess Franco Biography Synapse Films Special thanks to:

	Vampyros Lesbos - Movie Covers and Posters



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