Director: Jesus Franco
Script: Jesus Franco
Cast: Susan Korda (aka Soledad Miranda), Denis Price, Ewa Stroemberg, Paul Muller, Heidrun Kussin, Michael Berling, Viktor Feldmann
Running time: 89 minutes
Year: 1970
Certificate: 18
Riffing substantially on the Bram Stoker classic, Dracula, Vampyros Lesbos sees Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stroemberg) visiting Countess Nadine Corody (Soledad Miranda), at her villa in Turkey, to discuss some legal matters. Somewhat shocked that the countess strongly resembles a woman who Linda has been having sexually explicit dreams about, it’s not long before the two women become intimately involved, or do they…?
Vampyros Lesbos, like a number of the films of both Jess Franco and Jean Rollin, is a film that makes little sense on the surface, but what it lacks in cohesive plot structure it makes up for it in style over substance, not only through its hypnotic imagery, but also it’s incredibly funky, sub-psychedelic soundtrack by Mamfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab. It’s certainly one of the most innovative soundscapes from 70s cinema.
Franco clearly had an eye for the ladies, and makes sure he shares his fascination with the female form throughout much of Vampyros Lesbos. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Soledad Miranda was a real find; she commands the screen whenever she’s featured and one can’t take your eyes off her; very much a lady with true star potential, which is all the more reason to mourn her all too early departure from this world due to a fatal car crash not long after she finished filming a few films with Jess Franco.
The film is primarily a series of scenes of seduction whereby the countess enchants our heroine, and others, with her mysterious wiles, and at the same time sucking the audience in the sometimes bloody ride. Franco ditches many of the usual vampire tropes, hence his vampire can sunbath, cross running water, and doesn’t have to wait to be invited into an abode in order to enter it. Surprisingly, there’s little violence in the film, although plenty of female flesh. Ewa Stroemberg, who reminds me a little of a young Diana Dors, does a decent job of playing foil to Soledad, although she’s clearly out-classed by mesmerising Miranda!
The use of some interesting locations certainly helps give the film some additional points of interest and glamour, and the sunny beaches of Turkey certainly make for a very different backdrop to the usual gothic milieu one would expect to find sensuous vamps drifting through.
Vampyros Lesbos walks a fine line between art-house cinema and pure exploitation, making it quite an unusual watch. Franco’s way of setting up shots and his frequent use of, mostly, unnecessary zooms are markedly different from the majority of directors’ filming techniques. But, somehow, it still kind of works and it has to be said that Franco’s films have grown on me over the years, perhaps like fetid moss on a stone, but I’ve still learned to appreciate his work more as I’ve learned how to consume his oeuvre. And Vampyros Lesbos is certainly one of the director’s more accessible movies, with a plot that sort of makes sense, particularly if you interpret it as all being some crazy dream, with its own internal, dream-like logic that enables the viewer to ‘buy into’ what they are seeing unfold.
The film is viewed these days as a movie that features strong sexually-liberated women, rather than women being exploited for their bodies, seeing as the ladies here are very much in control of their destinies – well, up to a point; but not quite so much after the countess has had her wicked way with her victims.
Vampyros Lesbos is one of Jess Franco’s stronger films and is very watchable and memorable, especially certain sequences; mostly those involving the lovely Soledad and her soulful, but piercing eyes. I’d definitely recommend the film to both Jess Franco fans and to those who are still to experience his unique world-building and picturesque compositions.
Severin Films have provided plenty of juicy extras including:
Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, Author of ‘Daughters Of Darkness’ – A likeable musing on Franco’s take on the vampire myth and about the lesbian vampire subgenre as a whole. Ellinger, as always, comes up with some interesting points of view and keeps things light-hearted.
Audio Commentary with Film Professor Aaron AuBuchon and Oscarbate Film Collective’s John Dickson and Will Morris – The duo feel that Vampyros Lesbos is a good film to begin with, to help unlock the strange worlds of Jess Franco, which is a fair comment. Both are believers that Franco used to pull apart the normal rules of filmmaking and, in this case, vampire lore too. They compare his style as shooting to freeform jazz, which is a fairly accurate metaphor.
Interlude In Lesbos – Interview with Director Jess Franco (21 mins) – Franco waxes lyrical about Soledad Miranda and how she could have been a big star had she lived longer. He also talks about producer Brauner, who had good taste in actors, and the locations, including Istanbul.
Fever Dracula – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco (44.44 mins) – Thrower delivers his usual thorough analysis of the film, which is illustrated by some cool posters. He also touches on the fact that Franco was obsessed by De Sade and was all about performance and spectacle. Apparently, the original film title was Vampyros Lesbos: Heiress of Dracula.
The Red Scarf Diaries – A Jess Franco career appreciation by Academy Award®-Winning filmmaker Sean Baker (10 mins) – Baker admits to Franco’s films as being a bit rough around the edges, but emphasises that the director is now seen as an auteur, one who is now more widely appreciated.
In the land of Franco, Part 12 (16 mins) – A travelogue – of sorts – whereby Stephen Thrower visits some important locations from Franco’s films including The Sadist of Notre Dame and Exorcismo. Shame we don’t see locations from Vampyros Lesbos.
Sublime Soledad – Interview With Soledad Miranda Historian Amy Brown (20.23 mins) – Brown does a good job in providing a potted history of the actress, explaining how initially she was a Flamenco dancer who then went on to have a brief film career in Spain, before taking early retirement, until she was tempted to go back for the film 100 Rifles with Burt Reynolds.
Jess Is Yoda (2.44 mins) – Make-up artist Stuart Freeborn, who made four films with Jess, explains how Yoda’s look was based on Jess Franco.
German opening title sequence (1.26 mins) – This starts with the Dracula’s Heiress subtitle.
German Trailer (2.36 mins) – This sells the film as a kind of interpretation of Dracula before giving away the ending!
