SLAVES (1977)
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 76 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: German Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Lina Romay, Martine Stedil, Vitor Mendes, Esther Moset, Jess Franco
In Jess Franco's Slaves (1977), a.k.a Die Sklavinnen, a.k.a Swedish Nympho Slaves, we have a wonderfully trashy women-in-peril entry from Euro-trash superstar Jess Franco. The film begins with a scantily clad woman named Marta (Esther Moser, Sexy Sisters) clumsily making her way through the thick green canopy of a jungle before arriving at a shack with the words "Federal Police" literally written in marker onto a sheet of paper,that there is some great quality production values! Once inside she collapses, spinning a sordid tale of escaping the clutches of a dope peddling Madama Araminda, played by Franco's 70s sex-kitten and muse, the lovely Lina Romay (Night of Open Sex). Araminda is the proprietor of a the Pagoda brothel, and apparently that story Marta spun was very convincing, because in the very next scene Araminda has been sent to the Snake Island Prison. It doesn't take long for her to break free though, escaping with the help of a young woman named Ebenholz (Aida Vargas, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun).
Ebenholz and Araminda arrive at a designated meeting point where they are intercepted by a menacing character, a cameo from director Jess Franco, an assistant/enforcer to a wealthy man named Amos Radeck (Vítor Mendes, Call of the Blonde Goddess), who questions Araminda about the whereabouts of his daughter and where exactly the five million dollars in ransom he paid for her went. Apparently the brothel owner had been involved in a kidnap/ransom scheme involving the billionaires sexy daughter Martine (Martine Stedil, Die Marquise Von Sade). Radeck's enforcer strips off Araminda's shirt and begins burning her bare breasts with a lit cigarette, promising more torture to come if she does not begin talking. While all this unsavory stuff is happening fatso Radeck is seen looking rather bemusedly at a comic book.
At this point the story evolves into a series of flashbacks narrated by Araminda, we find out more about her whoring business, and how she cruised the beaches of the island looking for fresh meat for the brothel. She tells of how she seduced Martine and then addled her mind with psychotropic drugs that made her forget not only who she was, but also convincing her that she was a already a whore and that Araminda was her princess, so dang, those were some good drugs!
Obviously Araminda is not a nice lady, she drugs her whores, beats them, and routinely lets her goons rape them when they get out of line, because it just wouldn't be a Franco film without some form of rape. Araminda's not above killing the girls when they begin to turn on her, stranglin a girl named Vicky (Peggy Markoff, Barbed Wire Dolls) with her own satin gown. It was nice to see the lovely Romay play someone villainous, more often than not I see her playing the victim being manipulated by the baddies, so this was a nice turn of character. Bad though she may be she's still a charmer, even as the ice cold madame she's still smoking-hot.
Even by Franco standards of the era there's a lot of lady flesh on display here, gorgeous 70s baring it all, leaving very little to the imagination, and of subjected to various cruelties including water torture, rape, or serving as eye-candy for despicable men. The story is threadbare, even by the usually slim story standards of Franco, but it is a fun slice of exploitation as seen through the lens of Franco, attractively shot in various locations throughout Portugal with keen lensing by cinematographer Peter Baumgartner (Jack the Ripper) and an exotic jazzy score from Peter's brother Walter Baumgartner (Die Marquise von Sade), both of whom Franco worked with on many of the films he made with Swiss producer/financier Swiss producer Erwin C. Dietrich. Franco also handles some of the cinematography himself, which is clearly evident from the use of zoom-in and zoom-out shots which he loved.
The film ends with a wonderfully diabolical twist, while it's not one of my favorite Franco films it definitely delivers all the Franco hallmarks, with plenty of nudity, lots of sleaze and cruelty, and some tasty lensing.
Audio/Video: Slaves (1977) arrives uncut on DVD from Full Moon Entertainment as part of their Jess Franco Collection line-up, framed in anamorphic widescreen with German Dolby Digital with optional English subtitles. Extras include the same 40-min 'Franco, Bloody Franco' audio interview that showed up on both Full Moon's Women in Cell Block 9 and Jack The Ripper releases. It's from 1976, conducted in French, with burned-in English subtitles, Franco touches on his version of Jack the Ripper, his thoughts on Roger Corman and his unflattering views on Spanish horror star Paul Naschy. There's also a trailer for the film and a 7-min VHS trailer reel of Franco films.
Special Features:
- Franco, Bloody Franco: Audio Interview with Jess Franco (French with English subtitles)(40 min)
- Vintage VHS Franco Trailer Reel (7 min)
Slaves (1977) is a thoroughly entertaining slice of Franco sleaze from the late-70's, if you're a fan this is a must-own, and I don't think it's a bad place to start-off if you're a newcomer, plus this is prime-era Lina Romay, and that's a sexy treat unto itself.
