THE FRENCHMAN'S GARDEN (1978)
Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 97 Minutes
Audio: Spanish DTS-HS MA 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Jacinto Molina
Cast: Paul Naschy, María José Cantudo, Ágata Lys, José Calvo, José Nieto, Sílvia Tortosa, Julia Saly
The Paul Nashy directed The Frenchman's Garden (1978) is a gruesome tale based on the real-life murder escapades of one of Spain’s most notorious serial killers, Juan Andrés Aldije Monmejá, Wwho was nicknamed 'The Frenchman' because of the rumored origin of his birth. The period-set story is set in the tiny Spanish village of Peñaflor in the year 1906, Naschy (The Howl of the Devil) stars as an inn keeper who operates an illegal gambling den and brothel, whoring out his barmaids to the clientele, and indulging in some of the hired help himself from time to time.
He is married to Elvira (Julia Saly, Panic Beats), the daughter of one of the richest man in the village, but her father disapproves of his daughter's husband and Juan and his wife argue over accepting money from her father, which Juan refuses. As Juan's business is not making enough money from his illicit gambling and whoring operation he sets in motion a murderous plot to increase his wealth by luring wealthy patrons to his inn with the promise of sex and gambling, and then murdering them and stealing their money before burying their corpses in his garden. He does so with the help of his loyal business partner José Muñoz Lopera (José Calvo, A Fistful of Dollars), while keeping it a secret from his wife and employees.
Juan's wife is oblivious to not only the murderous activities, of her husband and his business partner, but is also unaware that he keeps a mistress named Charo (Ágata Lys, Trauma), one of his wonderfully thick bodied prostitutes whom we see nude on several appreciated occasions. Things begin to fall apart for the inn keeper when Charo discovers that Juan has impregnated another young woman, a lovestruck farm girl named Andrea (María José Cantudo, Horror Rises from the Tomb) who has come to work at the inn. Realizing that a bastard child will not work out well for him and his future plans Juan sweetly coerces the naïve Andrea into having an abortion back in 1906 there were no Planned Parenthoods for such occasions and this sight must have been quite a shocking for this era, especially with images of an old crone poking around her nether regions with a frighteningly long needle while two prostitutes hold her down to stop her from squirming! Perhaps even more shocking is that Juan pimps her out to his wealthy clientele before she can even properly recover from the abortion he coerced her into, which makes his true feeling about her known.
Naschy's character is in perfectly cold, sociopathic control of himself here, his diabolical inn keeper is not someone prone to maniacal outbursts, he plays it cool but intense throughout the film, even when he's axing and blunt force trauma murdering cattle barons. An early scene of him dismissing a group of misogynist ruffians who are mistreating one of his whores establishes that he is a man to be feared, just based on the murderous look in his eyes! Juan and Jose are looking to get out of the murder business and plan one last lucrative cash grab, the murder of a gay treasurer carrying with him a large payroll, a theft that will potentially set him up for life and free of his wife's father's influence. Juan recruits a local farmer's gay son as bait to lure the treasurer to his inn, but something he has not accounted for is the revenge of a woman scorned. After realizing her true worth to Juan Andrea throws a wrench into the works, having earlier spies Juan and José disposing of one of their victims in the garden, she reports the men who are apprehended with a garden full of corpses and then put to death by garrote-device, which I thought was an interesting method of execution. This is not much of a spoiler because the film opens with the men already on death row and awaiting their execution, and what follows is a flashback to the macabre tale.
The Frenchman's Garden (197) is one of the best film's by Naschy from this or any era, it might not have the gore and bloodshed of some of his more gruesome films but the true-crime tale is well told, well-acted and looks fantastic, plus there's plenty of nudity and some potent outbursts of violence. If you're a fan of murderous inn keeper tales like A Candle for the Devil (1972) this is a terrific entry in the sub-genre, and a truly wonderful and macabre Naschy flick that is a bit unsung and worthy of some reappraisal by the masses, this is definitely a hidden gem among Naschy's storied filmography.
Audio/Video: Mondo Macabro continue to do the Spanish Cinema Lord's good work by bringing The Frenchman's Garden (1978) to Blu-ray uncut and restored with a brand new 4k transfer from film negative for the first time ever in the U.S.. The 1080p image is framed in 2.35:1 widescreen and the source is in fantastic shape without scratches and emulsion digs, carrying organic looking fine grain and some pleasing fine detail in the close-ups of textures and facial features. The lensing from cinematographer Leopoldo Villaseñor (Guyana: Cult of the Damned) looks fantastic with some nice camera movement and framing, the colors are a bit dismal by design with a lot of earth tones but occasionally we get a splash of color by way of a lavender or orange bit of clothing. This is another impressive looking Naschy film on Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro, very pleasing all around.
Audio comes by way of Spanish DTS-HD MA 20 stereo with optional English subtitles. Dialogue and atmospheric sounds good, the score from Ángel Arteaga (The Beast and the Magic Sword) comes through nicely, as does the expository opening ballad song which is sung by Spanish crooner Rosa León and tells the story in a nutshell.
Extras include an audio commentary with noted euro-cult expert/author Troy Howarth who is joined by Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn of always fantastic Naschycast podcast. This is truly a dream-team commentary from three guys who absolutely love Naschy and they have a great rapport with each other. The trio plunge right into things covering everything from the score and theme song, this period of Naschy, the casting, the production value and the real-life inspiration and how well the film follows what really happened.
We also get two Spanish interviews with the director from 2003 which were conducted by author Ignacio Armada Manrique that covers Naschy's early life in grade school where he was beaten by priests, and how through his father's noted fur shop business in Spain he met Hollywood legends like Sophia Lauren and Charleston Heston, as well as meeting John Wayne through his cousin's medical practice after The Duke got some grains of sand in his eye while filming Circus World (1964). He gets into his introduction to horror and the macabre through the literary works of Edgar Allen Poe and Robert Block among others, as well as through his uncle Jacinto who was fascinated by the macabre and fantastical. Naschy also gets into his college years and failing at several majors before focusing on film, and how he was a ravenous movie goer, particularly the genre of fantastical horror. Then into how he broke in Spanish cinema, his writing process, and then speaking quite a bit about working for other directors like Basilio Martin Patino, Manuel Mur Oti, Manuel, Javier Aguirre, Carlos Aured and Leon Klimovsky. There's also a shorter three minute interview which is presented separately that looks to be from the same 2003 interview with Naschy talking about the real-life crime behind The Frenchman's Garden, visiting the actual village where it happened and noting that the villagers living there were in denial about the notorious serial killer, and visiting the cemetery where some of the actual victims and one of the culprits were buried. The disc us buttoned-up with 14-minutes of previews of the demented wild cinema that Mondo Macabro has to offer.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring an English language variation on the original Spanish movie poster.
Special Features:
- Brand new 4K scan and restoration from film negative
- Interview with Paul Naschy (28 min)
- Paul Naschy on The Frenchman's Garden (3 min)
- Audio commentary from Troy Howarth, Rod Barnett and Troy Guinn
- Mondo Macabro Previews (14 min)
The Frenchman's Garden (1978) is a cool slice of murderous innkeeper macabre from Paul Naschy, a film that was a passion project for the actor/director, which he considered one of his best, and it shows in the steady execution and composition. It's great to see this get the HD upgrade from Mondo Macabro, a label who have introduced me to more Naschy films than any other distributor out there. They are doing fantastic work and if you're a Naschy fan this is another must-own slice of Spanish horror from them.
Screenshots from the Mondo Macabro Blu-ray:
Extras:
