FRANCO FEBRUARY - DAY 27! COUNTESS PERVERSE (1973) (Mondo Macabro DVD Review)

Day 27 of Franco-February is a look back at our review of Countess Perverse, an erotic and twisted take on The Most Dangerous Game with all the sex and perversion one has come to expect from a Franco film with a side of rape, cruelty and cannibalism thrown in for good measure. 

COUNTESS PERVERSE (1973)

Label: Mondo Macabro
Region: Region-FREE NTSC
Duration: 78 Minutes
Rating: Unrated 

Audio: French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Alice Arno, Howard Vernon Kali Hansa, Lina Romay, Tania Busselier, Robert Woods

Synopsis: In the Countess Perverse (aka La Comtesse Perverse (1973) a pair of decadent and debauched aristocrats turns their private island into a human hunting ground where they can stalk their naked prey. As each victim is murdered, their carcass is then cooked and fed to their guests; simply delicious! What the unsuspecting visitors don't realize is that they will soon become the next evening’s “meal, “ eventually fighting for their lives in a shocking and flesh-baring cat-and-mouse game.

The ever-prolific Jesus Franco is a true master of Euro-sleaze cinema with a stunning filmography that's 200+ strong. A title that I am particularly fond of is the erotic-revenger She Killed in Ecstasy (1970) starring the stunning 70's sexpot Soledad Miranda (Vampyros Lesbos) which I just cannot recommend enough for Euro-cult enthusiasts. It's problematic for me that it was my first entry into the Cult of Franco because I think it set the bar rather high for a director who's rather hit and/or miss depending on the ra and who was producing is flicks. 

This erotic take on the pre-code classic The Most Dangerous Game (1933) begins with a couple discovering a naked and unconscious woman on the beach. They take her back to their home where the gorgeous red-haired beauty (Kali Hansa, The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff) spins a delirious tale of  traveling to the island of Count(Howard Vernon, Seven Women for Satan) and Countess Zaroff (Alice Arno, Justine De Sade) in search of her missing twin sister. We get an odd flashback as she is transported to the eerie island on top of which sits a fantastic home, it's a bizarre construction with engaging architectural features. It seemed so familiar to me and then it dawned on me that I had previously seen it in Franco's She Killed in Ecstasy. Unfortunately the couple who found her washed-up on the beach, Bob (Robert Woods, The Other Side of the Mirror) and his wife Moira (Tania Busselier, How To Seduce a Virgin), are in league with the Zaroff's and procure young beauties for their further diabolical games.

Turns out that randy Bob and Moira are a swinging couple who befriend young ladies, seduce them and take them to the island of the bizarre Count and Countess Zaroff who treat their guests to a succulent meal then tag-team rape them before releasing them onto the island, where they stalk their naked prey before eating them and serving them to the next guests, diabolical!

It's a delirious and fever-pitched slice of cinema that doesn't always make an awful lot sense but do not fret, Franco is a master of his lurid craft and before your brain can properly launch a protest your mind and libido are assaulted by a feast of nubile flesh. Franco may have his shortcomings as a filmmaker but his eye for exotic locations and stunning naked women are never in question.  The true find for me here was the super-vixen Silvia (Lina Romay, Shining Sex) as a Spanish tourist who befriends Bob and Moira and ends up in their bed and inevitably on the island where she is seduced by the pervy Countess only to later discover the duo in the process of beheading poor Kali. Silvia faints at the sight and awakens to find she has become new prey for Countess Zaroff in the film's finale. 

 The site of a nude Alice Arno stalking Lina Romay over the island with a bow and a quiver full of arrows is quite a sight and not one you'll soon want to forget, but the final scene featuring Robert Woods decked out in a rhinestone studded denim jacket and bell bottomed jeans wading into the ocean carrying the lifeless body of his beloved is a bit too dramatic and early 70's for me, totally laughed my ass off. There's some 70's cheese here but the cinematography and locations are quite striking as are the women. The story is pretty threadbare but it's entertaining and perverse with deviant elements that should delight any Euro-sleaze enthusiast.  

Audio/Video: Mondo Macabro's presentation of Jesus Franco's erotic-thriller Countess Perverse(1973) is presented in it's original 4:3 aspect ratio and not 16:9 as the DVD jacket would indicate. That said the transfer is sourced from a newly restored 35mm camera negative and is pretty fantastic with vibrant color and nice clarity and sharpness that's free of debris, artifact and blemishes. The French language Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio is clean and the post-dubbed dialogue and film score sound great, especially loved the sweet fuzzed-out guitar score alternated with some less than stellar organ-mashing. 

Onto the extras we get a video interview with actor Robert Woods whom discusses the uneasy transition from westerns into Countess Perverse and there's some discussion of the  other six films he went onto do with Franco. He speaks about the genius of the director and his less than enthusiastic opinions of the alternate XXX versions of the film. The second interview comes from author Stephen Thrower whom speaks about the film's origins as a take on The Most Dangerous Game (1933) with some Marquis De Sade elements, good stuff. 

We also get a 10-page text essay entitled "About the Film" which is pretty informative with plus we get "Cast and Crew Profiles" of Robert Woods, Alice Arno, Tania Busselier, Howard Vernon and Lisa Romay. There's a nice Mondo Macabro video preview of a ton of Mondo Macabro titles. I haven't seen a ton of MM's stuff and this got me excited to check out a few more really soon. The films on the preview reel are Snake Sisters, The Queen of Black Magic, Silip - Daughters of Eve, Mystics in Bali, The Blood Rose, Snake Dancer, The Devil's Sword, Lifespan,Don't Deliver Us from Evil, Satan's Blood, Virgins from Hell, For Your Height Only,French Sex Murders, The Deathless Devil, Living Doll, Satanico Pandemonium,Panic Beats, Clonus, The Killer Must Kill Again, The Mansion of Madness, Alucarda,The Diabolical Dr. Z, Aswang, The Living Corpse, Blood of the Virgins, Seven Women for Satan, Lady Terminator, Crazy Love, Mill of the Stone Women,Dangerous Seductress and More!

Special Features:

- Brand New Transfer from Original Negative 

- Cast and Crew Profiles of Robert Woods, Alice Arno, Tania Busselier, Howard Vernon and Lisa Romay

- Interview with actor Robert Woods (16 min) 

- Introduction by film critic Stephen Thrower (16 min) 

- Exclusive Profile of director Jess Franco 

- Mondo Macabro Previews (8 min)

I was completely turned-on by Countess Perverse, it's an erotic and twisted take on The Most Dangerous Game with all the sex and perversion one has come to expect from a Franco film with a nice side of rape, cruelty and cannibalism thrown in. After the erotic-revenger She Killed In Ecstasy (1971) this is one of my favorite Franco features, it definitely put me in the mood to further explore his prolific early 70's filmography, in 1973 alone Franco completed nearly a dozen films, truly a mad genius.

 http://www.mondomacabrodvd.com/

FRANCO FEBRUARY - DAY 23! HOW TO SEDUCE A VIRGIN (1973) (Mondo Macabro DVD Review)

Franco February Day 23, we're going back to How To Seduce a Virgin (1973), a wild-eyed orgy of lurid depravity and lesbian delights, which just happens to be one of my favorite Franco flicks. 

HOW TO SEDUCE A VIRGIN (1973)

Label: Mondo Macabro
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes 
Audio: French Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Full Frame (1.33:1) Original Aspect Ratio
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Robert Woods, Alice Arno, Lina Romay, Tania Busselier, Howard Vernon, Alfred Baillou 

When Jess Franco passed away not that long ago the Spanish purveyor of sleazy erotic cinema left behind a massive legacy with over 200 films to his name. Sure, not all of these were celluloid gold but Franco was a prolific auteur and 1973 was a particularly fine year for the director with over 12 films in production, many of which are considered some of the his finest works, and How to Seduce a Virgin (1973) is a pretty great watch. Filmed back to back with Countess Perverse (1973) it features the same principle cast, namely Alice Arno (The Hot Night of Linda) who stars as Countess Martine de Bressac who's just been released from an asylum where she spent a year after castrating of a former lover, ouch.

On returning to her gorgeous seaside villa the first order of business is a visit to the basement where she curates a museum of macabre cruelty, a place where women in various states of submission and torture have been frozen in time, it's a pretty bizarre collection. Next on the agenda is to procure a whore to add to her collection, she lures the prostitute into the macabre museum under the pretense of nude modelling but it ends with the Countess whipping the slut into submission. Martine is enjoying every salvo of pain she inflicts on the woman, completely turned on by the experience she quickly moves to the bedroom with her husband, Charles (Robert Woods, The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff). Afterwards Charles brings to her attention a sweet young woman named Cecile (Tannia Busselier, Countess Perverse), the daughter of a wealthy neighbor, someone perfect for his wife's weird art collection. 

The Bressac's peep on Cecile through binoculars while the young vixen masturbate intensely through a bedroom window. It's like a dirty softcore version of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), can you imagine Jimmy Stewart jerkin' it while watching his naughty neighbors, now there's a mental image! Cecile puts on quite a show as the two peepers feverishly masturbate each other, they find her irresistible  and quickly hatch a plot to seduce, corrupt and murder the seemingly naive young woman. It's a very strange scene as the Bressacs grope and grind on each other while their super-cute, mute, sex-slave Adele (Lina Romay, The Hot Nights of Linda) latches onto their leg like a horny cat all the while caterwauling with obscene pleasure.

Jess Franco is definitely in his zone right here, we have sadism, voyeurism, cruelty, gorgeous scenery, awesome 70's fashions and lurid eroticism on screen in spades, it's a non-stop frenzy of sleaze, everything you would expect from Franco is right here, and best of all it's one of his better composed entries, a very attractive film with noteworthy lensing from cinematographer Gérard Brisseau (The Hot Nights of Linda). 

We have a small cast of Franco regulars, Woods and Arno are great as the corrupted couple out to seduce the younger Cecile who's turns out is not so virginal nor naive, she's quite a seductress herself. Aside from pressing the flesh with the Bressacs she even goes after the mute sex-kitten Adele, how could she not, Romay is irresistible and oozes sex in every film, mmm. The cast is rounded out by Alfred Baillou (Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay) as a creepy gardener and a chauffeur played by Howard Vernon (Castle of the Creeping Flesh), all of whom are complicit in one way or the other to the Countess's depraved fantasies. 

So, we get a great cast, some attractive scenery and the sleaze is abundant with some extended masturbation sequences, sweet moments of lesbianism and an orgy of depravity that leads into a fun twist ending, plus we the added bonus of what's most likely the most erotic molestation of a mannequin ever put on celluloid, and for that we say thank you Jess Franco!

Audio/Video: Mondo Macabro give Jess Franco's How To Seduce a Virgin (1973) its first ever US release, presented in it's original full frame aspect ratio (1.33:1) the image appears quite nice in standard-def with strong colors and some decent clarity, film grains intact and the contrast is strong. I did notice some very minor telecine wobble and softness on occasion but otherwise we get a nice transfer from a gorgeous print of the film. Audio is French language Dolby Digital Mono and is very clean and well-balanced, dialogue and score sounds great,  there are optional English subtitles for us non-cultured lovers of sleaze. 

Mondo's disc has a few decent extras beginning with introduction by UK journalist/film critic Stephen Thrower, the feature touches on Franco's prolific year, with 12 films in production in 1973, many of them among his finest work. A second interview with writer Alain Petit (11:51) features the Franco collaborator speaking about the director's fondness for the works of the Marquis De Sade and the many films inspired by and/or adapted from his works, mentioning the unfinished Juliette de Sade film with Soledad Miranda and the later hardcore sex version filmed with Lina Romay which was recut by Joe D'Amato at the request of it's Italian producer, apparently turning a nightmarish film which featuring Romay shooting herself in the vagina, into a sex comedy of sorts. Petit also mentions his distaste for Franco's hardcore-sex films, and turning down a role in one of them. Extras are rounded out by text cast and crew profiles, production notes and a seven minute Mondo Macabro preview reel of their films, fun stuff, the Wilde Side of World Cinema indeed. 

Special Features: 
- Brand new transfer from film negative
- Interview with writer Alain Petit (12 min)
- Introduction by critic Stephen Thrower (21 min)
- Newly created optional subtitles
- About the Film 
- Cast and Crew Profiles
- Mondo Macabro previews (7:43) 

How To Seduce a Virgin (1973) is a wild-eyed orgy of lurid depravity and lesbian delights, one of Franco's best and most composed features. Euro-cult goddesses Lina Romay, Alice Arno and Tania Busselier are enthralling and Franco captures their charms from every angle, gotta love it.