SLAVES (1977)
Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: 0 NTSC
Duration: 76 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: German Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Lina Romay, Martine Stedil, Vitor Mendes, Esther Moset, Jess Franco
In Slaves (1977), also known as Die Sklavinnen and/or Swedish Nympho Slaves, we have a very trashy women-in-peril entry from none other than Eurotrash 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 the jungle before arriving at a shack with the words "Federal Police" literally written in marker onto a sheet of paper, ha ha. Once inside she collapses, hen she comes through she spins a sordid tale of escaping the clutches of the dope peddling/woman whoring Madama Araminda, played by Franco's 70s sex-kitten and future wife, the lovely Lina Romay. Araminda is the proprietor of a local dope/whore house known as the Pagoda, and apparently that story Marta spun was a whopper, because in the very next scene Araminda has been imprisoned eat the Snake Island Prison, but as we catch up to het she is in the process of escaping with the help of a young woman named Ebenholz (Aida Vargas) and an unknown benefactor.
Ebenholz and Araminda arrive at a designated meeting point where they are intercepted by a menacing character played by director Jess Franco, an assistant/enforcer to a wealthy man named Amos Radeck (Vítor Mendes, Call of the Blonde Goddess), the mysterious benefactor, who wants answers from Araminda, like what happened to his daughter and where exactly the five million dollars in ransom he paid for her went... apparently the brothel owner was 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 his lit cigarette, promising more torture is to come if she does not come forward with information about Radeck's daughter and the ransom money. While all this is happening fatso Radeck is looking bemusedly at a comic book.
From this point the story evolves into a series of flashbacks narrated by Araminda, we find out about her seedy drug/whore business, how she combed the beaches of her island community looking for fresh meat for her whorehouse, The Pagoda. How she seduced Martine with some sexy lesbian loving and then drugged her with psychotropic drugs that made her forget not only who she was, but also convincing her that she was a whore and that Araminda is a princess, damn, those are some good drugs!
As you may have surmised Araminda is not a nice lady to work for, she drugs her whores, beats them, and routinely has them raped by her horny goons when they step out of line, one of the rapes is pretty damn violent, but still not x-rated. She's not above killing them when they turn on her, as one of the whores named Vicky (Peggy Markoff, Barbed Wire Dolls) finds out, she's strangled by Araminda's own gown. It was nice to see the lovely Romay play someone villainous, usually she plays the victim being manipulated, so this was a nice turn of character for her, though she's still a charmer to me, even as cold as she plays it she's still smoldering
Even by Franco standards of the era there's a lot of lady flesh on display here, gorgeous 70s women in various states of undress, usually baring it all, leaving very little to the imagination, subjected to various cruelties including water torture, rape, or serving as stripper eye candy for despicable men. The story is threadbare, even by the usually slim Franco standards, but it is a fun exploitation romp through the lens of Franco, attractively shot in location in Portugal with keen lensing by cinematographer Peter Baumgartner (Jack the Ripper) with a groovy and somewhat 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, clearly evident from his use and love of the numerous zoom-in shots.
The movie ends with a wonderfully nasty twist that is superbly diabolical, while not one of my favorite Franco films the story is threadbare fun and delivers all the Franco goods in spades, loads of nudity, lots of sleaze and some atmospheric lensing.
As for the extras, we get 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, 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)
I am loving these Jess Franco DVD releases from Full Moon, my only beef is that these are so nice looking that they deserve proper Blu-ray releases, I would love to see these get an HD bump in the near future. This is part of Full Moon's 10-part Jess Franco Collection, each sold separately, and when placed together the spines form a portrait of Franco, which is pretty cool.
SLAVES (1977)
Label: Full Moon Features
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.
As you may have surmised Araminda is not a nice lady to work for, she drugs her whores, beats them, and routinely has them raped by her horny goons when they step out of line, one of the rapes is pretty damn violent, but still not x-rated. She's not above killing them when they turn on her, as one of the whores named Vicky (Peggy Markoff, Barbed Wire Dolls) finds out, she's strangled by Araminda's own gown. It was nice to see the lovely Romay play someone villainous, usually she plays the victim being manipulated, so this was a nice turn of character for her, though she's still a charmer to me, even as cold as she plays it she's still smoldering 
The movie ends with a wonderfully nasty twist that is superbly diabolical, while not one of my favorite Franco films the story is threadbare fun and delivers all the Franco goods in spades, loads of nudity, lots of sleaze and some atmospheric lensing. 
