This review is for Francos cut, also known as Christina, Princess of Eroticism.
As a filmmaker, Jess Franco worked at a feverish pace, producing around 150 films which ranged from fascinating works of eroticism and surrealism, to banal pieces of forgettable tripe. His best films, A Virgin Among the Living Dead included, and maybe even more than any other, exist somewhere in the space between logic and reality. They're like disembodied spirits, or the last faint remnants of a dream…
Sublime atmosphere crashing against walls of shrieking sapphic ecstasy. Female sexuality becoming Satanic decadence. Thunderstorms and torrents of blood invoking Belphegor, Beelzebub, and Astaroth. Infernos rage, sparked by Alucarda and Justine's shared desire. Layers of subtext draped like burial shrouds across writhing lesbianic corpses. Alucarda, you are perfection.
5 of the greatest minutes in sega cd style cyberpunk cut scene history. I need 90 more minutes of this yesterday.
Nightbeast.
I absolutely live for shit like this! Low budget regional filmmaking with some of the best homegrown gore effects ever put on screen. The Nightbeast himself is a marvel of creature design and bad tailoring. Every human character in this sleazoid odyssey is dumber than the last, making the most idiotic decisions, and spouting half baked dialogue with about as much personality as a wooden shoe. It's all done with so much love and dedication to the craft, you can't help but relish every moment.
