|
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
7
|
|
 |
|
8 |
|
10
= Highest Rating |
|
Guest
Review by Troy
Howarth |
Doriana
Grey (Lina Romay) is a beautiful recluse who lives in a castle
somewhere in Europe. One day her world is invaded by a reporter
(Monica Swinn) from a women's magazine. She's anxious to write
a story on Doriana, to bring to light the rumors surrounding
the noblewoman and her twin sister. It transpires that the twins
are each lacking an essential element of their libido —
while Doriana is a sexual vampire who extends her life, if not
pleasure, by draining her sexual partners dry, the sister is
the one who feels the sensations —
and they are so overpowering that they've driven her insane...
In the history of
cinema, Jess Franco stands out as a unique, much debated figure.
With a filmography fast approaching 200 titles, and many of
those available in variant editions that drive collectors of
his cinema out of house and home, Franco has dabbled in practically
ever genre imaginable. His specialty, however, is a unique fusion
of horror and eroticism which has been coined "horrotica" by
critics like Video Watchdog's Tim Lucas. Franco first
introduced elements of eroticism to his Gothic horror films
of the early-to-mid 60s, such as The
Awful Dr. Orlof (1961) and The
Sadistic Baron Von Klaus (1962), before upping the erotic
ante later in the decade with the delirious Succubus
(1967) and the magnificent Venus
in Furs (1969). By the mid-70s, Franco began dabbling
in hardcore porn, often building features around his latest
"fetish actress" (and common-law wife), the uninhibited Lina
Romay. With Romay, Franco created such explicitly sexual horror
fantasies as Lorna
The Exorcist (1974,
in which Romay, as a teenage virgin, is violated by a witch
who uses a giant phallus on her!) and Female
Vampire (1973, in which she literally fellates her male
and female victims to death... well, there ARE worse ways to
go!). Doriana Grey is something
of a remake of the latter film, but it's wrong to leave it at
that.
Quite simply, Doriana
Grey is one of Franco's strangest and most lyrical
films. Whereas the erotic scenes of Female
Vampire seemed to disrupt the flow of the narrative,
here the fusion of sex and horror seems integral to the proceedings.
Make no mistake about it: this is hardcore pornography, with
graphic depictions of fellatio, cunnilingus and ejaculation.
But it's hardcore porn as art —
obsessive art, that is. The erotic proceedings manage to be
quite, um, stimulating due to the beauty and enthusiasm of Romay
and female partners Monica Swinn (a veteran of many Franco films,
unforgettable as the monocled warden in Barbed
Wire Dolls, 1975) and Martine Stedil, among others.
But the film also manages to create and maintain an oddly lyrical,
delicate quality that survives the extreme nature of the proceedings.
It is, above all, a meditation on the nature of loneliness,
with Romay's character wandering about her beautiful estate
waiting for the privilege to finally feel something.
The sitar-laden soundtrack by Walter Baumgartner, coupled with
Peter Baumgartner's naturalistic lighting and handheld camerawork,
creates a delicate mood that is subtly intrusive and voyeuristic.
Hardcore porn it may be, but Jess Franco proves the possibility
of elevating it to a level that goes beyond the dingy raincoat
brigade. As usual, Franco gets efficient performances from his
small cast — the star is clearly
Lina Romay and Franco's obsession with her body continues to
this day. This is without doubt one of her best roles and she
effectively contrasts the stately demeanor of Doriana with the
animalistic nature of her demented sister, with a common thread
of sadness and isolation to unite the two. A short film at 76
minutes, it feels longer but never gets boring —
rather, the film maintains an almost hallucinatory grip on the
viewer and is all the more fascinating because of it.
|
|
|
| This
fantastic DVD presentation from VIP and Swissimage is part of
their ongoing collection of Jess Franco films. The series aims
to present all the films Franco directed for Swiss exploitation
king Erwin C. Dietrich in their original director's cuts. I've
seen about 6 of these releases so far (among them: Jack
the Ripper, 1976; Barbed Wire Dolls,
1975; and Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun,
1976) and they're absolutely splendid. One can only hope that
Dietrich will go beyond the films he produced for Franco and release
some of the Spanish maverick's other films. First and foremost,
the film is completely uncut and uncensored — the warning of pornographic
content on the packaging is certainly justified, and viewers of
a sensitive nature are to be advised ahead of time of the nature
of the film. I first saw it, as did many fans, via a miserable
fullscreen dupe in German without subtitles — despite the paucity
of dialogue, there IS a plot and that was lost without subtitles.
Here the viewer has the option of watching the film in either
its original German track or via newly created English or French
tracks. Alas, the English track is fairly absurd although audio
quality is very good. One is advised to watch it in English once
so you know what's going on, and then watch it in German on repeat
viewings. All three tracks are in mono and sound first rate; it's
merely the quality of the vocal performances in the English track
that make it less than desirable. Alas, none of these releases
have yet provided the option of English subtitles —
hopefully Dietrich will include this option on future releases
of Blue Rita (1977) and Sexy
Sisters (1977), for example. Returning to the image quality,
the picture is absolutely incredible. The print has been painstakingly
restored and looks stunning. It seems that some frame damage resulted
in toying around with some brief (momentary) slow motion effects
in certain scenes, but this is never distracting. The image is
appropriately letterboxed at 1.85:1 and has been enhanced for
widescreen sets. Extras include a collection of trailers for other
Franco and Dietrich titles, this film included (all in German,
many with forced Italian subtitles); biographies for Franco, Romay
and Dietrich; a collection of stills (many erotic in nature);
a featurette on the restoration of the Franco/Dietrich film Jack
the Ripper (this is included on all these releases and
gives a clue as to the extensive work that went into restoring
these titles); and an interview with Dietrich, Franco and Romay.
Dietrich tends to repeat himself a lot from one of these interview
segments to the next on other DVD releases, but he comes across
as sincere in his desire to help preserve Franco's work. Romay
is seen smoking and sipping coffee at an outdoor cafe, speaking
French with English subtitles. Franco, the only participant to
speak in English, is also subtitled, presumably because of his
heavy accent (I have no trouble following what he says, but one
can understand if others do). The director (age 73 as I write
this review) is lively, funny and informative, stopping at the
end to announce his desire to take a break and smoke a cigarette!
Interviews like this are an invaluable insight into Franco's attitude
towards filmmaking. 12/06/03 |
| UPDATE
The R0/NTSC version of this DVD (reviewed above) went OOP circa
2008. Used copies are not particularly easy to obtain. |
HOME
| REVIEWS
| TOP
|
