Night of the Blood Monster

In the words of reviewer Glenn Erickson, better known as cinesavant, “Life is too short to watch any more Jess Franco movies!”  Alternately hailed as a misunderstood genius or a barely proficient hack, few directors have had more of their work rediscovered during the DVD / Blu-ray era than Franco, a Spanish jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none with over 200 films to his credit (that we know about)!  Most of his work slummed in the sexploitation arena, where skin was essential, a coherent story was optional and focus on pretty much every shot was questionable.  But Franco could work at a competent level from time to time, mostly when partnered with notorious producer Harry Alan Towers, who convinced former Hammer star Christopher Lee to appear in several sleazy productions, among them 1970’s Night of the Blood Monster. 

As King James most merciless lawgiver, Judge Jeffreys (Lee) revels in the torture and mutilation of his primarily female victims.  So, when the sister of a woman he recently condemned to death for witchcraft comes under his influence, there’s no hesitation about using every political and perverse trick in the book to achieve his sadistic ends.  Meanwhile, the kingdom itself is in violent disarray as plots and counterplots work to remove King James from his throne…and Jeffreys from his courtroom.

 

Working in the same masochist wheelhouse as Witchfinder General and Mark of the Devil, the historical details are merely there to add a frame around the exploitation elements, which Franco delivers in his usual zoom-in-zoom-out style.  But he does stumble upon some terrific compositions along the way and gets a gruesome performance out of Howard Vernon as the chief executioner.  Lee, meanwhile, holds himself above it all; his short-temper and flaring nostrils might just as well be caused by the bad craft services as anything happening on screen.

 

So what’s the big fuss about another Franco re-release?  Well, as soon as you pop in Blue Underground’s new 4K Ultra-HD you’ll see why; it’s an astounding piece of restoration that drips with supersaturated colors and inky shadows.  The accompanying Blu-ray looks phenomenal too and comes with three audio commentaries, interviews with Franco, Lee and film scholar Stephen Thrower, a directorial profile, deleted and alternate scenes (the main feature incorporate some while switching to a German soundtrack), trailers and still galleries.  If you still can’t appreciate Franco after all that, you’ll at least enjoy the Bruno Nicolai score, which is worthy of a much better movie.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembo...
Read more

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annab...
Read more