Exorcism 1975 / Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein 1972

2 solid mid-tier Franco films, both stronger than they are weak.

Exorcism is a very small, restrained effort from Franco. He made it for EuroCine's Marius LeSoeur, maybe his most cheap and gritty producer of the 1970s, so its heavy on sexuality and low on plot action or even visual style. But the film is notable for 2 things: its wonderfully satiric plot & Jess Franco playing the lead. Perhaps this film is one of his most ordinary visually because he's usually the cameraman. Its a decent trade off because he IS a great on-screen performer. Jess plays a sadistic priest who mistakes a faked black mass as a real one and feels compelled to murder the participants to save them. Its a fairly lyrical, personal and darkly hilarious spoof of the Catholic church who censored and persecuted Franco for his Marquis de Sade-inspired works. It words doubly as the classic interpretation of people who can't read de Sade properly, like the murderer of Pier Paulo Pasolini. So while a minor film, Exorcism is still meaningful and effective.

Dracula Conta Frankenstein kind of blew me away. Its a campy tribute to old Universal horror films, intentionally absurd and yet evocative of the great influence those monster movies had on Franco's cinema. What do I mean? The film is packed full of mood, grim images, violence, archetypal villains and sorcerors. But its rendered in a cartoon style. The film is almost completely a silent film. Franco admits that he was inspired by Eerie horror comics and stages everything in the same rigid but larger-than-life style. DCF has some of Franco's most inspired direction outside of his more personal work. This is pulpy commercialism obviously, but Franco is having fun and is a real fan of the genre he's mocking. I can't tell if I like this more than its sequels Daughter of Dracula & Erotic Rites of Frankenstein. Its a perfect synthesis of both. Its probably a much more lavish and cohesive film than both.

I have to say I was disappointed that both films showed animal cruelty. I would've hoped Franco was kinder than this, but he did come from a totally different time and place, so I won't judge given his other philosophical contributions, but its very sad and disturbing. Be warned.

Curse of Frankenstein/Erotic Rites of Frankenstein 1972

AKA Maledicion de Frankenstein

This is the weirdest Franco movie IMO. Also one of the funniest and more atmospheric. Obviously based on Creepy comics' Gothic visuals and ridiculous tone, Curse is like a fever dream a little boy would have after watching a classic Frankenstein movie. Its an acid logic retelling of Bride of Frankenstein which features some absurd and surreal moments that are too good not to share, including Dr. Frankenstein being killed and resurrected 3 times and an army of men in paper mache skull masks lurching through a foggy forest. I don't want to give away any more but this ride is fast yet moody, sweet yet violent, tasteless yet artful. One of the most definitive Jess Franco experiences.

This has to be in my Top 10 for him.

Daughter of Dracula 1972

 Ok, so the credit for my new favorite era of Jess Franco apparently is owed to his producer Robert de Nesle. Nesle, a Frenchman, hired Franco to produce films based on mature comics from America and Italy and shot the film mainly in Portugal. This explains the loose, stylized, surreal horror storytelling and the murky forest atmosphere.

These include: 3 Naked Women on Robinson Island, A Virgin Among the Living Dead, Dracula Contra Frankenstein, Daughter of Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Lovers of Devil's Island, A Captain of Fifteen Years, Intimate Diary of a Nymphomaniac, Dolls For Sale, How To Seduce a Virgin/ Pleasure For Three, The Other Side of the Mirror, The Perverse Countess, The Lustful Amazons, The Erotic Exploits of Maciste in Atlantis, Les Chatouilleuses,  Sexy Erotic Job, Les Emmerdeuses, Celestine, Lorna the Exorcist

Daughter of Dracula was a great sleepy horror movie. Its closer to Virgin's atmospheric and emotional mystery than it is to Curse's balls-out, tongue-in-cheek experimentalism. This is for the lovers of early Bava-style giallos or the more realistic Gothic vampire tales that and Hammer was producing. Its very serious. I really want to compare it to Dark Shadows in look and feel and I expect it is a light remake of Franco's Count Dracula, which is regarded as being the most faithful adaptation of Bram Stoker's vision.

There's such a sweet balance of the procedural mystery/crime drama and the supernatural thriller. It has a violent body count, lesbian sex and some of the most foreboding and suspenseful shots Franco has done, but then it shocks you with a painful love story (with Jess delivering a great little acting job as a cuckold Van Helsing character).

Its not amazing because the plot is basically Vampire 101 aka Dracula. The vast majority of Franco's scripts were cliched and thin because the man was producing almost 10 a year! But it doesn't matter with films like this where the acting, visuals and production design are all wonderful. Daughter is evocative and painlessly sucks you for its short running time.

Special shoutout to the trio of actresses who hold this together dramatically: The sullen and statuesque Britt Nichols stars in her biggest role as the vampire lead and is paired in a lesbian angle with the solid Anne Libert. A gorgeous pair with underrated acting chops. The third woman is Cochita Nunez, a fine actress with a very sad mug who adds a lot of breath to the movie and I hope she pops up again in my Franco marathon.