Vampire Blues

To Jess Franco I plead: please don't ever turn out a vile, unwatchable piece of trash like this ever again. This is your yellow card, one more screw up like this and it's game over.

Alright, the plot: Vampire chick seduces younger, hotter chick, witch-lady chick tries to prevent.

Even compared solely against the director's own material, this is bad. Almost the entire running time is composed of LLLOOOONNNGGGG slow-mo and optically distorted shots of the (unattractive) vampire chick doing a strip tease. The actress could have been any individual person's dream girl and it would still suck, an hour of that just isn't interesting.

Furhtering the matter is the non-existent script (you know they made up the limited dialogue on set), the bad acting (except for Romay, schlocky as ever), the cheap film stock, and the horrid editing.

Franco completest (like me) should still see it, ever one else should decry it's existence.

1/10

In the long filmography of Jess Franco, this direct-to-video cheapo is obviously just a minor work. "Vampire Blues" tells about a tourist (Rachel Sheppard) who has daydreams about a vampire lady seducing her. The strong points of the movie are: first, Lina Romay as the fortune-teller; she has a strong presence. Second, newcomer Rachel Sheppard brings an innocent beauty into the flick, just the kind of victim a wicked vampire would look out for. Third, certain obsessive shots (the mysterious house up the hill, the palm trees) create a surreal atmosphere typical for Franco. On the other hand, the weak points are the video effects (which seemed fashionable in 1983 maybe), the vampire lady who looks like a retired porn actress, and the minimized story. Many viewers will dislike the slowness of the movie as well as its bizarre colors. I suppose "Vampire Blues" could have done well as an experimental 30 minute video, but there is not enough substance for a 90 minute movie.

I am a Franco fan. I don't even bother to deny it in polite company. I have collected much of his eclectic oeuvre. I scan the net for new releases...

However this home-video flick falls into his "worthless" category (alongside "Lust for Frankenstein" etc). It has little plot, amateur special effects and a budget which would probably not exceed the weekly expenditure of a middle class woman in Chad. It lacks any sensuality- the (sadly) crotch shaven women (including an elderly Romay) who shed their clothes raise not so much as a flicker of interest in the viewer.

Where was the creative impsulse, the tension- the eroticism? In this case, who cares?

Bin please.....

Daughters of Darkness meets Female Vampire. How in God's name could you mess up a film with heavy close-up nudity and much lesbianism? Here's how. Make your film look like the world's worst vacation video, add some horrible in-camera effects and loop the same crappy song 87 times through the film. Please Jess I'm begging stop using the camcorder and pick up a Panaflex. And while your at it write a script. Unintentional laughs abound.

Now this is pure and unadulterated Jess Franco! The director is perfectly teamed with his new One Shot Productions staff and together they have created one of the coolest and most unusual vampire films ever made. The cast consists of Euro diva Lina Romay, one of the most underrated actresses of the last quarter century, and relative unknowns Analia Ivars and Rachel Sheppard. Sheppard is terrific as the gal from New Joisey who encounters a sexually active vampire during her vacation in Spain. The English dub is the best on any Franco film in the last 10 years and the music on the American version is perfectly chosen by One Shot Productions. It's moody and visually spectacular. Definitely one of Franco's best later efforts and not to be missed if you are a fan of occult films or vampire cinema.