Rote Lippen, Sadisterotica

As Tim Lucas has pointed out, Jess Franco has made some of the best and some of the worst of European exploitation. The man made so many films that the majority fall somewhere in between, usually falling on the negative side of the spectrum. Two Undercover Angels is one such film. On the plus side are a terrific soundtrack, some good photography, and the occasional moment of genuine Franco lunacy. The downside: everything else. That the storyline is a mishmash of genres wouldn't be so important if Franco knew what kind of spirit or tone he wanted to aim for. The editing alternates between avant-garde and sloppy. But absolutely inexcusable are the English-language script and the dubbing. I have a high tolerance for much of the Franco dialogue that some critics refer to as "relentless and risible," but this was too much even for me. The banality of the dialogue seems inherent to the material: the dubbing-script translation makes matters worse by making much of it incoherent. As far as the technical aspects of the dubbing are concerned, there are repeated scenes in which characters speak but the actors' lips don't move. While not a disaster, this is a far cry from such amazing fare as She Killed in Ecstasy and The Bloody Judge.

Despite its salacious title, Sadist Erotica is actually one of Franco's less extreme movies, a kitsch '60s detective caper in the style of Modesty Blaise or Danger Diabolik.

The film's heroines are detectives Diana (redhead Janine Reynaud, who looks like Jane Fonda's less attractive sister) and Regina (Rosanna Yanni, a blonde with a great body), who go by the name of 'Red Lips'. Their mission: to find out what has happened to missing model Lida (María Antonia Redondo, a cracking brunette, sexier than either of the main actresses, in my opinion). The guilty party is eye-patch wearing artist Klaus Thiller (Adrien Hoven), who sends his inexplicably hairy assistant Morpho (Michel Lemoine) to abduct beautiful women, the painter believing that his victims' deaths make his work everlasting.

In the right hands, this colourful exercise in comic-strip camp could have been a lot of fun, but Franco's direction here is leaden and his script seems to have been made up on the fly. For much of the time, not a lot of interest happens, with very little in the way of the expected Bond-style action. It's all very tongue in cheek and frivolous, and if it wasn't for some topless nudity, the film would be suitable for the whole family - not what most fans expect from good old Jess! Redondo in her underwear (in the opening scene) and Rosanna Yanni in a few sexy outfits aside, I found the whole thing very tedious, and longed for some Franco excess to spice things up.

Sadisterotica is a great title for a film. Sadly, the title is more or less the only good thing about this effort. This is a real mish-mash of ideas. It's part horror, comic-book hero, comedy, sexploitation and mystery. And really, it doesn't do justice to any of these genres! The plot follows a couple of women investigating a series of murders connected to a mysterious artist.

This is a Jesus Franco film, so expectations have to be lowered accordingly. The man has made some decent flicks such as Vampyros Lesbos and Count Dracula but he's also made an awful lot of dreck. This baby fits into the latter category I'm afraid. Technically it's terrible with a succession of badly photographed scenes roughly edited together. The actors are unappealing and the storyline dire. The version I watched also happened to have truly diabolical dubbing which did not exactly help matters.

The comedy is hopeless, the horror completely unscary, the nudity unerotic, the mystery uninvolving; the only positive I can offer is that it is pretty weird. Other than that I'm really struggling to think of anything kind to say about this. Franco is an acquired taste and this is not one of his best.

'Sadisterotica' (fantastic title!) isn't really your typical Jess Franco movie. Released in the same year as his classic 'Succubus', it doesn't consist of his usual blend of eroticism and horror, it is instead a campy detective comedy/thriller in the vein of 'Modesty Blaise' or Mario Bava's 'Diabolik'. Fans of Matt Helm and Austin Powers will dig it.

Two beautiful detectives Diana ('Succubus' star Janine Reynaud) and Regina (Rosanna Yanni) operate under the pseudonym "Red Lips", with a lipstick kiss as their trade mark. While investigating the disappearance of a woman they stumble across a series of abductions/possible murders, which appear to be linked to the mysterious eye-patch wearing artist Klaus Tiller, and his hirsute, werewolf-like assistant Morpho. (Adrian Hoven and Michel Lemoine, both also from 'Succubus'). The pair attempt to earn their clients' fee, catch the baddies, and simultaneously evade capture themselves by the police.

While 'Sadisterotica' is a little different from most of Franco's output it still features his trademarks of beautiful, scantily dressed women, illogical, dreamlike plots, and an almost Pop Art sensibility. This is certainly not Franco's best work, but it is some of his most accessible and entertaining. Lots of fun, and there is even a sequel!

Made immediately after SUCCUBUS (1967) - one of Franco's most serious and dense efforts - with three of its lead actors (husband and wife team Janine Reynaud and Michel Lemoine and producer Adrian Hoven) and much the same crew, this film and its sequel KISS ME, MONSTER (1967) retained its colorful look and pop-art backdrop but they were its exact opposites in mood and intent (which, ultimately, reflected on their overall quality and significance in the director's vast canon).

That's not to say that the individual films are totally worthless: TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS is a goofy combination of various genres then at their zenith - espionage, comic strips and low-grade horror (Lemoine is made-up as villain Hoven's werewolf assistant!); fun, therefore, but decidedly lightweight...despite the artistic Hoven's modus operandi - painting the fear on the faces of dying women from photographs he takes himself and then hiding the bodies inside sculptures - having probably been inspired by PEEPING TOM (1960) and HOUSE OF WAX (1953) respectively!

Typical of such spy fare, the mystery at the centre of the plot emerges as pretty trivial - to say nothing of obvious with respect to Hoven's dual identity; Franco handles the proceedings with some gusto and the film moves at a fairly brisk pace - but, even after two viewings in one day, there's precious little to remember about it (certainly not the unspeakable dubbing of the English-language version featured on the Blue Underground DVD)...apart, that is, from the lovely leading ladies themselves - Reynaud and Rosanna Yanni - who, given their contrasting personalities, make a rather delightful team (and their scanty wardrobe, ranging from the fashionable to the fetishistic, certainly helps!).

Knowing that these films were toned-down and altered for the Spanish market, I managed to acquire an unsubtitled copy on DVD-R of those particular versions: in the case of TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS, it was called EL CASO DE LAS DOS BELLEZAS (THE CASE OF THE TWO BEAUTIES). My friend (and Jess Franco authority) Francesco Cesari who, unlike me, is fluent in the language has said that the film is greatly improved in this variant - and even funnier; well, given the language obstruction, I couldn't really testify to the latter - but I'm glad I watched the English version first, because otherwise the plot would have been impossible to follow! Still, while the differences are considerable, to my eyes they're not really night and day as Francesco suggested and the overall effect was pretty much the same (save, of course, for the more natural-sounding Spanish dubbing!). To begin with, the scores were different - the English version by Jerry Van Rooyen (who also did SUCCUBUS) and the Spanish by Fernando Garcia Morcillo; I personally enjoyed the Van Rooyen one more, while Francesco preferred Morcillo's accompaniment.

Some scenes ran longer in the Spanish print, while others have been changed around - but, again, I like the editing of the shorter U.S. version better. For instance, the first three scenes from the English-language print are absurdly jumbled in the Spanish cut: instead of introducing the two leads immediately and then show the museum robbery, followed by Reynaud's presentation of the stolen painting to Adrian Hoven (while still in the "Red Lips" costume from the previous scene), we begin with the robbery, then cut to the apartment scene (where Reynaud is casually dressed) and then she steps in costume again for her meeting with Hoven! In view of the oppressive censorship conditions in Spain during this time, the U.S. version obviously comes across as sexier (notably the writhing of a 'caged' naked girl in a nightclub scene, which was re-shot in the dark for the Spanish market). On the other hand, the soundtrack for the Spanish version is significantly 'cleaner': the U.S. print features a lot of useless background noise which makes dubbing job seem even more fake than it already is!

The DVD transfer is pretty nice, and I must say that the quality of the Spanish copy far exceeded my expectations - apart from a couple of brief instances where it froze and skipped. Besides TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS' theatrical trailer, the Blue Underground disc for this title features yet another informative interview with the prolific and outspoken film-maker in which he discusses the making of the two "Red Lips" films; among other things, he notes that this was the first instance in his career where he shot two films back-to-back while confessing to have taken a liking to the practice immediately!