Une vierge chez les morts-vivants

It's a shame that most people here seem to have seen a cut version of this film, because the actual original is absolutely beautiful, and belies the criticism that Franco was a complete hack. It is a perfect example of what can be achieved in the horror genre with an almost zero budget in what was probably the director's busiest period. However most people seem to have seen the US release print, which also circulated on video in the UK in the 80's under the title of `The Invisible Dead'. This film was marketed as being a successor to Fulci's `Zombi', and basically was padded out with scenes from Jean Rollin's `Lake of Zombies' (shot almost 10 years after Franco's original film) and had all nudity removed.

There is another version which circulated with hardcore black mass footage featuring Franco regular Alice Arno and a host of stunt doubles for Vernon, Nichols and von Blanc.

The only video release of the original film at present is on Redemption, featuring a couple of nude mass scenes, some lesbian vampire sucking, a bizarre scene where Christina knocks over a giant phallus and an effectively hypnotic score from Bruno Nicolai. The UK version is missing the rather graphic rape scene present in the Benelux versions.

Christina von Blanc never unfortunately appeared in any other Franco films – in fact only appeared in a couple of others including the giallo `L'Etrusco uccide ancora'. The delightful pairing of Britt Nichols and Anne Libert occurs again in his bizarre `Erotic Rites of Frankenstein' and `Les Demons', amongst other films of the period. If you are interested in Franco, this is one of his best of the period, very atmospheric and deserves to be seen in its original version.

The viewer that purchased the movie in a sale bin for 5 bucks, said it sucked!! Well with the entire movie on the cutting floor I can wonder why. I just finished the movie tonight, and saw the complete uncut version. It is the complete version with all the scenes. The FULL VERSION is great, spend some time to find the right copy, and then write your summary.

I'm not implying that watching this drunk would be a great idea, I meant it in a "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" kind of way, if that makes no sense. nevermind. Back to the subject. We already have Night of the Living Dead, Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, we even got a Hell of the Living Dead, so why the hell not A Virgin Among the Living Dead? They could probably use one. Although, that's not the original title, and has absolutely nothing to do with what goes on, I'm not entirely sure what to think of this one, yet, that's probably why I dig it so much. What almost seems more like some kind of shroom-dream... make that shroom-nightmare, A Virgin Among the Living Dead is director, Jess Franco's exploration into the grey area between life and death, or at least that's what they say. As of this moment, all traditional B-horror rules have now been thrown out the window.

We begin with a young woman, Christina, traveling to an out of the way, castle, in Spain. There, stay the relatives of her estranged father, who has recently committed suicide, soon, there will be a reading of the will. Once Christina arrives in town, she's looked at like shes crazy after asking for directions, she's told no one lives there. The next day, with the guidance of a mute, Christina arrives at Monserat, to find that all her relatives are somewhere between eccentric, and insane. Monserat is filled with some kind of evil/confusion/ insanity, it's just very incoherent. Although her peculiar relatives seem kind of harmless, Christina suspects that something is a little off, when her step-mother warns her to leave, seconds before her death, not to mention bizarre occurrences such as, waking up one morning to find a big, black dildo on the floor, and a blind girl sitting in the corner, walking in on blood sucking sessions, finding dead bats on her bed, just, confusion, after confusion. and not even being allowed to have friends over, also seems a bit suspicious. Besides all the random confusion, it really seems like death is hovering over everything. With this film coming off as a dream, and being about death, then, isn't this just one big nightmare? Possibly, but I think it's deeper than that.

It is said that Jess Franco made this film as a way to cope with the death of Soledad Miranda, hence, the emphasis on death. For a horror film to come off as a genuine nightmare will always be a job well done, regardless of the intended message. Whatever message Franco intended, was intended for Franco, we're just lucky that he shared it with us, because witnessing such surreal magnificence really is a rare experience. The vibe of this film is simply indescribable. For more dream on film, check out Messiah of Evil, and Death Bed, although, You really won't find anything quite like this one anywhere, not even from Franco. Above all else, A Virgin Among The Living Dead is bold, independent film-making in its purest form. 9/10

The student Christina Reiner (Cristine von Blanc) travels from her boarding school in London to the castle of her family in Montserrat for the reading of the will of her father that she has never known and recently committed suicide. On the arrival, she spends the night in an inn and people tell that nobody lives at the castle. On the next morning, the mute servant Basilio (Jesús Franco) brings Christina to the Montserrat castle, where she meets her weird Uncle Howard (Howard Vernon) that is playing waltz on the piano and her cousin Carmencé (Britt Nickols) that is painting her nails and they tell that her stepmother Herminia (Rose Kiekens) is on the deathbed. She visits Hermínia that tells her to leave the castle and dies. Christina also meets her Aunt Abigail (Rosa Palomar) and a Blind Girl and while waiting for the attorney, she entwines daydreams and nightmares with reality. When she has an encounter with the spirit of her deceased father Ernesto Pablo Reiner (Paul Muller), he tries to warn her to leave that place that is evil, but it is too late.

"La nuit des étoiles filantes" is a stylish and senseless trash by Jésus Franco. The story has a promising beginning, but suddenly the plot seems to be incomplete and does not make sense at all. I believe that the problem is the different versions of Jésus Franco's feature. The DVD released in Brazil, for example, has audio only in English and Portuguese but the introduction is written in French; the lead character is Christina Reiner, and not Christina Benton; there is Death, and not The Queen of the Night; the raping scene is totally mutilated. Therefore, his movies are edited in the most different ways and this procedure certainly makes the story senseless. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "A Virgem e os Mortos" (The Virgin and the Dead")

O.k...so if you watch this movie expecting Tom Savini type zombies and lots of hot sex you will be disapointed...this is more like an art house surreal-dream/nightmare flick.Check out The Queen of the night's beautiful haunting song.Definitely a movie for the midnight hour.Great stuff,but only if you have the original uncut version!!