Le sadique de Notre-Dame

Simulated Black Masses are being held for the entertainment of rich modern day Parisians, meanwhile defrocked priest and lunatic Mathis "I am the sword of the Lord" Vogel (Jess Franck) is murdering beautiful young women in the name of God. Within the first opening seconds we see Lina Romay (director Franco's favourite star and real life lover) stark naked, a mere taster of what is to follow. There is female (and some male) full frontal nudity and soft core sex throughout, this is obviously a skin flick first, a horror film second. Jess Franck is really Jess/Jesus Franco, no prize for figuring that one out! One thing I love about him is that he always appears in his movies, usually in a small cameo, but here he takes centre stage playing Vogel. And a fine performance he does deliver. The death scenes are brutal and very gory. We get his trademark zoom shots (including the infamous genital ones), I felt overall that the camera work was pretty good, as is the acting, sets etc. I think you either love Franco or loathe him as a film maker, I'm of the former camp. Demoniac/Exorcism etc etc is by no means a bad Franco movie, he has made better films, he has made far worse too.