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Vampiros Lesbos
[Image Entertainment]
1971; color
Directed by Jess Franco
Starring: Soledad Miranda, Ewa Stroemberg, Dennis Price, Paul Muller & Jess Franco
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As we all know, there are many kinds of love. The love between a man and a woman; the love of a man for a fine cigar; and the kind of love best displayed in movies made in Europe during the late '60s / early '70s, vampire love. Sapphic vampire love to be more exact, and Vampyros Lesbos has it in spades. Essentially this is just another reworking of one of filmdom's most visited tales, the legend of Dracula, but seasoned B-movie fans know with Jess Franco at the helm you don't get "just another" anything. Franco can always be counted on to bring something different to the table and, although he's clearly not the only filmmaker to hit on the idea of marrying lesbianism with vampirism, he is one of the few to achieve a legitimate level of eroticism in his efforts. Naturally much of that is a credit to the loveliness of the two female leads, Soledad Miranda and Ewa Stroemberg. Spanish beauty Miranda is undeniably bewitching as Countess Nadine Carody, a descendant of Count Dracula who, when not seducing equally beautiful young women, spends time performing in a nightclub act which affords us even more reasons to see her remove her clothing and cavort with an equally scantily clad "living mime" assistant. Stroemberg plays Linda Westinghouse, a lawyer who through one strange event after another becomes entangled - and a bit obsessed - with the Countess. And who can blame her, Soledad Miranda is a total fox! Add in an evil doctor, a menacing henchman, a worried husband, Franco himself as a crazed hotel employee and yes, bloodshed, and you've got quite the sexadelic vampire party. (In truth, the Vampyros part definitely takes a backseat to the Lesbos part but if you actually pay attention to the story, and mentally fill in the gaps in said story, it's totally there.) There are a lot of other great aspects to the movie as well, besides the lesbianism and the beautiful, scantily-clad (except when they're naked) girls; the soundtrack is amazing. So are the ladies outfits, hair, make-up and accessories (it is my goal to find a pair of those giant oval shaped frame sunglasses Soledad sports as she lounges by the pool) and the sets are undeniably groovy. Did I mention that the girls are beautiful and they get naked and mess around with each other? Oh yeah, I did. I love the way this film is shot too, with all of the zooming and the focusing on objects that seem unimportant—ships at sea, scorpions, curtains; it's almost Wishman-esque in a way, but much more Mediterranean. Vampiros Lesbos a classic example of Euro-sleaze and one of Franco's best films. If the BMB has one of those AFI type top 100 lists this would definitely be in the top twenty. It is subtitled, and the plotline is a little hard to follow, but I don't think either of those aspects will infringe on anyone's viewing enjoyment. After all sapphic vampire love speaks a universal language.
—Bunny
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