grantss Somehow trashy and pretentious, all at the same time.A woman starts having strange, erotic dreams. Meanwhile she is resolving an inheritance issue on behalf of a Countess who inherited an estate from Count Dracula. Once she meets the Countess she starts to figure that this case and her dreams may be linked...Well, that's as much as I could figure out, plot-wise. It is all over the place and the plot is really quite token. The whole movie is a classic example of the 70s horror-exploitation genre: horror theme, basic, nonsensical plot, much gratuitous female nudity, all done in a faux arty sort of way. While this may have worked in the 70s, it is quite silly now. Quite tame now too. Not worth watching, for any reason.

ferbs54 When 17-year-old Spanish actress Soledad Miranda appeared in the 1960 Jess Franco musical "Queen of the Tarabin" in an uncredited role, little could she suspect that a decade later, while suffering discouragement at her stagnating career (she had appeared in some 30 Continental films in those 10 years and was still far from being a household name), she would be selected by Franco again to appear in the first of a string of star-making, outre pictures. In a director/actress collaboration similar to the one that enabled Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich to create seven wonderful entertainments from 1930 - '35, Franco and his new muse created seven mind-bewildering entertainments...in one year! In a blaze of filmmaking that even Roger Corman might have envied, the pair brought forth, in 1970 alone, "Count Dracula," "Nightmares Come at Night," "Sex Charade," "Eugenie de Sade," "Vampiros Lesbos," "She Killed in Ecstasy" and "The Devil Came From Akasava." Miranda's role in "Vampiros Lesbos" is a perfect introduction to this striking actress, whose life was tragically cut short by a car accident in August '70 (while she and Franco were filming the necessarily uncompleted "Juliette"). In this film, she plays the Countess Nadine Carody, who lives in an ultramodern beach house on (fictitious) Karidados Island, off the coast of Istanbul. To her isolated retreat comes a beautiful blonde lawyer named Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stroemberg, who would also appear with Miranda in "She Killed in Ecstasy"), to arrange a transfer of property from the Hungarian Count Dracula (hmmm, that name DOES ring a bell) to the countess...a case of hot-blooded (albeit mesmerized) lust at first sight for the vampiress and her victim. Meanwhile, as a subplot of sorts, a Renfield-like woman in a mental asylum, run by one Dr. Seward (the great English actor Dennis Price), claims to be in mental communion with the same mysterious countess....A German production directed by a Spaniard in Turkey and yet featuring title credits in French, "Vampiros Lesbos" is yet another trippy, mystifying head scratcher from Jess Franco, although perhaps not as bewildering as the director's "Succubus" (1967) and "Venus in Furs" (1968). The film has been beautifully shot by Franco--it is not as overly dependent on the ol' zoom lens as many of his other features--and makes excellent use of its Istanbul exteriors. Franco often positions his camera quite ingeniously, with his overhead shot of that spiral staircase very reminiscent of the one in his 1965 masterpiece "The Diabolical Dr. Z," and DOP Manuel Merino is to be commended for his fine work here as well. But apart from the exquisite filming of the gorgeous scenery and the two leading ladies, the film's major selling point must be its remarkable, psychedelic, sitar-laced, horns-accented, groovy rock 'n' funk soundtrack by Mannfred Hubler and guitarist Siegfried Schwab. The duo also composed similar scores for the next two Franco/Miranda films, with the highlights of each being culled to make up the currently in-print CD "Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party," a CD that I am going to certainly be purchasing soon. Non sequitur though the music sometimes is with regard to what is on screen, it yet remains a key element here. The film contains some imponderables, I should add, that even a repeat viewing failed to clarify. Was Linda made a vampiress by the drinking of blood from a vase or not? What are the symbolic meanings of that soaring kite and scuttling scorpion? Why did the character of Memmet (a porter, played by Franco himself, who tortures women in a hotel basement, and who appears on screen for perhaps three minutes) have to be included? Why is the countess' servant's name Morpho...the same name as the deformed assistant in Franco's 1961 breakthrough film "The Awful Dr. Orloff"? Perhaps it would be wise to remember Linda's words near the film's conclusion: "...there might not be an explanation for it.""Vampiros Lesbos" is certainly not a movie for the impatient. "Nothing happens," my buddy Rick complained a while ago after watching it. More of a lysergic mood piece than a vampire film per se, the picture yet sports any number of astonishing images and sets, while Soledad manages to grip the viewer--whether doing a kinky cabaret act, sunbathing naked (yes, that's right...a sunbathing vampire!) or merely sipping on "wine"--in every scene that she is in. More than just a pretty face, she proves, in "Vampiros Lesbos," that she was also a not untalented thespian (who also did lesbian!). How many more interesting projects she and Franco could have collaborated on (in 1970 alone, ha ha!), had not fate intervened, is anybody's guess. As for the Image DVD that I recently watched, the print quality is simply stunning, with brilliant colors and adequate subtitling to supplement the German-language dialogue. Sadly, the only "extras" provided are two trailers, for this film and for "She Killed in Ecstasy"; an interview with the always loquacious Franco would have been nice. Still, this is a quibble. Throw this DVD in, sit back, and be prepared to immerse yourself, for 89 minutes, in one very strange and dreamlike experience indeed.

Boba_Fett1138 And so Jesus Franco's quest to turn every women into a lesbian continues. But in all seriousness, for all of the bad things I have said about Jesus Franco and his movies, I have to say that this was quite a good one and a real pleasant surprise, also within its genre.It's amazing really how much different this movie is from other Jesus Franco movies. It's not like it has a better story in it really but it's more so that it got made with way more style, taste and obvious devotion to the project.Normally I really can't understand that there are people who enjoy watching soft-core porn and get their kicks out of it. It does absolutely nothing for me but all I can say if more movies would handle it in the way such as this movie did, I can totally understand that there are people who love watching soft-core porn. It can be absolutely something beautiful and also sensual to watch.And that's the most surprising aspect about this movie perhaps. All of the sex in the movie got handled quite nicely and the movie really wasn't a sleazy one at all, unlike about every other Jesus Franco movie. Especially all of the lesbian moments were really beautifully done and were really sensual to watch, even though you never see any real 'action'.Yes, this movie definitely has artistic value to it, which is the foremost reason why it's such a perfectly watchable and fascinating one. The movie is set in both the real world and a dream kind of world, which at times also gives the movie a sort of surrealistic feeling to it. This also actually helps to make the story work out better as well, fore it isn't the type of story that is terribly clever written or one that is being strong with its horror/vampire aspects. At least this time around the story was easy and pleasant to follow, which again, is something I can't say about every Jesus Franco movie. Normally he really manages to mess up the storytelling, no matter how simple the actual story is. Luckily that isn't the case for this movie at all.It sounds amazing but here is a Jesus Franco movie I wouldn't mind seeing again.7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Scarecrow-88 "The Queen of the Night will bear you up on her dark wings."I guess you can look at "Vampyros lesbos" as director Jesús Franco's 70's modern variation on Bram Stoker's Dracula using Soledad Miranda as the seductive female lesbian vampire who took lessons from her master(..that being Count Dracula)in capturing victims through a form of hypnotic lust, invading women through their dreams. You could say that Ewa Strömberg's Linda, an agent whose firm, Simpson & Simpson, is handling Dracula's will which would entitle that his inheritance of the Kadidados islands(..and everything on it) be left to her, is Mina, the object for which Carody desires to "initiate into her inner circle." Andrés Monales, as Linda's lover Omar, would be the Jonathan Harker, the one who stands between Carody and her paramour. There really isn't a strong candidate for Van Helsing..it seems like Dennis Price, as scientist Dr. Alwin Seward, who runs a clinic and studies vampirism, would be, but he harbours a desire to be a vampire himself so he could obtain supernatural powers. Within Seward's clinic is Agra(Heidrun Kussin), who is the Renfield of the film, except instead of madness, she's more overcome by a state of constant orgasm, wantonly desiring to return to Carody, locked up in Seward's clinic. Her husband is Memmet(..portrayed by the director in one of his typically bizarre roles), who works at a hotel which charters a small boat to ferry people to Carody's island. Memmet is actually a psychotic torturer(..who likes to sucker females into the hotel wine cellar where he binds them before the nasty business) whose madness derives from the fact that Carody "changed" his wife into a lunatic only yearning for her touch. Paul Muller is given, frankly, a thankless role as Linda's psychiatrist who believes her rantings of being haunted by fantasies of Carody is merely bad sex. Carody's relationship to Dracula, subtly mentioned here and there in the film, comes from an incident near a castle she lived overcome by depravity and violence. Men were ravaging the village women, attempting to rape her(..this also provides the emphasis on why she hates men), dragging her from her castle..Dracula killing the man on top of her, subsequently "adopting" Carody into his family. Carody mentions how she was the woman who made his life worth living and that he always desired her body, taking just enough blood he needed to survive finally turning her into a vampire. The Turkish locations are definitely highlighted in this film as Franco's camera embraces various aspects of his setting. But, the pleasure for me is Soledad Miranda. The many ways Franco shoots her, the character is all hers. Of her short few lead roles, I think this, "She Killed in Ecstasy" & "Eugenie de Sade" each display her hold on the viewer. Whether it be her very unusual stage act where she dresses a "human mannequin" for an audience before biting her assistant's neck, the way her face is lit, or the abstract camera angles;it seems Franco wants you to see her as a very special creature, not meant for our world. Whether she's naked, in a bikini, or wearing lingerie on stage, Miranda is a showcase for our viewing pleasure. She's a dark-eyed goddess to me, a portrait on celluloid. I would definitely say Miranda's iconic accessory for this particular film is her red scarf. It's around her neck almost always. José Martínez Blanco is Carody's henchman Morpho, with dead eyes which stare right through you. The score only heightens the otherworldly nature Franco's direction brings to this fantasy. It's a vampire film, but I felt it embraces the erotic side rather than the violence often elaborated in Dracula adaptations. Sure, Carody's bites, but I think this is more about her seduction and entrapment over female victims she desires than the relishing bite on the jugular for flowing blood. I think the ultimate nourishment for a vampire like Carody is capturing the heart and soul of her victim, not their lifeforce.