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Frédéric Lansac (Philippe Lemaire of Spirits
Of The Dead) is a wealthy artist who lives with his wife, Anne (Anny
Duperey of Umberto Lenzi’s From
Hell To Victory), in a castle. When she falls into a fire during a
party one night, Lansac snaps and soon he blackmails Professor
Römer (Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon), a plastic surgeon who has
recently lost his medical license due to some rather unorthodox dealings,
into helping him abduct some of the local lovelies in the area. His
motive? He plans to have Römer use the flesh of these poor girls to
reconstruct what’s left of Anne so that she can once again be the looker
that he fell in love with in the first place. Of course, as anyone who has
seen Eyes
Without A Face knows, these types of schemes rarely go off
without a hitch…
Very obviously
influenced by Franju’s masterpiece, The
Blood Rose has enough going for it on its own merits that it turns
out to be a surprisingly good movie – so good, in fact, that it’s
curious why the film isn’t more celebrated in cult movie circles than it
is. While the premise may be more than a little derivative, the outcome is
certainly unique enough and the movie is stylish, weird and intriguing
from start to finish. Director Claude Mulot (better known in adult film
circles as Frédéric Lansac, the man who directed Kinky Ladies Of Bourbon Street
and Pussy
Talk! No coincidence that the lead character’s name is the same
as Mulot’s adult film alias.) the film moves along at a very good pace
but still manages to flesh out Lansac’s character enough to work.
Plenty
of strange touches make the film stand out, starting with Vernon’s
performance as the twisted surgeon. It’s interesting to see Vernon here,
as his part isn’t that far removed from Jess Franco’s The
Awful Dr. Orloff, another film which likely influenced Mulot’s
picture. While he doesn’t quite go over the top he’s definitely got
some very inspired moments here and the scenes where he and Lemaire go
after some of the local buxom beauties are stand out moments in the film.
Add to that the addition of a pair of midget servants who answer to
Lansac’s beck and call and a stable of pretty Euro-babes and you’ve
got yourself a pretty slick little picture.
Mulot
makes the interesting choice of telling large portions of the story from
Anne’s point of view. This allows for some creative cinematography
(courtesy of Roger Fellous who also worked on quite a few of Mulot’s
adult features) once she’s burnt, allowing us to see what she sees and
how she would see it. The French locations add some interesting and classy
gothic atmosphere and the bold use of primary colors and deep, rich red
hues adds a strange vibe to the movie. Further complimenting the thick
tone of the film is the score from Jean-Pierre Dorsay uses instrumental
bits and choral arrangements to punctuate the creepier and more bizarre
moments.
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