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Vampyros Lesbos is the tale of Linda Westinghouse
(played by the dazzling Ewa Stromberg who, at times, bears a striking
resemblance to ex-Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell), plagued by dreams
centered around an alluring, raven-haired beauty (Soledad Miranda, who
Franco renamed Susann Korda in response to the actress' hesitation of
her real name appearing on the uncut prints of the film) that beckons
her from an unknown location. Sent on a business trip to flesh out the
details of the Last Will and Testament of none other than Count
Dracula, Linda finds the inheritor, the Countess Nadine Carody, to be
the physical embodiment of the woman appearing in her dreams! Unable
to resist the charms of the Countess, Linda embarks on a series of
lesbian encounters with the irresistible Nadine, falling further and
further under her spell. Franco uses a brilliant trio of recurring
images to punctuate the relationship between Linda and Nadine -- a
kite (the tethered spirit, which comes crashing to earth in the film's
shocking denouement), a scorpion (symbolizing the predator that is the
Countess), and a moth ensnared in a net ( Linda, ensnared in the
Countess' trap). It's flourishes like these that separate Franco from
the rest of the exploitation herd. In a wonderful bit of typecasting,
Jess himself appears in the film as the husband of one of the
Countess' prior interests, Agra (the film's female version of Renfield
from Bram Stoker's novel) -- a man reduced to a perverted, slavering,
psychotic killer in reaction to the mental degradation of his beloved
wife.
It's been said that Franco fell in love with the dazzling Miranda
while making this film and was heartbroken after her untimely death in
an automobile accident not long after the film's completion. Franco
was reported to be haunted by her memory, not unlike the way in which
her onscreen persona pervaded Linda's every thought, to an extent that
he chose his later wife, Lina Romay, based on her startling
resemblance to the dead actress. It's easy to see why Jess could
become so enraptured in Miranda -- on the surface, her boundless
sensuality is very hard to ignore. There's something else, something
unquantifiable about the woman that demands attention -- a savage
elegance projected by her wolf-like eyes, not usually found in someone
so young. It would be interesting to see what she could have
accomplished had she lived to make more films.
Franco, with one simple line of dialogue, thrusts a stake into the
heart of the traditional horror film and proudly proclaims the Old
Guard dead and buried, ushering in a bold new era in the process. The
line in question occurs in the scene where Linda first meets the
Countess, who proudly states, "I love this red wine," a devious,
tongue-in-cheek reversal of Lugosi's famous line, "I never drink...
wine," from Universal's 1931 Dracula. Franco's films,
like the Queen of the Night in Vampyros Lesbos, are not
constrained by the conventions of history -- they blaze new trails,
take off in startling new directions and explore possibilities
undreamed by filmmakers of the past. And there's a lot of damn good
sex along the way. What more could one ask for?
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