| Jesús Franco | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Jesús Franco Manera 12 May 1930 (age 79) Madrid, Spain |
| Occupation | Director, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor |
| Years active | 1959 to present |
Jesús "Jess" Franco (born 12 May 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. Though he had an American box office success with his first women in prison film, 99 Women, in 1969, he never achieved wide commercial success. Franco has nevertheless retained a small cult following with his sexually-charged horror films. He was very prolific during the 1960s through the late 1980s, and while he continues to work, his output has slowed down in recent years.
Contents |
Career
Franco has sometimes worked under various pseudonyms, including David Khune and Frank Hollmann. A big fan of jazz music (and a musician himself), many of his pseudonyms are taken from famous jazz musicians, such as Clifford Brown and James P. Johnson.
Franco's themes often revolved around lesbian vampires, women in prison, and sexual exploration (including several films based on the writings of Marquis de Sade). Franco also worked in other exploitation film genres, such as cannibal films and nunsploitation.
His movies often contain long, uninterrupted shots of nude women writhing uncontrollably on the floor or in bed (such as in Lorna The Exorcist and La comtesse noire). He is also notorious for his use of hand-held camera and zoom shots, especially between 1968 and 1975.
He has frequently worked with actors Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Paul Müller, Christopher Lee, Soledad Miranda, Maria Rohm, Lina Romay (his longtime companion) and Klaus Kinski. Kinski is famous for his dislike of directors, but according to Franco, he never had any trouble working with him.
Spanish comic-book Iberia Inc. by Carlos Pacheco and Rafael Marín mentioned a fictional movie, Casta de Heroes directed by Jesús Franco, about Spanish superheroes of the past where Paul Naschy played "the Ogre", a character inspired in lycantropic villain Lince Dorado. Unsatisfied with this portrayal of himself, Lince Dorado arranged for the original to be lost, and no copy of the film is supposed to remain.
Filmography
| Films | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Alternative Title(s) | Notes |
| 1959 | We Are Eighteen | ||
| 1960 | Red Lips | ||
| Queen of the Tabarin | |||
| 1961 | Vampiresses 1930 | ||
| Gritos en la noche | The Awful Dr. Orloff · Screams in the Night | ||
| 1962 | Death Whistles the Blues | ||
| The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus | Hand of a Dead Man | ||
| 1963 | The Jaguar | ||
| Rififi in the City | |||
| 1964 | Dr. Orloff's Monster | The Secret of Dr. Orloff | |
| 1965 | The Diabolical Dr. Z | Miss Muerte | |
| 1966 | Attack of the Robots | Cards on the Table | |
| Residence for Spies | |||
| 1967 | Lucky the Inscrutable | ||
| Necronomicon Dreamt Sin | Succubus | ||
| 1968 | Two Undercover Angels | Red Lips Sadisterotica | |
| Kiss Me Monster | |||
| The Blood of Fu Manchu | Fu Manchu and the Kiss of Death | ||
| The Castle of Fu Manchu | |||
| The Girl from Rio | Su-muru · City Without Men | ||
| 99 Women | |||
| Marquis de Sade's Justine | Deadly Sanctuary | ||
| 1969 | Eugenie, The Story of Her Journey into Perversion | Les Inassouvies · The Insatiable Ones | |
| Venus in Furs | Black Angel | ||
| The Bloody Judge | Throne of Fire · Night of the Blood Monster · The Witch-Killer of Blackmoor | ||
| Count Dracula | |||
| 1970 | Sex Charade | ||
| Eugenie de Sade 2000 | |||
| Nightmares Come at Night | Eyes of the Night | ||
| Vampyros Lesbos | Las Vampiras | ||
| She Killed in Ecstasy | Mrs. Hyde | ||
| The Devil Came from Akasava | |||
| Death Packs a Suitcase | The Death Avenger of Soho | ||
| The Revenge of Dr. Mabuse | |||
| X-312 Flight to Hell | |||
| 1971 | Virgin Report | ||
| Robinson and His Wild Slaves | Sexy Darlings | ||
| Dracula vs. Frankenstein | Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein · The Screaming Dead | ||
| A Virgin among the Living Dead | Christina, Princess of Eroticism | ||
| Lovers of Devil's Island | |||
| Daughter of Dracula | |||
| 1972 | The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein | The Curse of Frankenstein | |
| The Demons | |||
| Diary of a Nymphomaniac | Sinner | ||
| The House of Vice | Dolls for Sale · The Vibrating Girls · Les Ebranlees | ||
| A Captain of 15 Years | |||
| The Silence of the Grave | |||
| The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff | |||
| Mystery of the Red Castle | unfinished | ||
| 1973 | The Other Side of the Mirror | The Obscene Mirror | |
| How to Seduce a Virgin | Pleasure for Three · Beyond the Grave | ||
| The Bare-Breasted Countess | Female Vampire · The Loves of Irina · Erotikill · The Swallowers | ||
| Maciste vs. the Amazon Queen | Lustful Amazons | ||
| The Erotic Exploits of Maciste in Atlantis | The Gobblers | ||
| Kiss Me Killer | unfinished | ||
| Who Raped Linda? | Linda's Hot Nights | ||
| The Perverse Countess | The Munchers | ||
| Tender and Perverse Emanuelle | |||
| Relax Baby | unfinished | ||
| 1974 | Night of the Killers | Sospiri · Night of the Skull | |
| Celestine, Maid at your Service | |||
| Sexy a Go-Go | |||
| The Sexiest Man in the World | |||
| Exorcism and Black Masses | Exorcisme | ||
| Lorna the Exorcist | The Devil's Possessed | ||
| Les Chatouilleuses | Nuns in Madness · The Ticklish Ones | ||
| Les Emmerdeuses | The Troublemakers | ||
| 1975 | Midnight Party | Lady Porno | |
| Shining Sex | |||
| Razzia sur le Plaisir | Two Women in a Golden Cage | ||
| De Sade's Juliette | |||
| Barbed Wire Dolls | Frauengefängnis · Caged Women | ||
| Die Sklavinnen | The Slaves | ||
| Downtown: The Naked Dolls of the Underworld | |||
| The Portrait of Doriana Gray | |||
| Women Behind Bars | Diamonds for Hell | ||
| Mandinga | unfinished | ||
| White Skin, Black Thigh | |||
| 1977 | Jack the Ripper | Erotico Profondo | |
| Love Camp | |||
| Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun | |||
| Sexy Sisters | Swedish Nympho Slaves | ||
| Call of the Blonde Goddess | Porno Shock | ||
| Ilsa the Wicked Warden | Greta the Mad Butcher | ||
| Wild Lust | |||
| Women without Innocence | Wicked Women | ||
| Women in Cellblock 9 | |||
| Das Frauenhaus | Blue Rita | ||
| 1978 | Elles Font Tout | They Do It All | |
| I'm Burning Up All Over | |||
| Cocktail Special | |||
| Two Female Spies with Flowered Panties | Opal of Fire | ||
| Erotic Symphony | |||
| 1979 | Sadist of Notre Dame | Demoniac | |
| Mondo Cannibale | Cannibals; White Cannibal Queen | ||
| The Girls of Copacabana | |||
| Man Hunter | Sexo Canibal · Devil Hunter · Mandingo Manhunter | ||
| 1980 | Sex Is Crazy | ||
| Eugenie: The Story of a Perversion | |||
| Pick Up Girls | The Girl in the Transparent Panties | ||
| Sadomania: The Hell of Passion | Hellhole Women | ||
| The Story of Linda | Naked Super-Witches of the Rio Amore | ||
| Bloody Moon | Profondo Tenebre · The Saw of Death | ||
| 1981 | Cecilia: Sexual Aberrations of a Married Woman | ||
| The Lake of the Virgins | |||
| The Night of the Open Sexes | |||
| The Hotel of Love Affairs | |||
| Oasis of the Zombies | Tomb of the Living Dead · Blood-Sucking Nazi Zombies | ||
| Macumba Sexual | |||
| 1982 | Moans of Pleasure | ||
| The Sexual Story of O | |||
| Black Boots, Leather Whip | |||
| The Inconfessable Orgies of Emanuelle | |||
| The Sinister Dr. Orloff | Macabre Experiments | ||
| The House of the Lost Women | |||
| The Night Has a Thousand Sexes | |||
| The Intimate Confessions of an Exhibitionist | |||
| A Crack for Two | |||
| Mansion of the Living Dead | |||
| 1983 | Camino Solitario | Lonely Road | |
| Blood on My Shoes | |||
| Alone Against Terror | |||
| The Blues of Pop Street | |||
| Fury in the Tropics | Orgasmo Perverso | ||
| Lillian the Perverted Virgin | |||
| The Tanga Girls | |||
| Revenge in the House Of Usher | Neurosis | ||
| The Grandfather, the Countess, and Scarlet the Naughty | Scarlet | ||
| Diamonds of Kilimandjaro | Treasure of the White Goddess | ||
| 1984 | The Shadow of Judoka vs. Dr. Wong | ||
| In Search of the Golden Dragon | |||
| How Much Does a Spy Cost? | |||
| Dirty Game in Casablanca | |||
| White Bay | |||
| Voices of Death | |||
| Golden Temple Amazons | |||
| A Penis for Three | |||
| 1985 | The Last of the Filipinas | ||
| Bangkok: Appointment with Death | |||
| Travel to Bangkok, Coffin Included | |||
| The White Slave | |||
| Lulu's Talking Butthole | |||
| Lulu's Pacifier | |||
| The Game Walks Among Whistles | |||
| 1986 | Slaves of Crime | ||
| The Girl with the Red Lips | |||
| Las Chuponas | The Suckers | ||
| For Babies, Warm Milk | |||
| The Watcher and the Exhibitionist | |||
| Bragueta Story | unfinished | ||
| AIDS, the 20th Century Plague | unfinished | ||
| Tribulations of a Cross-eyed Buddha | unfinished | ||
| 1987 | Phollastia | ||
| Falo Crest | |||
| Dark Mission: Operation Cocaine | Flowers of Evil | ||
| 1988 | Faceless | Predators of the Night | |
| 1989 | Esmeralda Bay | ||
| The Fall of Eagles | War Song | ||
| 1990 | Downtown Heat: Ciudad Baja | Viper's Point | |
| 1992 | Don Quijote | ||
| 1994 | Jungle of Fear | unfinished | |
| 1996 | Killer Barbys | ||
| 1998 | Tender Flesh | ||
| Lust for Frankenstein | |||
| Mari-Cookie and the Killer Tarantula in 8 Legs to Love You | |||
| 1999 | Vampire Blues | ||
| Red Silk | |||
| Dr. Wong's Virtual Hell | |||
| Broken Dolls | |||
| 2000 | Helter Skelter | ||
| Blind Target | |||
| 2001 | Vampire Junction | ||
| 2002 | Jess Franco's Incubus | ||
| 2003 | Killer Barbys vs. Dracula | ||
| 2005 | Flowers of Perversion | ||
| Flowers of Passion | |||
| Snakewoman | |||
| 2008 | A Bad Day at the Cemetery | Crypt of the Cursed Women | |
| 2010 | Paula-Paula: an audiovisual experience | ||
Further reading
- Jess Franco, Memorias del tío Jess (2004) (autobiography, in Spanish)
- Stéphane du Mesnilot, Jess Franco - Énergies du fantasme (2004, in French)
- Alain Petit, Manacoa Files (1994-1999, in French)
- Lucas Balbo, Peter Blumenstock, Christian Kessler, Tim Lucas, Obsession - The Films of Jess Franco (1993)
- Tim Lucas, How to Read a Franco Film, in Video Watchdog n. 1 (1990)
- The book Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 (1994) by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs dedicates a chapter to him.
- Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer Maedchen, Machos und Moneten: Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. Mit einem Vorwort von Jess Franco. Verlag Scharfe Stiefel, Zurich, 2006, ISBN 3-033-00960-3 [Amazon-US | Amazon-UK]
- (Italian) Robert Monell, Il codice segreto di Jesus Franco, in Nocturno Dossier n. 60, luglio 2007
External links
- Jesus Franco at the Internet Movie Database
- Jess Franco @ THE DEUCE: Grindhouse Cinema Database
- Jesus Franco Dossier (first decade) - BCult (English)
- Jesus Franco Dossier (1971 - 1975) - BCult (English)
- Jesus Franco Dossier (1976 - 1980) - BCult (English)
- Jesus Franco Dossier (The Eighties) - BCult (English)
- Jesus Franco Dossier (1990's - 2005) - BCult (English)
- (Spanish) Funddación n° 1 - E-Fanzine dedicated to Jess Franco (Note that it's a .doc file)
- (Spanish) Funddación nº 2 (Note that it's a .doc file)
- I'm in a Jess Franco State of Mind
- http://www.santoandfriends.com (Mexican horror film site)
- Tim Lucas essay on Jesus Franco
- Interview with Jess Franco Interview on 'Cultfilms en Kutfilms' (April 4th 2008)
- Jess Franco Interview in Horror Garage
- www.jesus-franco.com
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