Jess Franco Blu-ray

[Jason C]

Got around to watching Voodoo Passion. This film is beautifully shot. The colors are rich and the scenery is interesting. The interiors are full of fascinating art. The bedrooms with mirrored walls and hot tubs enhance the (bizarre) sex scenes. The Full Moon blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic which was a big factor in enjoying this film. The story is very thin but was enjoyable enough to hold my interest until the intriguing finale. Thank you Jack Taylor. Vicky Adams with her long, lean frame is absolutely stunning. She has tan lines that are especially nice and her eyes are mesmerizing. There are an excessive amount of closeups on eyes but they have a purpose and I enjoyed them. I started watching the film with the English dub which is horrendous. Its funny Stephen Thrower mentions in his book that he greatly enjoyed English Dub for same reasons I found it grating. The actors sound like childish idiots in the English dub. Thankfully the German dub made the film much more enjoyable. It always feels like a missed opportunity when there is a Jess Franco release without a Stephen Thrower interview, but at least we have his book. What he wrote in Flowers of Perversion was a treat to read.

I love the cover for Voodoo Passion (and the Flowers of Perversion book). It appears they may have been some strategic photoshop to make the cover of Stephen Thrower's book more shelf worthy. I suppose it could be an alternate take.

[Ian Jane]

[mjeon]

Even as a fan of Franco, I have always felt that Skull is pretty weak. It will be a pleasure to watch Fish and Blood Bath in restored condition. Both are pretty intriguing.

[Mr. Deltoid]

New Jess Franco in this Spanish Gialli set:

How is this one? I'm more into Franco's dreamy, erotic reveries, but this one seems intriguing. I imagine the VS copy about this being a legit Franco-gialli is slight hyperbole, but what do you think?

[fatboyslim142]

New Jess Franco in this Spanish Gialli set:

[BW Haggar]

Nice one!

Interesting to see that it's framed at 2.35, because my copy of the old UK DVD release (double-billed with 'Erotic Rites..') definitely isn't. Could make quite a difference?

[Ian Jane]

***NEW RELEASE ALERT***

DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN

"“THE FEVER DREAM OF A CINEPHILIAC…An enjoyably outré, comic book-style monster rally as only Jess Franco could realize and bring to life.” El Franconomicon

THE NORTH AMERICAN DISC PREMIERE

Inspired by Universal’s 1940s monster mash-ups, writer/director Jess Franco instead delivered “a weird and wonderful masterpiece that transports you to a world like no other” (Scream Magazine): With minimal dialogue and maximum gothic atmosphere, Franco crafts a fever dream of erotic horror in which Count Dracula (Howard Vernon of DELICATESSEN), Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price of TWINS OF EVIL), his assistant Morpho and Frankenstein’s monster battle gypsies, showgirls, Dr. Seward and a wolfman. Alberto Dalbés (THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN), Carmen Yazalde (A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD) and Geneviève Robert (star of Franco’s DEVIL’S ISLAND LOVERS and the future Mrs. Ivan Reitman) co-star in “a fantastic experience for those who respect Franco’s demented vision” (Mondo Exploito), now scanned in 4K from Spanish, French and German release prints to create the longest and most comprehensive version known to exist. "

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Prisoner Of Franco-Stein – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema Of Jesús Franco
• In The Land Of Franco Part 10
• Spanish Opening Credit Sequence
• Deleted Scene From English Language Version
• Trailer
• Webstore Exclusive Slipcover

FEATURE SPECS:

• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Audio: English Mono, Spanish Mono, Italian Mono, German Mono, French Mono
• Subtitles: English
• Closed Captions
• Region: A/B/C

https://severinfilms.com/collections...sive-slipcover

[Ian Jane]

Diabolik had it in stock briefly but it's sold out already.

https://diabolikdvd.com/product/shin...iabook-4k-uhd/

[agent999]

agent999: "Is it actually 4k? This is Germany after all!"

I watched it and it looked great. The 4K makes it more immersive. I felt like I had the razor burn.

Thanks, will have to check it out.

[mjeon]

agent999: "Is it actually 4k? This is Germany after all!"

I watched it and it looked great. The 4K makes it more immersive. I felt like I had the razor burn.

[Stephen]

Let's hope the 103 minutes is a misprint because the film is definitely not complete at that length.
If they can't find film elements for the missing footage from THE BLOODY JUDGE then at least it exists on DVD in better quality than they have presented those scenes in their past releases. A longer composite as an extra would have been nice.

Yes, that's true. In this case I prefer the composite version, as the suicide scene with Maria Rohm and Hans Hass jr. give the film a more balanced view. In fact you are more intersted in the characters when watching this composite. The German BD box by Koch (now Plaion) includes the composite version only in SD, but still in pretty good quality.

[Stephen]

Coming 4/9/24 from Full Moon.

The DVD from Full Moon was a shorter version running only 91 minutes. Will be interesting to see if they now release the unedited version that should be about 108 minutes (not that this imporoves the film anyway).

[Ian Jane]

Coming 4/9/24 from Full Moon.

[Josh Ouellette]

Audio in English, French and German. It's a two-disc set with a 4K disc and a blu-ray. It's said to be the first disc in a new series of Eurocine sex films. A kind of European Criterion Collection.

I have been (unsuccessfully) looking for a place to buy this were the shipping isn't more than the price of the disc. Shipping from D&T has gotten more expensive over the years.
From what I can tell the inclusion of a French audio track seems to be a listing mistake that has been repeated. I think it only includes the English track and a newly dubbed German track.
As far as the transfer goes who knows if it is just an upscale or actually 4k. It is Eurocine that is providing the transfer so I guess the safe bet would be to wait for a review.

[Josh Ouellette]

Let's hope the 103 minutes is a misprint because the film is definitely not complete at that length.
If they can't find film elements for the missing footage from THE BLOODY JUDGE then at least it exists on DVD in better quality than they have presented those scenes in their past releases. A longer composite as an extra would have been nice.
Either way a fresh scan and the new extras will make it worth a buy.