Vampyros Lesbos

Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stroemberg) and her fianceé Omar (Andrés Morales) visit an Istanbul nightclub where the vampire Countess Nadine Carody (the enchanting Soledad Miranda) performs. The Countess takes an interest in Linda and decides to initiate her into the mysteries of the undead. After her first visit to the Countess's mansion, Linda is found wandering on the beach and taken to Dr Seward's sanitorium, where a previous victim of the Countess, the Renfield-like Agra (Heidrun Kussin) is already a patient. Linda's fiancee comes to reclaim her and learns that she is in mortal danger. Seward (Dennis Price – obviously needing a gig to pay the bills) has not told the whole truth, however: He would like to become one of the undead himself and hopes to use Linda to lure the Countess into a trap…

Vampyros Lesbos writer-director-cinematographer Jesus Franco is a film-maker for the one percent, his 150+ films existing in that twilight zone between the arthouse and grindhouse, too trashy and outré for the former, too personal and difficult for the latter.

Films like Vampyros Lesbos, therefore, must be taken as instances of a genre unto themselves: the Franco film, an idiosyncratic combination of stock fantasy material and hermetic inter-textual references.

In this case the plot is a free, distaff adaptation of Bram Stoker's short story Dracula's Guest that relocates the action from Transylvania to Istanbul – a somewhat ironic setting when one considers the historical Vlad Tepesh's fights against the Turks – and presents a vampire who has no issues with nude sunbathing, let alone wandering around in full daylight.

Elsewhere, Morpho makes an appearance as Carody's mute servant, while Franco plays another of his self-deprecating idiot roles as Agra's husband, whose response to the Countess's predations is to abduct and kill the women visiting her before she gets the chance.

The director also edits in seemingly disconnected shots of scorpions and balloons; the sort of touch that shows he is much more than a hack. The former seems to be a nod to both Franco's countryman Buñuel and his mentor Welles's favourite fable of the scorpion who cannot but sting the frog who carries him across the river, thereby causing both their deaths. The latter is anyone's guess.

Overall, while still definitely an acquired taste, Vampyros Lesbos works well. Franco achieves a lighter, less pathological, more consistent overall tone than, say, Exorcism or Female Vampire, while Hubler and Schwab's scoring, with its fuzz guitar, sitar and Hammond organ grooves, so out of place in She Killed in Ecstasy, at least fits in here with the casual pop stylings of the film itself.

Second Sight's Region 2 DVD of Vampyros Lesbos presents the film in a restored, remastered version, in its original aspect ratio and without cuts. Sourced from a German language print, the film looks and sounds good, with bright, solid colours and a clear mono audio track.

As with She Killed in Ecstasy, the disc is light on extras, with only the original German trailer and a small stills gallery. Nonetheless, this is another worthwhile purchase for the Franco fan.