"You must suffer like him. Like him!"

Do you not hate it when people utilize their first blog post to merely type the word “testing”? Me too, so I’m beginning mine with a brief film review that, although it will hardly contribute anything revelatory to the array of reviews already accumulated on the Internet, will nonetheless give you a small taste of what is to come.

Everyone loves some good Euro-sleaze, do they not? I’m speaking cinematically, and in that a vein I’d like to take a look at the film from which my current profile picture is derived, a supremely beautiful slice of sleaze indeed called Sie tötete in Ekstase (She Killed in Ecstasy; 1971) directed by the one and only Jess Franco. It must first be observed, however, that this film provides much more than simple sleaze; with this fast paced and even poetic film Franco paints a palpably intense atmosphere of pervading madness and violence.

The plot, such as it is, is incredibly far-fetched but within the context of a uniquely European genre of which plot is hardly a pervading concern, it functions suitably enough, and is certainly entertaining. The astonishingly beautiful Soledad Miranda is the wife of a well-intentioned doctor (Fred Williams) whose controversial research is rejected by the delightfully despicable, self-righteous local medical community, headed by Franco regulars Howard Vernon, Paul Müller, Ewa Strömberg and Franco himself. Being called a charlatan by these snobby assholes doesn’t sit well with Dr. Johnson, and he promptly goes completely insane. Mrs. Johnson (Miranda) is obviously distraught and sets out to seduce, torture and murder those who set her husband on his downward spiral.

Stylistically, She Killed in Ecstasy quite resembles what is perhaps Franco’s most well-known film (and probably his best), Vampyros Lesbos, released shortly before the same year, both in terms of the bizarre lighting’s bright, psychedelic color themes, and in the equally psychedelic, jazzy and cheerfully dated score. Also like Vampyros Lesbos, the film’s plot flies along at a quite appropriately fast speed, something that Franco’s films are certainly not known for. It also has some truly astounding cinematography, featuring all of the constant zooms typical of his work, but presented with a more carefully focused and poetic eye than in, say, Female Vampire a few years later (the most notable scene here is probably a particularly uncomfortable one in which Miranda’s character suffocates a woman with an inflatable pillow, seen in the above screen capture).

Despite the somewhat convoluted plot, the film remains a compelling example of Jess Franco at his very best, and is must see for fans of the genre.