Vampiress Review: "Dracula Prisoner of Frankenstein"

The Gist: Dr. Frankenstein moves into Dracula's castle and resurrects his dead body in order to use the vampire to do his bidding.

Clarification: I don't know much about the background of the making of this movie but by watching it it's very obvious that this film as well as Dracula's Daughter was made at the same time as they have pretty much the same cast and same setting though this film would be a lot tamer than Dracula's Daughter which was released two months after this one.  

It's not a very strong film story wise and can be summed up pretty effortlessly.  Basically Dr, Frankenstein resurrects Dracula,  Dracula attacks a few people, The Dr. regrets resurrecting Dracula and destroys him, the end.  Unlike many of Jess Franco's films this one can't be described what so ever as erotic horror though.  There is no nudity or eroticism whatsoever in this one.  Obviously if you saw my review for Dracula's Daughter he more then made up for it with that one. 

Selling Point: Another opportunity to see Britt Nichols with fangs.

Female Vampire Factor: As mentioned above it's pretty much the same cast as Dracula's Daughter so this would be the first of two films were Nichols would be playing a sexy vampiress but this film is not even in the same league as the other one in the "Sexy" category.  Here she just kind of appears randomly to take victims or just hiss at the screen where as the other one she's a full blown lesbian vampire sex pot.

Also in the film Dracula takes a crazy woman named Maria (Paca Gabaldón) and turns her.  She really only gets one scene as a vampire before she's destroyed in the films finale.  Her role for most of the film before that is to make random orgasm like noises in a room whenever she's on screen.

This is definitely a skipable film all around.   At the end of the day all this film does is make me want to watch Dracula's Daughter again which is a great erotic horror film as this makes me appreciate it so much more (plus you get to see the women in this film naked in that one).  I give it a Vampire Beauty Rating of 3 out of 5. 

Vampiress Review: "Vampyros Lesbos"

The Gist: A woman becomes the target of a sexy lesbian vampire who wants her as a companion

Clarification:  Probably one of Jess Francos most well known films.  Vampyros Lesbos is more or less a really sexy lesbian version of Dracula.  The character "Linda Westinghouse" is pretty much just Mina, Countess Carody is Dracula, Agra is Renfield and so on.

Selling Point: Everything about Soledad Miranda

Female Vampire Factor: Many of Jess Franco's vampire films don't have fangs but in most cases that can be forgiven as he gets the seductress part of the vampire so right.  If you want to see Soledad Miranda with fangs she does have them in his version of Count Dracula but this is by far the superior film.  

Soledad Miranda (Countess Nadine Carody)

 Countess Carody's chosen profession in this film is that she is a performance artist who does nude vampire stage acts which probably makes her at least some inspiration for the character Regine Dandridge in Fright Night 2.

 Once she gets to you she has a psychic bond to you and can communicate with you subconsciously.  This results in anyone she takes a liking to eventually going crazy.  By the films end she has turned Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stromburg) who doesn't want any part of the curse.  Linda is eventually told that in order to free herself she must kill the Countess which she does by draining her of her blood then shoving a sharp object through her eye.  It was pretty sexy up until the last part.

It's a great film from an artistic standpoint.  Miranda's role here made her stand out as probably one of the greatest female vampires in films of all time.  Sadly she would die in a car accident just a few weeks after this film premiered in August of 1970.  This becomes all the more tragic since she was originally scheduled to take the role Lina Romay had in the film Female Vampires (Erotikill).  That means we would have eventually got a film of Soledad Miranda in nothing but over the knee boots and a cloak sexing people to death (Not that Romay did a bad job by any means).  This film gets a Vampire Beauty Rating of 4 out of 5 with only the lack of fangs really hurting it.

Vampiress Review: Jess Franco's Female Vampire

The Gist:  A mute Countess goes around town killing people by stealing their life force

Clarification:  Despite the DVD cover the countess (played by Lina Romay) does not have fangs and she does not kill by biting in the neck like your run of the mill vampire (unless you get the toned down version of the movie in which she still doesn't have fangs but does bite).  In the "true" form of the movie she steals her victims life force during oral sex.  Basically her victims have an orgasm and expire so she is best described as a nympho succubus more than a vampire.

Selling point:  Besides the hot death scenes? I guess it would be when she is on the hunt she is wearing nothing more than a belt, some over the knee boots and a cape the entire movie.

 
Female Vampire Factor: This movie gets a vampire beauty rating of 5 out of 5.  If you're going to only have one vampire in it, make sure she's hot, naked during it and has the ability to be sexy without saying a word in the whole thing.  Even with the obvious blooper that should have been edited out in the opening credits.