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Snakewoman
Directed By Jess Franco
Released: 2005
Starring: Christie Levin, Carmen Montes, Fata Morgana, and Antonio Mayans
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Released By SRS Cinema 2006
Carla (Carmen Montes) travels to the Balasz estate in order to buy the
rights to the film work of the famous early 20th century actress, Oriana
(Christie Levin). The Balasz family refuses to allow Carla’s company to
acquire Oriana's work nor will they allow anyone to see her final and unfinished short film. While
trying to make the deal, Carla is
assaulted by visions of the Snakewoman, a vampiric character in a cape and
nothing else; her body adorned with a giant snake tattoo. Carla begins to
lose her grip on reality as she starts having an affair with this
mysterious woman.
Jess Franco, the man responsible for films such as Vampyros Lesbos,
The Erotic Rites Of Frankenstein, and She Killed In
Ecstasy, is still at it. His career in film spanning over 40 years
should explain why he can get his substandard work in the DV age released
at all. While Snakewoman is not the worst of the director’s
recent work it still brings to mind his older and better films. The
camerawork is dreadful with its shaky movements, dirty lens, overly dark
scenes (in broad daylight!), and pathetic zooming. At least the lovely
Spanish locations and abundant wildlife help keep the screen filled with
something other than softcore sex and chuckle-inducing dialogue scenes.
Sound is also atrocious with quiet dialogue remedied by blown out levels
but the distorted guitar and synthesizer-laden soundtrack sounds fine.
The plot follows Vampyros Lesbos very closely but with a
totally different, more upbeat ending. Unlike, its 35 year old
predecessor, Snakewoman is full of unacceptable faults.
There is an extremely useless shot of Oriana shaking her can for the
camera and an overlong shot of Carla’s lower half that seems to go on
forever. There is also Oriana talking ceaselessly about asses,
inexplicable male and female nudity, writhing around, stupid dialogue,
etc. Even for an erotic horror movie, these moments are pretty lousy.
Christie Levin is great as Oriana the Snakewoman. She is pretty fearless
when it comes to sex scenes with Carmen Montes and Fata Morgana but she
also isn’t afraid to be silly (which is a requirement in late Franco
films). Montes is decent as the bewitched Carla and Fata Morgana puts
forth a great effort as Alpha (a carbon copy of the Agra character in
Vampros Lesbos). Male performances are mostly deplorable in the
film with the exception of veteran Spanish actor, Antonio Mayans. Even he
wears out his welcome with the repetitive scenes of Latin chanting.
The entire Snakewoman affair is a mediocre one. A weird
softcore horror romp with only mild blood-spillage (guys, watch out for
the wince-inducing footage towards the end) and filled with barely
competent technical work to boot. However, I actually found myself getting
into the relationship between Carla and Oriana against my will. The ladies
are all gorgeous and natural (no silicone or airbrushing here) and the
movie resists becoming too violent or too sleazy. Jess Franco fans should
stop in and see what he’s up to these days and lesbian vampire flick fans
will be moderately amused. I’m just wondering how they kept that obviously
fake snake tattoo from smudging during all that… you know.
DVD Specs:
The Snakewoman DVD looks and sounds pretty good. The full
frame presentation is decent. Any audio/visual problems (an audible hiss
or overly dark scenes) can be attributed to the source material. Subtitles
are clear and easy to read but there is a lot of mumbling and chanting
that is not translated. There is a still gallery showcasing the production
of Snakewoman and trailers for China White Serpentine and
Bizarre
Lust Of A Sexual Deviant.
The only unwanted extra on the disc is Franco’s feature film, Dr.
Wong’s Virtual Hell. This droll piece of softcore garbage features
a washed up Lina Romay (Female Vampire) and the director
himself as the title character and unintelligible narrator. Although there
are some fun moments with hypnotizing eyewear and numerous cheesed out
video effects, this overlong feature is nearly impossible to sit through.
I liked the word balloons.
For more information:
SRS
Cinema
One Shot Productions
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