Way back in the early 1970s, Jess Franco, prolific Spanish director, helmed some divisively eccentric films. I love most of his output, but it was often difficult to imagine what some of his artistic choices actually meant. Better just to accept them and enjoy the ride ...
Thirty years later, when Franco's budgets and exposure had diminished, 'enjoying the ride' has become more of a challenge. One Shot Productions, predominantly run by fans to allow Jess to continue making films, gloried in their cheapness, as their moniker suggests. Franco's long-held disinterest in what happened to his films after he had finished making them has surely reached its zenith at this time - he doesn't consider any audience outside his own 'world' anymore, it seems; like many One Shots, this seems to be made by him, for him.
Here, under two of many aliases Clifford Brown Jr. (as Director) and David J. Khunne (Writer), he mixes new footage with out-takes from previous productions for the company, often featuring slo-mo video-images of female flesh - his 46 year-old partner and muse Lina Romay providing much of it - and marries them together with much repeated narration from the words of The Marquis De Sade and some effective, but unconnected, paintings by Alfonso Azpiri. The results are typically odd, with no obvious point to them.
'Helter Skelter' comes as a bonus film on the DVD release of Franco's 'Broken Dolls'. Much as I love much of his output, this is pretty much impossible to watch all the way through. With these One Shot Productions, sometimes it is tempting to fast-forward through the lengthy flesh and sex scenes; here, that's all there is.
Billed as 'Part One: Pleasure and Pain', there were never any subsequent chapters. My score is 2 out of 10, mainly for the score and Azpiri's pictures.
