Voodoo Passion

Since 'Voodoo Passion' (or 'Call of the blond goddess', that is the original title, literally translated) is regarded by many Franco experts as one of his lesser works from the 1970s, I didn't exactly rush to get the DVD, but when I finally did, it turned out to be much better than many say. I don't know how anyone can prefer a bungled work like 'Nightmares Come At Night' over this surprisingly round work of art. The movie lives very much from the music, maybe that is an underestimated factor. Turn up the sound, it helps a lot. Jess Franco, apart from being a director, also had a passion for jazz music, and he used jazz combined with voodoo drums to create obsessive intensity here. In the middle of the movie, the music suddenly stops for a while (when Susan tells Jack how scared she is), and the scary silence makes you aware how much everything was in a musical flow before, driving on and on through the dances and rituals.

The story as usual can be told in 5 lines: Susan (Ada Tauler) comes to an island (the tag line says it's Haiti) to marry Jack House (Franco regular Jack Taylor). A woman he introduces as his sister Olga (Karine Gambier) turns out to be his lover, so much for a normal marriage. Susan has nightmares of herself killing people under the influence of voodoo, and the housekeeper Ines (Vicky Adams) seems to have something to do with it. A conspiracy against Susan has begun... Debutante Vicky Adams plays the priestess with mesmerizing charm, stealing the show every time the camera catches her, thus she well deserved to become the first listed in the cast, although her role is smaller than those of Susan and Olga.

Voodoo Passion (1977)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Jess Franco film about a woman who goes to visit her husband in Haiti and soon discovers another woman living in the house who claims to be her husband's nympho sister. The wife buys the story but soon she begins to be haunted by dreams of voodoo and a mysterious woman coming to warn her. Ada Tauler, Jack Taylor, Vicky Adams and Karine Gambier star in this film, which is a remake of Franco's 1970 film Nightmares Come at Night, which wasn't the best film in the director's career but it's certainly better than this. The biggest difference between the two is that the original went for more of a psychological style while this one here is nothing but non-stop sex scenes, which grow quite boring after a while. There's some beautiful locations, a nice music score and great sets but that's about the only thing this film has going for it. There is one hot lesbian scenes and some really bad dialogue, which gets some laughs but you'll do better searching out other parts of Franco's career.

This is a movie that I don't know if I knew about before getting a Blu-ray screener copy from Full Moon for review. When I saw that this was from Jesús Franco, I was intrigued. I've seen movies from him and have heard/read about countless others. I was intrigued to see what we'd get here as this is credited as a gialli. Other than that, I went blind.

Synopsis: Susan (Ada Tauler) comes to Haiti to be with her husband. His naked sister asks her, if she's ever made love to a woman. Susan dreams vividly of nudity, Voodoo rituals and killing.

We start this on the beach where men are playing bongo drums and there are topless women dancing. Something this movie will give throughout is about how important voodoo is to Haiti. This also feels like filler. We shift over to a ship arriving. Waiting by a car is Ines (Vicky Adams). She is also the housekeeper for Jack House (Jack Taylor) who is an ambassador. His wife, Susan, gets off the ship. The camera shows us natives and I get the idea that there is fear there since she is white. Ines is also white, but we learn she is from here from mixed racial parents.

Susan is brought home to unpack and freshen up. She goes into her room to find her husband's sister, Olga (Karine Gambier), nude in bed. This is where she asks the question to her sister-in-law from the synopsis.

Soon after Susan visits her husband at the embassy and we meet three men with him. One of them is Dr. Pierre Barre (Vitor Mendes) who is a psychiatrist. Jack is happy to see his wife and he drives her home. It is through their conversations that Susan is intrigued by voodoo and her husband has knowledge that he shares.

It is also at once that Susan has the dreams from the synopsis. This is taking her to see a ritual led by Ines. Susan also believes that she seduces men she met with her husband and kills them. She is convinced though that no murders occurred by Jack and Pierre. The deeper she gets into these dreams, the more her sanity comes into question as secrets are revealed.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this should be labeled as adult first. This is a softcore porn. Almost every scene with Tauler and Gambier feature them nude. They get more explicit as this goes on. Adams also appears nude quite a bit after the opening act. I didn't mind seeing these women that way as they're all beautiful. It gets to be uncomfortable after a while though.

Now that I have that out of the way, a problem that I had was that the nudity seems more important than the story. There is a murder mystery here, but that feels almost more incidental. This is more interested in having sex scenes between Susan and Jack. Or having Olga listen to them and pleasure herself. Anything big thing here is have nude women dancing in ritualistic format or having Susan investigate in a nightgown that hides nothing. If you're looking for Swiss giallo, it is light on those elements of mystery and investigation unfortunately.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, we do have murders or at least Susan thinks there are. She isn't sure what is real and what is a dream. That does add to a surreal feel. We also don't necessarily know if she is giving over to her sexual desires either. I do think that Franco does well there. I should credit Tauler, because she doesn't know if she is doing these things which is messing with her head. She plays this well and I'll credit her for being nude as much as she is.

Going then to the rest of the cast. Adams is gorgeous and Gambier is easy on the eyes. Taylor is good as he seems like this loving husband who works too much. There was something off about him that I noticed from the start. The same for Mendes. Other than that, I thought the rest of the cast fit what was needed. Franco was able to find people who were willing to be nude on camera, showing full frontal if you are seeking that.

All that is left is filmmaking. Now I do think this has too much filler. We do get to see Portugal and how beautiful it is subbing in as Haiti. The cinematography is good for what was captured. The framing feels like something you'd get from softcore porn, so that wasn't shocking there. I will credit that surreal feel of whether we are seeing dreams or reality. The deaths are off-screen. I get why though since this is exploring whether Susan is going crazy. The soundtrack did fit where this supposed to take place and that atmosphere as well.

In conclusion, this movie wasn't what I was expecting. This is more of an adult film than a giallo. That falls on me though, not the movie that Franco was making. I do think that the casting was good. The women are beautiful. This does capture the atmosphere they wanted with voodoo and whether Susan is killing these people or is dreams? That works in its favor. This didn't work for me overall though. If you want to see a softcore film with beautiful women and nudity from almost everyone, then give this a watch. I'd also recommend to fans of Franco.

My Rating: 5 out of 10.