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There's no denying that the Jesus Franco of the 21st Century is a completely distilled version of the diabolical director who enjoyed his heyday in the 1960s and 1970s. Devoid of the healthy budgets pumped into his commercial films of 30 years ago, Franco's new shot-on-video productions are fueled not so much by cash and imagination but by poverty and hallucination. Franco no longer worries about such basics as plot or character development, he moves from scene to scene creating one unbelievable moment and then another, not necessarily caring if the plot or story has moved forward, backward, sideways or completely off the wall. It is as though what's on the screen at the moment is all that matters, what came before or what comes next is anybody's guess -- even Franco's.

One Shot Productions is not, as many have claimed, a bunch of fans paying for Franco's filmed fantasies. The production company seems to enjoy allowing Senor Franco to pull the cinematic wool over unsuspecting viewers eyes time after time. VAMPIRE JUNCTION, for example, takes an inexplicable mix of characters (cowboys, doctors, acrobatic nudist vampires, a Dracula-wannabee, drunks, etc.) and tosses them all into a tourist trap of an old West ghost town and allows them all to shake up against one another for 90 minutes or so. Who knows what happens or why? Seeing nubile naked vampettes walking backwards on all fours like spiders while chubby old sheriffs are taking pot shots at old Scratch as we listen to the town drunk warbling nonsense while sitting on a hobby horse isn't supposed to make sense to anyone but Jesus Franco. Naturally, Lina Romay, with her prime deep in her rear-view mirror, wanders through the proceedings trying to solve whatever mystery the director has foisted on the story.

And it's as though Franco is daring you to try to understand or even try to enjoy anything he puts in front of you.

Many people hate Franco's films and some post vapid commentary on the IMDb or in chat rooms or forums about why he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a camera. The director and his producers must laugh at those comments all the way to their respective banks. I don't think Franco is going to be appreciated by his contemporaries or even by the grandchildren of his contemporaries. Jess is so off the map that only his true fans who can read the subliminal threads from film to film can truly enjoy his latter day output. For the rest of us, we can push around the tea leaves and embrace the rare -- but always present -- moment of exhilarated genius and wait for the next Franco film or video that will exasperate us no matter how prepared for it we will be.

And, as usual, we'll laugh at the doubters and naysayers, and we'll make believe we understand the canvas Franco is creating for us.

From my personal experience, most independent films these days tend to be overly preachy and showoff-ish. It's almost as though the new blood directors are shouting "look at me" rather than "look at my story." When I had an opportunity to watch "Praey" I was pleasantly surprised. Refreshing young director Tiffany Sinclair has laid out a fully developed story with mostly fully developed characters. I won't bore you by trying to tell the plot, quite simply the tale centers on a woman with a mission, seeking revenge on a sordid villain, while meeting all kinds of creepy and/or angelic characters along the way. Somewhat derivative but never rote, the story mixes unequal amounts of drama, terror, gore and the supernatural and winds up mostly satisfying to fans of each genre in the end. Sinclair adds just enough spooks and scares and unexpected twists to make the proceedings feel fresh and inventive. Sinclair herself and Prawin Adhikari are the actors to watch and both give excruciatingly believable performances that should have you cringing in pain right along with them. The rest of the cast is not as memorable but are about par for these shoestring productions but rarely, if ever, negatively impact upon the audience's enjoyment of the story.

You may not recognize the name Tiffany Sinclair just yet but she has put plenty of potential on the screen with "Praey" and you should hear a lot from her in the near future. Her deft use of an intimate but non-intrusive camera and her ability to get compelling performances from her cast should make Sinclair a hot commodity.