Vampyros Lesbos

This has got to be one of the most surreal films ever made. The film brilliantly combines weird art-house imagery with sexadelic soft-core to create a genuinly original film, full of strange gothic colours and futuristic, freefall visuals. The eerie soundtrack of spacey synths and sexy piano sleeze brilliantly captures Linda's confusion as she enters the world of the mysterious Countess. This film is quite unlike anything else you have seen before.

I was very curious to see this film after having heard so many things about it! And indeed, "Vampyros Lesbos" even exceeded my expectations! Loaded with symbolic language, an almost dream-like atmosphere, unusual camera angles, a fantastic score and some Franco typical lesbian soft sex the Spanish director created an absolute masterpiece of Europe´s early 1970s sleazy cinema. Both main actresses Soledad Miranda and Ewa Strömberg are excellent in the lead and maybe one of the hottest lesbian couples ever brought on the screen. Some people may find it boring, cheap and eventless, but "Las Vampiras" is not a film you should watch about story or suspense! It is a brilliant mixture of art and trash, and I was truly surprised what great film it is after having seen so many different works of the director. This gem is a pure trip into surreality: Wonderful! Psychedelic! Watch it and LIVE!

Not much happens in this movie. Like most Franco films, it features scenes that are slow and extended, with cliché situations. Its saving grace is that it reflects the dreams and hallucinations of the woman/victim, so the elongated scenes have a dreamlike quality which is effective and sometimes seductive. The violence is restrained, some blood here and there. Although I dislike gore, I did wish the horror element was played up more.

I enjoyed the musical score, uniquely psychedelic. It had some success as a dance reissue in the mid 90s. Soledad Miranda is incredibly beautiful. To me, watching her is reason enough to go through this film. Her strip tease scene is very unique, and fortunately gets repeated in the film. Her looks are beguiling in every one of her seduction scenes. Otherwise the movie is an average mixed bag.

Linda Westinghouse(Ewa Stromberg)travels to a small island in Turkey to help Countess Nadine Carody(beautiful Soledad Miranda)complete an inheritance from Dracula's.The Countess turns out to be someone appearing in her dreams.But the Countess is a vampire and seduces Linda and drinks her blood."Las Vampiras"/"Vampyros Lesbos" is really a soft-core lesbian take on "Dracula".The film is filled with hallucinatory atmosphere and sensuality,so fans of violent exploitation may be disappointed.Jesus Franco plays a creepy hotel worker who likes to take women down into the basement.The soundtrack is pretty groovy-I liked it a lot.Overall,"Vampyros Lesbos" is a masterpiece and a must-see for fans of sleazy horror.

In Istanbul, the lawyer of Simpson & Simpson Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stromberg) has erotic dreams with a strange woman every night and her analyst Dr. Alwin Seward (Denis Price) suggests her to find another lover. Linda is assigned to resolve an inheritance issue with the Hungarian Countess Nadine Oskudar (Soledad Miranda) that has inherited a real estate from Count Dracula. Linda leaves her boyfriend Omar (Victor Feliman) in the Istanbul Hilton and travels to the Kadidados Island. While waiting for transportation in the continent, Linda is advised by a local that the island would be a place of death and insanity and she should not travel to there. However, she does not pay attention to the man and meets Countess Oskudar that is a lesbian vampire fascinated by Linda. The Countess drinks the blood of Linda and she has amnesia and is sent to a mental institution where Dr, Steiner (Paul Muller) who is also a vampire expert, treats her and puts an advertisement in the newspapers. Omar finds Linda and Dr. Steiner teaches her how to kill a vampire. Linda has to be very powerful to resist the spell of Countess Oskudar that has a crush on her and destroy the vampire.

"Vampiros Lesbos" is an erotic and cult version of Bram Stoker's Dracula by Jesus Franco. The story is very similar to the classic novel of 1897, but instead of Count Dracula, the vampire is a sexy female that was raped by Dracula centuries ago and does not like man. The lead actresses Ewa Stromberg and Soledad Miranda are very beautiful and undress practically in every scene. The film is very entertaining and funny. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Vampiras Lésbicas" ("Lesbian Vampires")