With the third installment of their Danza Macabra series, the fine, twisted folks at Severin Films shift focus from the boot of Italy to the Iberian peninsula. This collection spotlights four fascinating Spanish examples of the sort of moody gothic filmmaking that Italian directors like Mario Bava and Antonio Margheriti, not to mention Hammer Films in Britain, helped to popularize for international markets.
Rife with reptilian monsters, vampires, zombified Knights Templar, and even a cameo from Frankenstein and his misbegotten creation, these films vary considerably in tone and approach, ranging from rambling shaggy-dog tales to almost esoteric fables. They also differ in how far they’re willing to go with their respective lashings of sex and violence, growing bolder as the restrictions of the Franco regime lifted after the dictator’s passing in 1975.
Writer-director Miguel Madrid’s schizoid Necrophagous, from 1971, divides its time between two principal storylines that barely cohere in the end.
Rife with reptilian monsters, vampires, zombified Knights Templar, and even a cameo from Frankenstein and his misbegotten creation, these films vary considerably in tone and approach, ranging from rambling shaggy-dog tales to almost esoteric fables. They also differ in how far they’re willing to go with their respective lashings of sex and violence, growing bolder as the restrictions of the Franco regime lifted after the dictator’s passing in 1975.
Writer-director Miguel Madrid’s schizoid Necrophagous, from 1971, divides its time between two principal storylines that barely cohere in the end.
- 7/30/2024
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
I Am GodI’ve said it before and I will always be pleased to say it again: For a film festival to be relevant it is absolutely essential it presents to its audience a line connecting cinema’s present with cinema’s past. The education is key, the experience thrilling and the open-mindedness engendered are all requisite to keep the art living and enjoyed, especially in an age where an audience might be attracted to the event of a film festival but otherwise rarely, if ever, go to the cinema anymore. With over 250 feature films and a similar amount of shorts in its 2018 selection, it was easy to get lost in the massive schedule of the 47th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Which is why I greatly appreciated two particular sections at the festival curated by programmers with acute focus and taste that comparatively left the larger, more vaguely collected sections...
- 2/6/2018
- MUBI
Severin Films make their return to the UK home video market with the Blu-ray release of two Jess Franco films in their library, She Killed in Ecstasy and Vampyros Lesbos – erotically charged Euro-horrors starring Franco fave Soledad Miranda which mark the pinnacle of Franco’s career. The former, a revenge thriller, is considered the best of the 200-odd films the Spanish auteur has made, whilst the latter is a crowd-pleasing slice of sleaze (who doesn’t love lesbian vampires) that is also an oddly-faithful adaptation of Dracula.
Vampyros Lesbos
Stars: Soledad Miranda, Ewa Strömberg, Dennis Price, Paul Muller, Heidrun Kussin, José Martínez Blanco, Michael Berling, Andrea Montchal | Written by Jaime Chávarri, Jesús Franco, Anne Settimó | Directed by Jess Franco
Utilising the same cast of performers has always been something of a trait of Jess Franco’s but when you watch two of his films back-to-back (as I did with Severin...
Vampyros Lesbos
Stars: Soledad Miranda, Ewa Strömberg, Dennis Price, Paul Muller, Heidrun Kussin, José Martínez Blanco, Michael Berling, Andrea Montchal | Written by Jaime Chávarri, Jesús Franco, Anne Settimó | Directed by Jess Franco
Utilising the same cast of performers has always been something of a trait of Jess Franco’s but when you watch two of his films back-to-back (as I did with Severin...
- 11/28/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Read More: Exclusive 'The Apostate' Poster Provides First Look at Dark Coming-of-Age Tale Federico Veiroj's Spanish dark comedy "The Apostate" is gearing up for its world premiere in the Contemporary Wold Cinema program at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Indiewire is excited to premiere the debut trailer for the upcoming foreign title. The film centers around a young man struggling to free himself from both his faith and his past. As these two worlds converge, he's forced to confront the scars of past desires and guilts. Alvaro Ogalla, Bárbara Lennie, Vicky Peña and Jaime Chávarri star. After making its premiere at Tiff, the film will play in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Read More: 15 Spanish Films Make the Cut at 59th San Sebastian Film Festival...
- 8/18/2015
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
In a bid to promote and collaborate audiovisual exchange between the Iberoamerican Commonwealth and India, Ibermumbai was inaugurated in Mumbai at Whistling Woods.
An initiative of the Embassy of Spain and supported by the Iberoamerican Embassies in India, Ibermumbai will entail a week of world cinema followed with interactive meetings and film screenings with the aim of promoting the exchange of ideas and bridging the cinematographic divide between countries.
Noted Indian film director Shekhar Kapur and top Spanish director Jaime Chávarri inaugurated this unique one week event along.
An initiative of the Embassy of Spain and supported by the Iberoamerican Embassies in India, Ibermumbai will entail a week of world cinema followed with interactive meetings and film screenings with the aim of promoting the exchange of ideas and bridging the cinematographic divide between countries.
Noted Indian film director Shekhar Kapur and top Spanish director Jaime Chávarri inaugurated this unique one week event along.
- 11/11/2009
- by realbollywood
- RealBollywood.com
We just added video from the event; see the bottom of the page...
The 23rd annual Goya Awards (Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars) ceremony took place in Madrid last night. This year, there was little in the way of genre fare among the titles competing for the Spanish film industry’s top accolade, but one of the greats of international exploitation cinema was honored with a Lifetime Achievemant Award: None other than “el tío Jess,” a.k.a. Jesus Franco.
The 72-year-old director/producer/ screenwriter/actor/musician (pictured), obviously not in the best of health, came on stage in a wheelchair pushed by his longtime companion, the Catalonian star of innumerable Franco films, Lina Romay. A montage of clips from Franco’s four-decade career was projected to the massed ranks of Spanish showbiz elite—many of whom obviously had no idea who Franco was and appeared frankly bemused by...
The 23rd annual Goya Awards (Spain’s equivalent of the Oscars) ceremony took place in Madrid last night. This year, there was little in the way of genre fare among the titles competing for the Spanish film industry’s top accolade, but one of the greats of international exploitation cinema was honored with a Lifetime Achievemant Award: None other than “el tío Jess,” a.k.a. Jesus Franco.
The 72-year-old director/producer/ screenwriter/actor/musician (pictured), obviously not in the best of health, came on stage in a wheelchair pushed by his longtime companion, the Catalonian star of innumerable Franco films, Lina Romay. A montage of clips from Franco’s four-decade career was projected to the massed ranks of Spanish showbiz elite—many of whom obviously had no idea who Franco was and appeared frankly bemused by...
- 2/2/2009
- Fangoria
Spanish docu pays tribute to terror victims
MADRID -- Two weeks after synchronized bombings on four rush-hour commuter trains in Madrid killed 190 people and wounded 1,400, 20 Spanish filmmakers said they plan to make a documentary as a tribute to the victims and the heroes of the March 11 terrorist attack. The docu, titled Madrid 11M: We Were All in That Train and due to be released in May, will comprise 20 three- to five-minute films profiling people who were affected by the attack. Madrid 11M is an independent, nonprofit initiative and will be funded by the individual filmmakers with support from Docus Madrid, which assists the production, distribution and promotion of documentaries, the filmmakers said Friday. The filmmakers include Jaime Chavarri, Jorge Iglesias, Miguel Angel Nieto and Sergio Cabrera.
- 3/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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