This film starts out with a semi-clad female by the name of "Countess Irina Karlstein" (Lina Romay) walking in a forest in Spain on a foggy evening. She then comes upon a man who she easily seduces and then proceeds to kill him while he is in the throes of passion by drinking his blood. Although she clearly doesn't enjoy her actions, she knows that she cannot stop because she suffers from what she calls "the curse of the Karlsteins" which requires her to feed at regular intervals. And so, not long afterward, she seduces another man in her hotel room and kills him as well. Meanwhile, upon examining the first body, a man by the name of "Dr. Roberts" (Jesus Franco) begins to investigate and each day the evidence leads him closer and closer to the source of it all. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Not only was the entire film extremely slow and boring but the director (Jesus Franco) kept playing the same awful music to each scene over and over again which really got on my nerves. Likewise, although several scenes involved sex and nudity, none of them were in the least bit erotic. Quite the opposite. In short, I didn't care for this movie at all and I have rated it accordingly.

Hmm. When watching this film you might be forgiven for forgetting that you're actually supposed to be viewing a horror film. I mean, yes, the theme is vampires, but there is no actual horror in this film - one graphic and a couple of implied deaths, yes, but nothing else that would disturb you. The fact is, that director Jess Franco was out to make a film where he could show the world as much of his wife Lina Romay in the nude as possible - and he succeeded. The horror, unfortunately, only comes second.As you might expect from a director with Franco's reputation, this isn't a film for all tastes. Most film fans will likely be put off by the lack of an actual plot or story to THE FEMALE VAMPIRE - instead, it's just a number of scenes linked together with some added filler in-between to stand in for the plot. All of these scenes are sexual in nature, which quickly became boring for me but might appeal to other viewers. Romay is actually not bad as the vampire herself, a mute, waif-like figure who walks about in a see-through nightie. It's clear that Franco desperately wants to make a film in the style of Jean Rollin and he does succeed to some degree - scenes of Romay stalking the woods looking for victims are done quite effectively. It's just a shame there are only a couple of them.One thing this film has in its favour is the music. There's a main theme which plays constantly, a kind of lyrical piece with a mournful woman wailing. It's actually very good and gives the film an effectiveness that it really shouldn't have. Aside from the passable Romay are some stock wooden actors and poor dubbing; turning up in one role is the director himself, playing a doctor who obviously models himself every night on Dracula's Van Helsing. Elsewhere we have some hairy French macho-types to give you nightmares and a character named Dr. Orloff but who is totally unrelated to the mad doctor of Franco's first horror film, THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF (this guy is blind, for a start).Infuriatingly, just when it looks like something interesting is going to happen in this film, it abruptly cuts to the closing titles and fails to tie up any of the loose ends - in fact, nothing happens! Fans of female vampires should be sure to check out Hammer's Karnstein trilogy in place of this dull affair. It's clear that this film is a rip-off of that trilogy (the naming of the vampiress as KarLstein kind of gives the game away) but it lacks the necessary pacing and action to make it entertaining. A brief spot of gore or a cheesy special effect would have helped come to think of it. As sex films go, this explicit exercise in voyeurism would probably fit the bill quite nicely, but for a horror film, it just doesn't cut it.

Deadly and enigmatic mute vampiress Countess Irina Karlstein (the sumptuous Lina Romay at her most bold, expressive, and uninhibited) lives a tragic life of depressing solitude and emotional detachment due to the fact that she feeds on her victims at the moment of orgasm.Jess Franco not only does his customary adept job of crafting a strong and sensual, yet still brooding and melancholy atmosphere as well as astutely captures the wrenching loneliness of Irina's wretched plight, but also delivers plenty of tasty bare distaff flesh and oodles of unflinchingly raw'n'explicit sexuality that encompasses everything from fellatio to lesbianism to even bondage and discipline. Better still, Romay's singularly smoldering presence really keeps this movie humming: Walking through a mist-shrouded forest clad in a belt, flowing open cape, and long black leather boots, going full-throttle for several incredibly hot and graphic sex scenes (her solo masturbation set piece in particular rates as a definite arousing highlight), and never utterly a single word, but conveying a vivid world of unbearable sadness through her downcast eyes alone, Romay proves to be thoroughly mesmerizing from start to finish. Unfolding at a hypnotically deliberate pace, with often striking widescreen cinematography, a lush and elegant score by Daniel White, and welcome appearances by Franco regulars James Taylor, Alice Arno, and Monica Swinn, this typically outré Franco affair proves to be oddly affecting and captivating in its very unabashed strangeness.

"Female Vampire" isn't that bad of an adult vampire film, but it's still pretty flawed.**SPOILERS**Living alone on an island, Countess Irina Karlstein, (Lina Romay) spends her time laughing off rumors that she's a vampire while enjoying the steady stream of gigolos who come for her. When the police find the string of bodies dead, they believe the local legend about her is actually true. As she continues to make her way through the town, she comes upon Baron Von Rathony, (Jack Taylor) a poet who believes the stories about her being a vampire and wants her to make him an immortal, like she is. Attempting to take him into her lifestyle, she continues to ravage the town, leading forensic specialist Dr. Roberts, (Jess Franco) to deduce that a vampire has been involved all along and rushes out to stop her before more turn up dead.The Good News: This film could have been quite good, and it's best aspect is the tremendous emphasis on bare flesh. As the Countess walks around in nothing more than boots, a cape and a belt, thereby spending nearly every single second of the film naked, it becomes almost exclusively a showcase for Romay, who offers as uninhibited a performance as can be imagined. When she's not actively seducing her prey, she finds herself teasing her servant or attempting to pleasure herself, languidly rolling about on her bed and masturbating with abandon. At one point, she even performs an extended fellatio sequence on a bedpost. That is to take nothing away from the several extended and quite erotic love sequences in the film. While hard to accurately select a favorite, the fact that there's so many make this a real erotic masterpiece. The long and extended affair near the end is especially memorable, for the hypnotic feel of the scene is simply powerful and manages to become the highlight of the film. The frequent lesbian encounters are just as erotic and steamy as the regular scenes, and the club scene is one of the best in the film. The early encounter is just as good, and the frequency and eroticism of them makes them memorable. There's also some really fantastic mood shots in here, especially the opening shot where a figure emerges from a mist-enshrouded forest slowly, a later shot of the vampire leading their charges behind them through the same mist-enshrouded forest, and a spectacular scene where a couple is seen overlooking a shrub-covered mountainside on a mid-morning glaze. It's not all that bad.The Bad News: There's not a lot to dislike about this one, and one of it's biggest problems is from it's absolute willingness to play with the vampire rules. The titular vampire openly sunbathes, doesn't drink blood when she kills, and unless all the men have some freakish anatomical anomaly, the jugular is not involved at all. This strikes as somewhat unusual, as even the most basic stories of vampire films use these to their advantage, and that this one to just up and change the rules is quite surprising. The cinematography can be extremely annoying. Nearly every shot contains a series of zoom shots, then from wide to closeup back to wide shot, which becomes very distracting after about the twentieth time it occurs. Pans and zooms are also pretty jarring most of the time, which makes them stand out more than they should. Worse is that, on numerous occasions, the camera zooms in, then seems to be looking for something to focus on. It almost looks quite amateurish for most of the shots, lending it a really dissatisfied feel. The film's worst sin is that, at times, there's nothing happening, which can result in boredom. This is especially true of the middle of the film, where most of the sex scenes occur. As the lead is a mute, it really staggers off and at times can be a little slow-going as nothing is really explained. It's visually based, and that can really be upsetting to some not used to it. All in all, it's not that bad and is quite decent.The Final Verdict: With it's emphasis more on the erotic realm than horrific one, it's hard to recommend this one other than the more adventurous fans of the extreme art-form. That also depends on which version of the film is viewed, as elements of one are not there in others.Rated UR/NC-17: Continuous Full Male & Female Nudity, several strong Sex Scenes and Violence