Coming across like some kind of wildly psychedelic cinematic fever dream that combines trashy exploitation and pretty artiness with extremely enjoyable and arresting results, legendary maverick filmmaker Jess Franco here relates the tale of predatory vampire countess Nadine Carody (a mesmerizing portrayal by slinky and sensuous brunette stunner Soledad Miranda), who sets her seductive sights on lawyer Linda Westinghouse (yummy blonde Ewa Stromberg) as her next victim.Directed in typically free-form anything goes experimental fashion by Franco, the languid pacing, meandering narrative, bizarre visuals, extremely groovy prog-rock score, isolated island setting, and sumptuous cinematography that's rife with striking oddball imagery merge together to create a supremely trippy and surreal dreamlike atmosphere that's truly something to behold. Naturally, Franco also delivers more than enough tasty female nudity and arousing lesbianism to satisfy the sleazehounds. Moreover, there are solid acting contributions from Dennis Price as curious vampire enthusiast Dr. Alvin Seward, Paul Muller as the concerned Dr. Steiner, Heidrun Kussin as anguished asylum agent Agra, and Franco himself as creepy sadist Memmet. Recommended viewing for both Franco fans and aficionados of outre avant-garde celluloid fare alike.

The title of this says it all, and the fact it is directed by prolific Spanish Director Jess Franco lets the audience know exactly what it is in for. Soledad Miranda's mesmerising Countess Nadine Carody is a powerfully erotic force of nature, and she has set her sights on American Linda (Ewa Strömberg). Catching Linda's attention during an erotic dance display at a local club, she then haunts her through dreams. It is a convincing dream-like entrapment, made more so by the beautiful and well-directed Turkish locations. Of all the Jess Franco films I've seen, this is his most effectively directed – there is less reliance on endless zooms in and out of the action than usual, and the legendary psychedelic music score, especially with its occasional weirdly distorted vocals, adds to the delirious atmosphere.Swirling red lined stairways, sun drenched castles and ornate buildings are all filmed beautifully, and yet as always with Franco, the storyline meanders into the inconsequential. Only when Dennis Price's Doctor Seward has a stand-off with Carody is a real kind of tension invoked (Price, who was nearing the end of his life by this time, looks healthier than he does in other films he made during this period).Whilst this never descends into an endless parade of soft-core 'action' like 'Female Vampire (1973)' and there is actually an element of supernatural horror here, things tend to drag, especially in the middle portion of the film. And yet ultimately, this is my favourite Franco film (so far). The wraith-like presence of the sensuous Miranda combined with the more tangible acting chops of people like Dennis Price lends a definite nobility to the trance-like, vaguely erotic horror.

This vampire film from director Jesus Franco is an unarguable example of a cult movie if ever there was one. It sure isn't going to appeal to everyone that's for sure. This is no ordinary horror movie – like a lot of Franco's films the horror is pretty half-hearted to say the least – it's much more left-field arty erotica. Franco is often criticised for being a bad film-maker, one who put out lots of films too quickly and with little care. To some degree this is true as his movies do always look like they were made fast and their low budgets always compromise them to some extent. Vampyros Lesbos exhibits these faults as well – it does have cheap sets and it does look like it has been made in a hurry – but this is one of the films from Franco that clearly shows that he had something really interesting to offer. His mix of horror, eroticism and surrealism puts him alongside French director Jean Rollin. At their best, both men made highly personal films that look more and more interesting and unique as each year goes by.Vampyros Lesbos can maybe best be described as a hallucinatory fever-dream. It has a striking feel and atmosphere. A great deal of its success can be put down to two things – its soundtrack and its lead actress, Soledad Miranda. The score by Manfred Hubler and Sigfried Schwab is pretty mind-blowing. It can perhaps best be described as psychedelic lounge music. It's very effective and creates an unusual ambiance all of its own. And as for Soledad Miranda, well she's pretty extraordinary. She starred in several Franco films at the time and she was always fantastic but this is her most famous and iconic role. Her character is Princess Nadine Korody; a mysterious vampire woman appears to a female lawyer in the form of a series of erotic dreams. Miranda is a very beautiful woman and she had an incredible screen presence. Her performance here is one of the greatest in erotic cinema. And the nudity never feels gratuitous with Miranda, always entirely natural and, dare I say it, beautiful. Ewa Strömberg is very sexy too but it's difficult competing with someone like Soledad Miranda and this is undoubtedly her film. The male cast has a few familiar faces but they are pretty negligible and there more for plot exposition purposes rather than anything much more. Franco himself does deserve some credit too for having the vision to bring all of this psychotronic madness to the screen in such a committed way. He does photograph things really interestingly at times, even if he is a bit of a zoom merchant.This is hardly a film for everyone. It's not even going to appeal to most horror fans. In fact it'll no doubt appal a lot of them. Because it's mainly about erotic imagery, as opposed to horror. And, like most Franco, it isn't plot driven in the least. Its story is a variation on 'Dracula' but it's more a means to an end and there is no attempt at generating suspense or anything like that. You have to be able to get into its very specific groove to get into it. It's overall a very strange film but for 70's Euro cult enthusiasts I would say this is an absolute must.

When 17-year-old Spanish actress Soledad Miranda appeared in the 1960 Jess Franco musical "Queen of the Tarabin" in an uncredited role, little could she suspect that a decade later, while suffering discouragement at her stagnating career (she had appeared in some 30 Continental films in those 10 years and was still far from being a household name), she would be selected by Franco again to appear in the first of a string of star-making, outre pictures. In a director/actress collaboration similar to the one that enabled Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich to create seven wonderful entertainments from 1930 - '35, Franco and his new muse created seven mind-bewildering entertainments...in one year! In a blaze of filmmaking that even Roger Corman might have envied, the pair brought forth, in 1970 alone, "Count Dracula," "Nightmares Come at Night," "Sex Charade," "Eugenie de Sade," "Vampiros Lesbos," "She Killed in Ecstasy" and "The Devil Came From Akasava." Miranda's role in "Vampiros Lesbos" is a perfect introduction to this striking actress, whose life was tragically cut short by a car accident in August '70 (while she and Franco were filming the necessarily uncompleted "Juliette"). In this film, she plays the Countess Nadine Carody, who lives in an ultramodern beach house on (fictitious) Karidados Island, off the coast of Istanbul. To her isolated retreat comes a beautiful blonde lawyer named Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stroemberg, who would also appear with Miranda in "She Killed in Ecstasy"), to arrange a transfer of property from the Hungarian Count Dracula (hmmm, that name DOES ring a bell) to the countess...a case of hot-blooded (albeit mesmerized) lust at first sight for the vampiress and her victim. Meanwhile, as a subplot of sorts, a Renfield-like woman in a mental asylum, run by one Dr. Seward (the great English actor Dennis Price), claims to be in mental communion with the same mysterious countess....A German production directed by a Spaniard in Turkey and yet featuring title credits in French, "Vampiros Lesbos" is yet another trippy, mystifying head scratcher from Jess Franco, although perhaps not as bewildering as the director's "Succubus" (1967) and "Venus in Furs" (1968). The film has been beautifully shot by Franco--it is not as overly dependent on the ol' zoom lens as many of his other features--and makes excellent use of its Istanbul exteriors. Franco often positions his camera quite ingeniously, with his overhead shot of that spiral staircase very reminiscent of the one in his 1965 masterpiece "The Diabolical Dr. Z," and DOP Manuel Merino is to be commended for his fine work here as well. But apart from the exquisite filming of the gorgeous scenery and the two leading ladies, the film's major selling point must be its remarkable, psychedelic, sitar-laced, horns-accented, groovy rock 'n' funk soundtrack by Mannfred Hubler and guitarist Siegfried Schwab. The duo also composed similar scores for the next two Franco/Miranda films, with the highlights of each being culled to make up the currently in-print CD "Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party," a CD that I am going to certainly be purchasing soon. Non sequitur though the music sometimes is with regard to what is on screen, it yet remains a key element here. The film contains some imponderables, I should add, that even a repeat viewing failed to clarify. Was Linda made a vampiress by the drinking of blood from a vase or not? What are the symbolic meanings of that soaring kite and scuttling scorpion? Why did the character of Memmet (a porter, played by Franco himself, who tortures women in a hotel basement, and who appears on screen for perhaps three minutes) have to be included? Why is the countess' servant's name Morpho...the same name as the deformed assistant in Franco's 1961 breakthrough film "The Awful Dr. Orloff"? Perhaps it would be wise to remember Linda's words near the film's conclusion: "...there might not be an explanation for it.""Vampiros Lesbos" is certainly not a movie for the impatient. "Nothing happens," my buddy Rick complained a while ago after watching it. More of a lysergic mood piece than a vampire film per se, the picture yet sports any number of astonishing images and sets, while Soledad manages to grip the viewer--whether doing a kinky cabaret act, sunbathing naked (yes, that's right...a sunbathing vampire!) or merely sipping on "wine"--in every scene that she is in. More than just a pretty face, she proves, in "Vampiros Lesbos," that she was also a not untalented thespian (who also did lesbian!). How many more interesting projects she and Franco could have collaborated on (in 1970 alone, ha ha!), had not fate intervened, is anybody's guess. As for the Image DVD that I recently watched, the print quality is simply stunning, with brilliant colors and adequate subtitling to supplement the German-language dialogue. Sadly, the only "extras" provided are two trailers, for this film and for "She Killed in Ecstasy"; an interview with the always loquacious Franco would have been nice. Still, this is a quibble. Throw this DVD in, sit back, and be prepared to immerse yourself, for 89 minutes, in one very strange and dreamlike experience indeed.