Vampyros Lesbos (1971) Poster

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5/10
A strange and creepy horror Spanish/German co-production about vampires with the unforgettable Soledad Miranda
ma-cortes8 February 2018
It deals with Linda Westinghouse (the German Ewa Strömberg) , a charming young American lawyer, working in a law office in Istanbul . In the night, she has erotic dreams in which appears a sexy vixen vampiress (the Spanish Soledad Miranda, her pseudonym, Susann Korda, was created by director Jesús Franco , and she was destined to become a legend) , and makes passionate love to her, from which she's unable to defend herself . A minor case about an inheritance forces her to travel to one of the small islands off the Turkish coast. Then, her nightmares come upon her in ghastly and lively ways . Later on , the beautiful Linda is is sent to a mental institution where Dr, Steiner (The Italian Paul Muller) , who is also a vampire expert, treats her but things go wrong .



An erotic and eerie horror tale about a seducing blood-sucker who kidnaps and murders girls to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood. This is a passable yarn by the prolific writer/producer/director Jesús Franco , considered to be one of the best films in his second period . Unforgettable and attractive Soledad Miranda as a sex-pot brunette who harasses women and sucks their blood . This fragile beauty appeared in numerous comedies, dramas, B-movies, and horror films, mostly in Spain , over thirty films altogether from 1960 to 1970 . In 1970 Soledad was in a car accident on a highway in Portugal and she sadly died . Ironically, before this tragic accident, the powerful German film producer Artur Brauner had offered her a contract which would have made her a great star. Soledad was destined to become a legend .Her biggest break came from legendary director Jess Franco, who cast Soledad in such cult classics as Count Dracula , Eugenie De Sade , Sex Charade , The Devil Came from Akasava and Vampyros Lesbos. Soledad is generally regarded as Franco's greatest discovery and not until the years after her death has she become a cult starlet with fans all over the world now discovering the beautiful, doomed actress. This Vampyros Lesbos is a pure psychedelic movie , being well produced Artur Brauner and Arturo Marcos but in short budget . Shot in Istanbul , Turkey , posing as the fictitious city in which lives the Countess vampire Nadine Carody , gorgeous Soledad Miranda ,though she was was dubbed . This classic terror motion picture , a classic in some circles , was professionally directed by Jesús Franco who never considered the film to be a horror story, but instead felt it was tale of "anguish" . Franco is really influenced by ¨Bram Stoker's Drácula ¨, ¨Carmilla's Sheridan Le Fanu¨ , B-Horror movies , German expressionism , and the Universal Terror . The picture was really cut , and it has several versions both , soft and hard . Initial releases of the film were met with negative reactions from film critics , while the general critical reaction had been poor , however ,today is considered to be an acceptable fim. Furthermore , support cast is pretty good such as Dennis Price as Dr. Alwin Seward , Paul Muller as Dr. Steiner and Jess Frank or Jesús Franco himself as a sadist killer . Special mention for musical score composed by synthesizer , full of strange sounds , jazzy , shouts and psychedelic soundtrack from Manfred Hübler and Jesús Franco as David Khune .



The film has a lot of titles the German version is Vampyros Lesbos: Die Erbin des Drácula, the French version titled "Vampiros lesbos" was used, while the original German release title was spelled "Vampyros Lesbos" and Spanish versión titled ¨Las vampiras¨ .The motion picture was strange and regularly directed by Jess Frank , here using continous zooms, surprising close-ups , including blood drops , scorpions , butterfly , other insects and and kites . Jesus Franco was a Stajanovist filmmaker who realized 203 movies . However , here uses his trademarks , as he pulls off a complex narration , extreme zooms , and lousy pace . As the picture belongs to Franco's second period in which he made so-so flicks . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY and managing to work extraordinarily quickly , realizing some fun diversions, and a lot of absolute crap . Many pictures had nice photography , full of lights and shades in Orson Welles style , in fact , Franco was direction-assistant in ¨Chimes at midnight¨ and edited ¨El Quijote¨ by Welles . He often used to introduce second , third or fourth versions , including Hardcore or Softcore inserts or sexual stocks many of them played by his muse Lina Romay . In many of the more than 200 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" and the second picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" , it's followed by various sequels such as El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production has diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his recent death .
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6/10
An Erotic and Cult Version of Bram Stoker's Dracula
claudio_carvalho12 August 2010
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")
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6/10
Soledad Miranda dreamily seductive in otherwise slow movie
amerh24 February 2006
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.
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Pure psychedelic brilliance!
DJ Inferno23 June 2002
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!
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3/10
Franco Does Dracula Again—This Time with Lesbians
Cineanalyst8 December 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Director Jesús Franco had already directed an impoverished international adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" the prior year. At least, that film managed to attract two acclaimed actors in Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski, both of whose careers would include being in better Dracula movies made by others (Lee had and would continue to star in Hammer's series, and Kinski went on to be in Werner Herzog's 1979 "Nosferatu"). "Vampyros Lesbos" has lesbian vampires and nudity. The 1970 Dracula was closer to Stoker's text than most adaptations; "Vampyros Lesbos" is a very loose reworking or continuation of the novel. Neither one does anything especially intelligent, though.

Here, Linda repeats, from Stoker, Jonathan Harker's business trip to a vampire's lair (this time on an island, presumably Lesbos), where the Countess Nadine Carody, perhaps intentionally, offers a twist on Bela Lugosi's famous line ("I never drink... wine.") from the 1931 "Dracula," saying, "I love red wine." Apparently, Linda is overseeing the Countess' inheritance from Count Dracula. Not that it matters; the story is poorly developed, and this Dracula connection only serves to bring the women together. There's another woman named Agra who plays the Renfield-type character here in Dr. Seward's asylum. Seward, meanwhile, doubles in the role of his namesake from Stoker as well as the Van Helsing type. Appropriately, Agra isn't a bug eater like Renfield. She's another lesbian, but frustrated by the celibacy of being locked in a cell. Agra and Linda are both blondes, which is a bit confusing for a moment, because, for a while, they're both committed to Seward's asylum.

This rehashing of Stoker's book is enough story for a short film, but Franco and company add a bunch of filler to drag it out to feature length. There are long stretches that rely too heavily on the musical score—making this, at times, appear more like a music video rather than a film. There are numerous location shots serving no narrative purpose. The many insert shots of a scorpion are loosely connected to the story in the end, but would have been better left out. The shots of a moth never make sense. Franco himself has an on-screen role as a woman killer, a part that seems as though it were filmed as an afterthought for further runtime padding. It has nothing to do with the main Sapphic vampire plot, and it should've been entirely excluded.

Besides being a countess, Nadine also performs at a nightclub (yeah, it makes no sense), which she exploits to suck the blood from her nude-female counterpart on the stage. Linda watches this performance in the film's beginning, and the performance is again replayed later. I guess, though, that Linda's viewing of it may've been explained as a dream. There's also a repeated voice-over of Nadine saying Linda's name. Some have claimed this filler to add to the film's dreamlike and psychedelic atmosphere, but in my sober state, I fail to appreciate it. This isn't a poor-man's or an exploitative edition of Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Vampyr" (1932); it's just bad.

Which can be good, but I prefer trashy, poorly-made movies to be funny. This one isn't; instead, it flails between the artsy and erotic and mostly fails at both. Somewhat funny, however, is the non-Seward shrink business. Not only does Linda see one, but there's also a scene where the Countess lies on a bed submitting herself to the mute psychotherapy of a male vampire, as she, ironically, talks about how she hates men. Linda's quack, meanwhile, doodles a diagram seemingly depicting the filming of a vampire movie! This one, perhaps. Too bad the doodle doesn't offer any rationale for Franco's obsession with zoom shots. I would've enjoyed his Dracula movies much more without the constant zooming in and out. Especially bad is how some of the zooms are telegraphed by the shots, at first, being out of focus. Narratively, "Vampyros Lesbos" likewise lacks focus; it's soft- focus, soft-core erotica.

(Mirror Note: The Countess uses a mirror, which casts her reflection, in the nightclub performances. The male vampire's reflection is also seen in the finale. Franco demonstrated that he knew Dracula didn't cast reflections in his 1970 adaptation. "Vampyros Lesbos" isn't a strict adaptation, so I'm not especially offended by these vamp reflections, although the mirror shots aren't interesting otherwise.)
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3/10
Poor, poor Dennis Price - frown for all you're worth, me old son
The_Secretive_Bus2 April 2005
My purpose for watching this wasn't for the lesbian content (I'm sure I could find steamier stuff if I tried) - it was to see the depths to which such a fantastic actor as Dennis Price, the star of "Kind Hearts and Coronets" about 22 years earlier, was forced to sink to in order to pay his bills. It truly is a depressing experience, though, remarkably, Price manages to escape with most of his dignity intact. This seems an even greater achievement when you consider that the DVD is of a Spanish film dubbed into German with English subtitles.

In "Vampyros Lesbos" he plays a Dr. Steward, psychologist and secret vampire enthusiast, the latter hobby suddenly being revealed out of nowhere once the plot requires it. You see, despite being given a rather ill-defined character to work with, and in direct contrast to the rest of the cast, Price actually *acts*. Mixing concern with frightened fascination, he draws your attention in whatever scene he appears, and probably gets more close ups in this film than in any other I've seen. It's not a particularly large part but he does have a fair amount of screen time, and it was a joy to watch him. It was a huge shame that I couldn't actually hear him speak his own lines, as the German dubber made the best attempt to deaden any emotion that Price attempted to convey, but his facial expressions were enough, and so I just imagined Price's voice instead. Whilst the direction elsewhere in the film can be called into question, Price manages to create a great atmosphere of tension in his encounter with Countess Nadine, pleading with her to give him the secret of vampirism. The only real slip-up is in his death a few seconds later in which, upon realising that his life is distinctly on the line, gently canters down some stairs rather than make a bolt for it, allowing Nadine's burly henchman to effortlessly catch up with and throttle the life out of him, though I suspect this is more a directing fault than anything that could be blamed on Price himself. And it must be said that the strangling is rather unnerving.

However, after Price dies we still have fifteen minutes left until the end of the film, which we must spend with the other characters that we've been presented with throughout the duration, and this is where the film falls down - every scene lacking Dennis Price is absolutely dire, as he is the only actor capable of giving a decent performance, and the story holding everything together is so flimsy that it might as well not be there. And indeed isn't, for a majority of the time. Price's Dr. Steward is actually in one of the many seemingly pointless subplots peppered here and there, which also include a scary pervo bloke who gets his kicks him tying up women and threatening them with a hacksaw, and an insane woman throwing herself about a clinic waiting for Countess Nadine to return to her and give her a bit of a seeing to. These characters serve no function at all, and are rather tedious, all told.

The main plot line concerns itself with Linda, who is apparently worried about the frequency of erotic dreams she's been having about a woman she's never met before. When her boyfriend, a shifty looking spiv type, takes her to a strip-club (?!) she recognises the "dancer" (that's being charitable) as the woman in her dreams. Turns out the woman is Countess Nadine Carody, a vampire with connections to Dracula himself. Linda goes to Nadine's estate to help her with insurance, or something, and has various encounters with her during the running time. Narrative consistency is thrown out of the window when, despite being frightened of Nadine when they first meet, she quite happily goes skinny-dipping with her (?!) and then lies nude with her on the beach - "It's good to lie naked in the sand. Especially when you're with somebody." "Yes." Good grief. And in the next scene she's once more a bit suspect about the whole deal.

I know what you're thinking - "It's lesbo porn, it doesn't need a plot!" But there isn't really much of the steamy shenanigans going on to uphold such a claim, and the few scenes of "Near naked ladies snatch a few fumbling kisses," are played so stiltedly that any erotic tension is immediately dissipated. The director seems to think that propping a few nude women here and there automatically means "sexy" when it, well, doesn't. It just gets tedious and laughable more than anything else. It comes to something when I was far more willing to watch Dennis Price writing in his diary than two rather beautiful ladies having it away with each other.

The direction is full of "clever" and "artistic" shots of scorpions and moths and a kite (...), which are meant to make us nod our heads sagely and say "Ahh, mmm..." but just come off as pretentious and silly. We're also forced to endure a bizarre striptease performance (in which Nadine removes her clothes and puts them on her partner, who seems to be pretending to be a mannequin) twice, and both times it's dull as hell. Fortunately the group of 40-somethings in the club appear to be enjoying themselves, though since they staggeringly fail to notice Nadine killing her partner on the second run through and clap anyway, I'm not so certain that their opinion is valid.

Apparently this is a cult classic, with its dire soundtrack (the sitar has never been my favourite instrument) achieving acclaim in some quarters. Allegedly. I can't say that I was disappointed with this film as I knew it was going to be rubbish to start with. Fortunately it was vaguely worthwhile simply to see Price's performance, though it's certainly a disc that won't be given another spin in quite a long time.
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1/10
Really, really horrible.
jhsiao11 January 2000
A terrible, uncompelling, slow moving, confusing mess. There are probably less than 30 lines of dialogue in the whole movie, and they each followed by 15 minutes or more of footage of people walking up stairs, moths flying, scorpions walking, kites floating... Completely ridiculous! If you MUST see this movie, at least watch it in fast foward. Believe me, you're not missing much.
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7/10
Decent Trash From Jess Franco...
EVOL66622 May 2006
I don't hold this sleaze "classic" in as high-regard as many, but VAMPYROS LESBOS is definitely a "worth-a-look" film. Plenty of nudity on-hand in this one for those of us that need it, and a semi-interesting, if sometimes confusing storyline punctuates the puss-fros and soft-core lesbionic love-sessions...

Linda goes to an island to see Nadine who's a vampire who only digs chicks and bites Linda and starts her transformation as well. The rest is pretty much convoluted nonsense about Linda trying to fight the vampire urge and eventually overcoming Nadine, and some other random nonsense - which is all just really an excuse to show as much tits and ass as possible - not that that is a bad thing...

The acting in the film is OK I guess for this sort of thing, and the direction and camera-work range from very decent, to plain amateurish depending on the scene. There's a few scenes where the lighting is used to good effect - but who am I kidding...this one is all about the nekkid chicks. If you dig soft-core 70's exploit sleaze, you'll probably get a kick out of this one - just don't expect anything great in the way of storyline or acting, or anything TOO boner-inducing as the nudity (though plentiful...) is pretty "mild"...7/10
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4/10
Dull
Maciste_Brother7 February 2003
If there's one word to describe VAMPYROS LESBOS, it would be the word dull. The film ain't bad but there's almost nothing to it except for the beauty of Soledad Miranda, which is not enough to sustain the non-existent story. I love atmosphere like any other cinephile but I still like some, huh, meat to a film in order for it to make an impact of some sort on me. VAMPYROS LESBOS is as anemic as a vampire's victim, drained of all blood. And the actor who played the blonde woman's husband was the worst actor I've ever seen.

So, to recap: not bad but listless and dull. If you're curious, rent it but don't buy the DVD.
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7/10
a good vampire movie? Probably not... but it is something
Quinoa198410 February 2009
Calling director Jesus Franco a pornographer after watching Vampiros Lesbos would be unfair, but not simply for the face that he's directed many, many films throughout a career of B to Z grade projects. It's also because it would be too easy. The man is, after all, an "artist", or whatever might pass for one in 1970. He was 40 at the time and made a film that, for better or worse, is a part of a legacy of sex-horror trash that must be mentioned in any conversation about sexy naked women and some blood and vampires and stuff. It's definitely not a very good movie, and point in fact it's probably too pretentious to see its own forest full of trees. But it does have some kind of power, some kind of very strange intuition that makes it never too boring - and, if you're *into* a very abstract love/mind-game story of vampire femme fatales then here you go.

In Vampiros Lesbos or, you guessed it, Lesbian Vampires, Jesus Franco tells a story that is about as loosely based on Stoker's mythology as one of the dresses is on any given girl in a sultry scene. A lawyer, Linda Westinghouse (and yes, Ewa Stromberg so looks like Linda Westinghouse doesn't she... actually kind of), is on a beach away from her man and meets a carefree woman, Soledad Miranda, who draws her into her world: she's the sole heiress of Count Dracula's fortune, and has also been indoctrinated into the "coven" of other vampires, and by a slip of the "wine" she brings Linda in as well. Meanwhile, another sexy blonde is going nuts in a mental hospital where a doctor tries his hardest to figure on how to kill the darn beasts.

So, in truth, there is some relation to the original book, much in the same way a hippie living in a sewer eating rats and tripping 40 year old acid is in relation to Jerry Garcia. This is such a work of its time that it might have actually been close to perfection for maybe one day in 1970 or 1971, while the sun was setting and everything was perfect for Franco and his production team and actresses all tanned and sultry, and then it was gone forever and locked into a time capsule. It's loaded with "crazy" imagery, hallucinatory passages of subjective viewpoints from its female characters- perhaps all an allusion to lesbianism and it keeping women trapped who normally wouldn't be under different circumstances(?)- and even an annoying recurring symbol of a scorpion in a pool (yeah, we get it, scorpion, Peckinpah, move on!) The acting also isn't good at all by a couple of the supporting players, like that guy who plays Morpho with the same stone-faced look or even Dr. Seward.

But at the same time, as a time capsule, it holds some pleasures of some minor guilty measure. While its violence isn't directed with much care, Franco is a perverted master of a certain kind of seduction between women on screen, and here he does get some scenes and moments that are creepy and striking and even erotic. I also liked Stromberg and Miranda in their roles, no matter how at-best two-dimensional they were. And the music is both divinely awesome and totally ludicrous with it being funky and smooth and 'hey, Tarantino ripped that off and it is that great', as well as being like a putrid re-rendering of that Pink Floyd song from Zabriskie Point's finale played repeatedly to poor effect. Vampiros Lesbos is one of a kind, so one of a kind that it would take someone with daring and possibly dementia to remake it. I both applaud Franco's versatility in attempting something as maniacal and coolly grind-house-ish, while at the same time realizing I could never in good conscience recommend it wholly. It's one of those.
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3/10
Slow, plodding and dull
Keltic-216 February 2001
Usually, what you're looking for in a horror movie is horror. _Vampyros Lesbos_ fails to deliver in a big way.

The soundtrack is intrusive and jarringly mismatched to the action, such as it is, and each character appears to have selected at the outset the expression that he or she is to wear for the remainder of the film.

In essence, there is very little here to recommend, or to salvage the film from interminable boredom and chronic confusion. Abrupt editing does nothing to aid comprehension; frequent recourse to gratuitous lesbian erotica, similarly, adds nothing to the film as a whole.
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8/10
A psychedelic exploitation.
HumanoidOfFlesh2 October 2003
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.
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6/10
Turkey Vulture
ferbs5424 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
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.
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2/10
Boring and uneventful movie
Tito-828 October 2000
I had VERY low expectations for this film, and it narrowly managed to exceed them. Instead of being mind-numbingly dull, it was simply dull, and instead of being thoroughly uninteresting, it was only moderately uninteresting. That's about as positive I can be in reviewing this movie. It's slow-moving, low on dialogue, and it lacks interesting characters and scenes. Simply a waste of my time, and I urge you all to not make the same mistake that I did by watching this film.
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Classic 1970s sexploitation horror!
Infofreak17 November 2001
'Vampyros Lesbos' is one of the high points of 1970s exploitation movies. This movie has something for everybody! Vampires, gratuitous nudity (especially memorable from the stunningly beautiful and ill fated Soledad Miranda), violence, pretentious symbolism, some aesthetically pleasing scenery and camera work, all bound together by one of the most unique genre-busting rock scores ever, chock full of fuzz guitars and electric sitar.

The legendary Jess Franco has made more cult movies than the mind can conceive of, but this must surely stand out as one of the most artistically successful of his career. 'Vampyros Lesbos' manages to juggle sex, art, trash and horror, and impresses on every level. A truly wondrous movie! Don't miss this one (uncut, natch) if you get the chance!
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4/10
Only good if you're horny
Horst_In_Translation30 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
The acting is pretty bad, the story is really bad, but this one is worth the watch for the stunning looks of Ewa Strömberg and Soledad Miranda. I guess one of the two will also appeal to you depending on if you are either more into blondes or brunettes. For me it was Miranda (even if her dubbed voice sounded like a 60-year-old chain smoker). Sad to see that she was already dead from a car accident when this film came out. Anyway, the director and writer here is the legendary Jesús Franco, who died 2 years ago. This is among his most known works, but hopefully not among his best. Haven't seen his other works, so I can't compare. He also plays a supporting character in here, who initially seems kind, but eventually really turns into an evil creep. I have to admit that his performance early on was the only moment where I had to laugh during the film although I am not sure if this was intended. This 85-minute or 90-minute film (or even way shorter in the Spanish version) here has a mix of vampire story, love story with a couple drama elements and some supernatural and pretty human dangerous characters. The only one who gave a somewhat solid performance in terms of acting was Dennis Price, but obviously he cannot save this movie and terrible script on his own. Lots of nudity in here and bush was still a thing back in the early 1970s almost 50 years ago.

I will just go on with some brainstorming now or actually I am pretty much in the middle of it already: Miranda's character's voice I mentioned already, but it is so off that it deserves another inclusion. Pity. Then again, if you are going for another language than German, they hopefully made a better choice. I am not sure if this was supposed to imply that she is a really old vampire. But then again, also her voice could have gotten when the last occasion on which she drank blood was not too far ago. So yeah, the primary language here is German, even if none of the actors spoke it. The reason is it was a co-production between West Germany and Spain (obviously with Franco) for the German market and you also find at least one German production company in charge here. Fittingly there are also almost half a dozen German titles under which you can find the film. The most known is probably the German literal translation of "The Heiress of Dracula". The other thing this film has that stays a bit in the mind, but not really for the right reasons, is the soundtrack. Extremely psychedelic on many occasions and sometimes they even included strange sounds that felt as if they came from a really old phone with a bad connection. Or walkie-talkie style.

The film's biggest issue was maybe the lack of chemistry between Miranda and Strömberg. I guess the somewhat sensual opening sequence was supposed to imply right away that there was really something going on between the two, but for me it was not working the way it should have for the film to feel realistic. On the contrary, I was more amused by the audience depicted thereafter. The aforementioned is also why I saw the blonde killing the brunette in the end from a totally different light because there was not so much between the two as we were led to believe there was. I am definitely not sure if this was Franco's intention. He was one of the writers as well. There are two others: Chávarri is still alive and about Settimó you cannot really find a lot of background. As I (re)watched some Dracula/Nosferatu stuff in recent years, I realized that there are some connections in here, such as one female protagonist going on a trip early on to visit another for business reasons. Here it is two girls of course and the action is set in Turkey, but parts were films in Germany as well. We also have another female (Agra/Kussin) who is struggling obviously from what Miranda's character may have done to her. Dennis Price may be a take on Van Helsing perhaps. I am not too sure. If so, it was a rather clumsy take in terms of how the character was written.

There are many flaws to find here: Take some of the dialogue writing that made no sense at all, although I would not be surprised if you cannot blame Franco completely there, but also the translators were just not getting it and some of it got lost in translation. The idea there early on how the human protagonist saw the vampire in a dream, then apparently in real life somewhere at a club or so and eventually during her trip to Anatolia that was supposed to raise suspense and mystery did not do a lot for me, but only resulted in the thought that it was all too much coincidence. I think the rats element or Plague element and how the vampire's presence in the city caused death everywhere was not included here. Maybe Franco also wanted to make sure for the film to not become too dark. The abduction towards the end also felt more like a comedic nature to me, but again I am not sure at all if this was intended. The entire thing was just so bizarre all along, also relatively early when the two women are on the beach somewhere jumping around almost naked as if they had been BFFs forever. There were still minor clothes on them though here and there and we also do not get any crotch or genitalia close-ups. Franco always included a lot of nudity and sometimes even sexual violence, but he was never really an adult film maker.

Finally, it can be said that, gently-speaking, the male characters here are not really depicted in a positive light. Not at all. Either they are incompetent and weak or they cannot make special connections or they cannot satisfy their women or they are mindless helpers of evil etc. You will find more depictions of this. Or they are psychiatrists drawing random little sketches while their female patients open up to them. I have to admit this was another moment where I had to laugh. What I did not find funny though was the very ending then when apparently in some allegedly super interesting plot twist, it was all just a dream? This was so rushed in and the closing credits happened right thereafter. It felt as if Franco, who was around the age of 40 when he shot this, but already an experienced filmmaker, realized he already had enough material and was not allowed to go over 1.5 hours, so he had to pretty much put this twist into 30 seconds then in the end. The outcome overall is just way too amateurish for various reasons. It is only somewhat acceptable because it gets slightly better after a really poor beginning and even then, it is only somewhat worth it from the guilty pleasure perspective, even if I would not call it a cult film either. We have characters randomly moving around on the floor as if they are having sex this very moment or at least really want to when this was supposed to depict them struggling with sanity and demons inside them. Well, the "inside them" may have a double meaning there. So yeah, this was not a good watch at all unless you are really horny, but then you also could go for some real stuff instead of this softcore wannabe movie. Not recommended and I am glad it was this short. Seeing it once is already one time too many.
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3/10
Let's be honest about why we're really watching this...
imdbmykl30 September 2001
Did you pick up a copy of "Lesbian Vampires" for any reason other than softcore sex? I didn't think so.

I had the wonderful fortune of stumbling across this movie late-night on local Australian TV station SBS. This station is well known for screening foreign films of this nature. And what a find!

I must admit to not paying much attention to the plot, but then it wasn't too hard to follow exactly what was happening most of the time. All of the key elements of B-grade movies are there - the freaky camerawork, the vacant stares of many of the actors, the implausible excuses for gratuitous nudity. It all gels well together in this little excursion.

I rated this movie a 3, because to rate it higher would do it injustice to its B-grade heritage. It would score much higher in B-grade circles, for the cheese factor and the provision of stuff to poke fun at. Fun stuff.
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3/10
More Fun To Make Than Watch
blazintommyd22 March 2004
Even though this film is at best soft-core, it was probably semi-hot for 1970 since it shows women making out with each other. I'm sorry to see that the star Vampiress died apparently around the time the work was finished, because I really like her looks. Very nice legs.

Otherwise, there are repetitive takes edited in for change of scenes only one of which has any relation to the story line.

The organ theme is nice

The whole thing is low budget but the castle where some outdoor shots are done is pretty impressive

I like to see films that catch the era that are unusual. For example Kenneth Anger's "Scorpio Rising". But here you have this 'leading man' that looks like George Bush with fake moustaches and sideburns, dressed like some guy trying to look like he wants people to know he reads "Penthouse" which really detracts from the good looks of the Vampiress

The other leading lady (The German Blue eyed Blond)looks like a Hammer Film refugee -i.e., too old to do leading ladies for Hammer Films but still thinking she's not too old to be a leading lady.

It would be great for a 12 year boy old to see because I used to watch movies like this on late night TV before I was allowed to stay out late and was chagrined when local TV would censor the flesh shots.

BTD
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6/10
Slow, Sexy, Female Vampire Flick
hokeybutt17 April 2005
VAMPYROS LESBOS (3 outta 5 stars) Yes, this movie is about exactly what the title would lead you to think it was about: lesbian vampires. Being a very "arty", European film it is more likely to appeal to fans of softcore sex movies than fans of vampire flicks. Very slowly-paced and poorly-acted for the most part... the movie does have a slightly hypnotic dream quality that might hook you if you are in the mood for something obscure. A mysterious countess (turned into a vampire by the original Count Dracula) goes around acting in a suggestive, lesbian nightclub act and seducing all the nubile young women she can find. But then she meets the curious young Linda Westinghouse and for the first time in her life, she falls in love. Linda is equally smitten, though she's not sure how she feels about that turning-into-a-vampire thing. It helps that the two leads are incredibly attractive women... because the camera tends to slowwwwwww downnnnnnn a lot whenever one or the other is partially or fully unclothed. There are a couple of scary bits, but the movie is more of a romance than a horror movie.
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3/10
Naked Soledad babe...
macabro35725 May 2003
(aka: VAMPYROS LESBOS)

This isn't a DVD I'd go out of my way to purchase. There's not much of a plot with almost all of the filming taking place in Turkey.

A Spanish-German production with lots of naked eurobabes having almost every scene used only as an excuse for showing off some titty & ass. Radley Metzger did this kind of thing much better, even though that's not saying much.

We do get to see a lot of the naked Soledad Miranda running around as a vampire. Not bad. Funny, but I don't remember seeing fangs in this one.

The DVD uses a German print that's horribly dubbed into German with English subtitles appearing at the bottom. The soundtrack is by Mannfred Hubler with cheesy hammond organ playing in the background. It's not bad, but other than the opening title music, I wouldn't buy it, either.

In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they spent more money on the soundtrack than they did on the movie itself !! That's how cheap-looking it is.

Btw, this is NOT an X-rated film although in 1970, that might have been a different story.

3 out of 10 for being a Soledad Miranda period piece...
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7/10
Why can't more Jesus Franco movies be like this?
Boba_Fett113813 October 2011
And so Jesus Franco's quest to turn every women into a lesbian continues. But in all seriousness, for all of the bad things I have said about Jesus Franco and his movies, I have to say that this was quite a good one and a real pleasant surprise, also within its genre.

It's amazing really how much different this movie is from other Jesus Franco movies. It's not like it has a better story in it really but it's more so that it got made with way more style, taste and obvious devotion to the project.

Normally I really can't understand that there are people who enjoy watching soft-core porn and get their kicks out of it. It does absolutely nothing for me but all I can say if more movies would handle it in the way such as this movie did, I can totally understand that there are people who love watching soft-core porn. It can be absolutely something beautiful and also sensual to watch.

And that's the most surprising aspect about this movie perhaps. All of the sex in the movie got handled quite nicely and the movie really wasn't a sleazy one at all, unlike about every other Jesus Franco movie. Especially all of the lesbian moments were really beautifully done and were really sensual to watch, even though you never see any real 'action'.

Yes, this movie definitely has artistic value to it, which is the foremost reason why it's such a perfectly watchable and fascinating one. The movie is set in both the real world and a dream kind of world, which at times also gives the movie a sort of surrealistic feeling to it. This also actually helps to make the story work out better as well, fore it isn't the type of story that is terribly clever written or one that is being strong with its horror/vampire aspects. At least this time around the story was easy and pleasant to follow, which again, is something I can't say about every Jesus Franco movie. Normally he really manages to mess up the storytelling, no matter how simple the actual story is. Luckily that isn't the case for this movie at all.

It sounds amazing but here is a Jesus Franco movie I wouldn't mind seeing again.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
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4/10
Boring, languid and nonsensical
Groverdox24 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
When dealing with a movie as tedious as "Vampyros Lesbos", you have to force yourself to remember something about it so that you never make the mistake of watching it again. Here goes:

The movie has a psychedelic soundtrack that sounds like a man calling a horse race under water while an unrelated band plays in another room.

Also, the movie features arduous sex shows that I suppose are like performance art in their pointlessness. One woman, topless, removes a scrunchie wrapped around another topless woman's thigh and then falls over. Slowly.

Also, the movie features a psychiatrist who treats the "main character" but actually draws stupid little pictures while he is supposed to be taking notes. Later, another psychiatrist actually believes in the occult and vampires and all that stuff and indulges his patient so that he can join "their world".

The beautiful Soledad Miranda is at least ideally cast as the vampire countess, and Franco casts himself as a weird little servant to the vampires, showing uncommon insight into his own physical condition.

This one is "dreamlike", of course, which is just a polite way of saying that it makes no sense in the most boring, languid possible way. It's something about a lady having lesbian dreams about a beautiful vampire, then meeting her, then finally killing her by stabbing her in the eye (this is shot so badly you won't remember it five minutes later. Some climax). The movie features so much jumping around and focusing on insignificant details (the scorpion in the swimming pool?) that it makes no sense and you are unable to care about any of the characters. If it ever shows you anything interesting it immediately cuts to maybe half an hour of random nonsense almost as punishment for you feeling your interest piqued.

Oh, and it's not erotic in the least.
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10/10
The Citizen Kane of European exploitation
matt-20111 March 1999
Jesus Franco's 1970 VAMPYROS LESBOS (inexplicably titled above "El Signo del vampiro") is the masterpiece of all Euro-exploitation genres. You can swoon over the Greenaway lighting in SUSPIRIA; you can thrill to the comic-book metaphysics of THE BEYOND; a few solitary freaks might smack their chops over CANNIBAL FEROX. But the Big Mama, the 2001 or INTOLERANCE of the litter, is Franco's fever-dreamy Z movie, a dusted-out collage of St. Tropez glamour, poisonous softcore sex, platter-party lounge music gone Satanic, and more crazy zooms than the entire body of martial-arts movies combined.

Franco has made more movies than probably any other living filmmaker, and there's something intuitive and inspired in each of them. But in none of his other works did he so perfectly combine what he learned, in his zonked-out way, from his masters (Resnais, Antonioni and especially Welles), and his own lurid, kick-addicted, grade-Z technique. This movie isn't just for B-movie weirdos; hardcore Tarkovsky fiends might find themselves after fifteen minute saying, "God...I kind of like this...what's happening to me?"
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7/10
The countess and the scorpion
andrabem31 May 2007
"Vampiros Lesbos" tells about a passionate love/death relationship between two women. A young couple - Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stromberg) and Omar - is in Istanbul. Linda has constant dreams where a mysterious woman appears. One night they are watching a show in a nightclub and there Linda meets the woman that made such frequent appearances in her dreams - she (Countess Nadine - played by Soledad Miranda) is on the stage, dancing and seducing. Linda falls completely under her spell, but very strange rumours circulate about the Countess Nadine. She lives in a mansion somewhere in an island and.........

Most of the story takes place in the daylight, something unusual for a Dracula film. The opening shots - Countess Nadine (Soledad Miranda) performing her show in a nightclub - a ship out in the sea (soundtrack: radio signals being transmitted) - a scorpion crawling... / A bizarre/trippy soundtrack enhances everything.

Personally I think that Jess Franco is not as visually sophisticated as Jean Rollin for instance, but Franco's visual anarchism is one of his better assets - he mixes effortlessly a lot of symbols in the film - the scorpion, the kite flying in the sky, the ship, the radio signals, a staircase bathed in red light... Some of these images/symbols appear and reappear as leitmotivs. And Jess Franco obviously had fun while making the film. Check out his scenes with Ewa Strömberg. Unfortunately sometimes the film falls flat, especially when there's no soundtrack and Soledad Miranda is not on screen.

The way the story is told is nothing to brag about and excepting Soledad Miranda (whose charisma and sensuality prevail) the rest of the cast is just average. Ewa Strömberg is alright (I wouldn't say no to her) as the buxom, pale and innocent blonde that falls under the spell of Soledad Miranda, but.... even if she's OK and nice-looking, there were other actresses that could have been chosen instead of her. Just imagine if (for example) Barbara Bouchet had been chosen to be the innocent and unaware prey of Countess Nadine (Soledad Miranda). What a feast it would have been for the senses!

Anyway "Vampyros Lesbos" is a film to be seen more than once, and if you see it in an altered state of mind, you might enjoy it more. It's difficult to classify it. Sometimes the film seems to crash on the ground and be just empty image drivel and then suddenly it rises again and soars to the skies. Don't try to judge the film, flow with it - the floating images, Soledad and the wonderful soundtrack by Hübler & Schwab may lead you somewhere.
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1/10
Horrible, Draggy, Boring
Carrigon23 December 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Maybe I just watched a bad cut of this film, I don't know. It was in German with English subs. The soundtrack was pure 60's psychedelic. I hated it. I was never fond of that kind of music. The plot was awful, the script was awful. She didn't even look like a vampire and walked about in the daylight like it was nothing. The version I saw, there wasn't anything explicit with the sex scenes, like nothing really seemed to happen. And as far as any vampire action goes, it was almost non-existent. Very little blood in this movie. I wouldn't even consider it a real vampire film. I know some people rave about this movie like it's a cult classic, but I just hated it. Maybe if you're on drugs you might like it because it has that late 60's feel to it. In fact, you probably shouldn't watch it unless you are on drugs or you might not like it at all. The version I saw was about an hour and twenty-five minutes long. It felt like four hours. I finally started to fast forward it as it kept dragging on and on. There are much, much better faux sex vampire movies out there. This isn't one of them.
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