Not exactly a huge fan of his overall body of work, but in his prime he was capable of some truly memorable horror/exploitation movies that really pushed the envelope. RIP Jess Franco.

Rest in Peace, Jesus “Jess” Franco (1930-2013)

I’m writing this quickly, as I have to get this out now, while the news is still stinging, but Jesús “Jess” Franco died yesterday. To me, Franco was and remains the most important figure in cinema, a fascinating individual who ate, slept and breathed moviemaking, who lived to point his lens at anything that caught his eye, who was too arty for the horror crowd and too macabre and lowbrow for the art crowd.

Had no idea he directed nearly 200 movies (199).

Not all that familiar with his work but know of his significance. RIP.

This is an excellent description of his style.



Thanks for the insanity, the memories and introducing me to Soledad Miranda.

Mr. Franco RIP

Once upon a time Franco's movies actually played theaters in New York (usually on 42nd Street), including VENUS IN FURS and 99 WOMEN. And then a number of them showed up on TV in late-night movie slots in the '70s. Despite all that, I only recall seeing one of his movies, COUNT DRACULA (1970), with Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom and Klaus Kinski, when it played on TV, but I don't remember anything about it, other than that it couldn't compare with Lee's Hammer Dracula films.

Still, Franco worked in various branches of the European film industry (such as it was) for 57 years!

Count me as another who only saw Count Dracula (and only because I was always a Christopher Lee fan).

I learned about Jess through this site and Blue Underground. He sure put out some interesting stuff.

Worked with some beauts!

I will play this in his honor...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TDTkVyb04uM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

RIP. Gonna watch The Wicked Warden tonight in his honor.

RIP. I watched Lorna The Exorcist earlier in his memory

Sad to hear though he certainly had a good run in his life.

Though I'm a huge and cult movie fan, I didn't get into his movies too much. His filmography is a minefield - some quality stuff buried in between a lot of godawful crap. If someone new to Franco starts picking titles out at random they could very well come to the conclusion that he was Europe's Ed Wood ... if Ed Wood managed to get funding for 200 movies.

His career trajectory is odd ... Benjamin Button-like. Some of his early movies (60s) are quite striking. "The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus" and "The Awful Dr. Orloff" are stylish entries into the Euro-gothic horror genre. "Diabolical Dr. Z" is a lot of fun, and while it didn't completely work for me I appreciate "Succubus". As he got into the 70s, in general the sleaze goes up as the quality goes down, and he'd make the same kind of movie over and over (though there are a handful of good movies sprinkled throughout the many dozens he made this decade). Further along he descends into outright porn and ultra-cheap shot-on-video quickies.

^yep ditto. Franco 70s sexploitation stuff is eh.

Franco 60s=awesome. When he worked on spy movies.

Castle of Fu Manchu is the shit.

I never thought that I would outlive Jesus.

Though I was extremely disappointed with a DVD blind buy of "Girl From Rio" some time back. The one time where the story calls for high levels of sleaze and trashiness (about a femdom army that wants to enslave all men and rule the world), and Franco plays it tame and dull

BUMP



Thought maybe I'd post this here too...Stephen Thrower (author of NIGHTMARE USA) has a new Jess Franco book coming out in March of 2015. DVDTalker TheBigDave posted in Book Talk earlier today that Amazon has a 30% book coupon expiring Sunday night. With the coupon you can get a nice deal on the Franco book...hardcover for $23.16 (as of this writing and not including tax/shipping). Coupon code: HOLIDAY30.

The title is:
Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesus Franco (Volume 1: 1959-1974)

Finally!...(a thread bump that makes sense. )