(1970)
Dir - Claude Mulot
Overall: MEH
This partly pretentious, partly disagreeable Eyes Without a Face knock-off from adult film director Claude Mulot has been called the first sex-horror film ever made, whatever that exactly means. While The Blood Rose, (La Rose écorchée), tries to be about a man distraught over the disfigurement and therefor "loss" of his muse, it is ungracefully presented to say the least. Broken up into several chapters, the plot progresses rather clumsily. Characters lazily show up or disappear, the performances are hugely unemotive, and Mulot seems to prefer static, medium shots of people delivering exposition without cutting away. At one point, a scantily clad woman who looks like she would rather be in virtually any other movie gets chased by two guys equally as excited who end up awkwardly hitting her in a pond until she passes out. Then two midgets rape her for what seems like seven hours with no one on the screen making any noise. The whole film is full of lethargic, puzzling, inadvertently embarrassing moments like this and it seems like it is cobbled together from three or four different movies, none of them good ones.
(1971)
Dir - Harry Kümel
Overall: GOOD
One of the most renowned erotic vampire films ever made was Harry Kümel's Daughters of Darkness, (Les Lèvres Rouges, Le Rouge aux Lèvres, Dorst Naar Bloed). While it certainly favors a sort of ethereal, artsy aesthetic over exploitative nudity or gore, seduction and sadism nevertheless each play a dominant role. Nearly all of the vampirism is merely alluded to instead of directly shown and the film relies heavily on the viewer already being familiar with the tropes of the vampire film as to make such details almost a MacGuffin of sorts. The struggle of female vs male, sexual dominance seems to be a more primary theme. As the undead seductress, Delphine Seyrig plays off a newlywed couple's desires as a way to satisfy her own. Meanwhile, the barbarous husband seems increasingly and violently overwhelmed by some sort of weird family secret. Kümel's vision is purposely controlled, stylizing his version of Countess Elizabeth Báthory after Marlene Dietrich and dressing her exclusively in Nazi colors of black, red, or white, symbolizing her subtle, rabble-rousing agenda. Beautifully photographed by Eduard van der Enden at two different off-season, Belgium hotels that each emphasize the isolation of the characters, it is as lovely to look at as it is expertly and hauntingly delivered.
(1973)
Dir - Harvey Hart
Overall: MEH
This adaptation of Jon Buell's The Pyx, (the movie of which was also called The Hooker Cult Murders and La Lunule), is one of the many horror outings staring Karen Black in the lead, who even provides her singing voice and lyrics to composer Harry Freedman's original songs. While the premise of a heroin-addicted prostitute being targeted by a Satanic cult sounds virtually fool-proof for a horror film, the result here is monstrously sluggish and clumsy. It bounces between two time lines which is not necessarily that jarring, but the one around detective Christopher Plummer's investigation at least is hugely-underwritten to the point of incomprehensibility. When the more disturbing elements finally start emerging, the ride to get there has been so cumbersome that they lose their potentially sinister edge entirely. This leaves it in messy shape to say the least, where the necessary dramatic tension is severely lacking. It is a shame that the presentation is such a drag, but considering how many blasphemous, occult-tinged films went into production in the 1970s, a few were bound to miss the mark.
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