Glimmering Star of Cult Erotica That Faded Too Soon
Born in Spain in 1943, Soledad’s parents were Portuguese gypsies originally. She started dancing Flamenco on stage at only 8 years old, thanks to her relative Paquito Rico, a dancer and actress who has appeared in 30 films since late 40s. Soledad’s first dancing appearance in a movie was in 1960, and her first lead role was in 1962 in a comedy, “Cuatra bodas y pico”. However her cinema career didn’t take off until she met Jess Franco through the popular Spanish actress Mikaela. Franco first gave Soledad a small role in “Count Dracula” with Christopher Lee and Klaus Kinski in 1969. She played Lucy, one of the victims of Dracula played by Sir Lee, who said this about Soledad: “I’ve played this role many times, but this woman is giving me something no other actress has ever had.“
After this Dracula adaptation, realizing he found his new muse, Jess Franco offered Soledad lead roles in four films shot between 1969-1970. The last one was a German thriller named “The Devil Came from Akasava“. Just after completing the filming, Soledad and her husband had a car accident in Lisbon. Her partner survived, but Soledad couldn’t – she was only 27. She had starting filming their next movie with Franco, a Sade inspired project called “Justine, a.k.a. Juliette”. Franco later described his muse as: “She had a primitive instinct. A very clear and clever mind. She was just letting herself float through life. She was very funny. Everybody loved her”. Three films they made together are quite cult items of European Sexploitation today, worth a closer look here…
VAMPYROS LESBOS [1970]
A Sexadelic Experience!
This sexy lesbian vampire romp is not only Soledad’s, but also Jess Franco’s biggest cult film by far. Its psychedelic soundtrack has become a cult item itself, which was released later in 1995 as “Sexadelic Dance Party” and became a hit in the UK. The film was shot in Istanbul and on an island near the city (Princes’ Islands). Here’s the plot, though it hardly matters in this “sexadelic” experience: A European woman living in Istanbul has erotic dreams with a gorgeous brunette doing striptease. She later learns that this woman in her dreams is a European Countess (Soledad Miranda) who does strip shows in Istanbul nightclubs. She is fascinated with this mysterious-stripper-Countess and leaves the city to visit her secluded house on an island. A lot more silliness goes on, but hey, you never come to see a Jess Franco movie for the plot!
Vampyros Lesbos totally defies vampire film conventions and aesthetics. The vampire here doesn’t avoid or fear the sun, in fact she enjoys sunbathing naked at the beach a lot! And the film’s visual style is very bright, colorful and sunny, the opposite of the Gothic and dark aesthetic that most vampire films have come to adapt. What sets Lesbos apart the most from other vampire movies though is the funky music, by Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab, which defined by some as Acid-Jazz-Pop. Quentin Tarantino, a big fan of this movie, has included one of the tracks (“The Lions and the Cucumber”) to the soundtrack of Jackie Brown, which was dedicated to Soledad Miranda by Tarantino. After the success of Sexadelic Dance Party compilation, a remix album was released in 1997 called The Spirit of Vampyros Lesbos (links for the albums are below the page).
Vampyros Lesbos was shot and produced in 2 versions, German and Spanish. Some scenes differ slightly, and each version has scenes added or removed. The Spanish release called “Las Vampiras” uses less of that funky soundtrack, so it has a more somber quality to it. Soledad’s vampire Countess is actually a tragic figure in the end, and the audience are meant to sympathize with her. The other lead, Ewa Strömberg, is a Swedish actress, who retired from films shortly after this film and the next collaboration, She Killed in Ecstasy. Franco, as usual, has a small role as a sadist Turkish man. British actor Dennis Price and Franco regular Paul Müller also feature, but this is thoroughly Soledad’s movie. If you want to watch a good vampire movie, look elsewhere. This is a cheap Euro-sleaze erotic film and these vampyros are more busy being lesbos. If you’re in the mood for a dreamy, sexy, funky, psychedelic experience in exotic Turkish locations, then you have to experience this one.
Available for streaming with English subtitles: Vampyros Lesbos
SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY [1971]
Now that’s a title! “She” is Soledad Miranda – and she charms, seduces, and kills. The plot is a reworking of Jess Franco’s previous Miss Muerte: Soledad’s husband is a scientist experimenting with embryos, who is ridiculed and wronged by a group of doctors, and then kills himself. For his honor and vengeance, his wife tracks them down one by one, seducing all to lure in to her trap, man or woman alike. Just like in Vampyros, Soledad is a femme fatale, but she is a tragic figure as well. As in the previous film, Franco himself plays an asshole doctor, one of her victims. Ewa Strömberg from Lesbos and Paul Müller play her other victims.
She Killed in Ecstasy was shot right after the filming of Vampyros Lesbos, and the two productions and cast are very close. Franco uses some tracks from the same “Sexadelic” music composed for the first film, so people who enjoyed the funky vibes of Lesbos will surely have a blast with this one too. The same erotic, colorful, psychedelic aesthetics will satisfy cult film enthusiasts. But the same warning is necessary here, just like in Lesbos: If you are looking for a well-made movie with a sensible plot, good acting and production values etc. then you’re in the wrong place!
EUGENIE DE SADE [1973]
This is inspired by a Marquis de Sade story called “Eugenie de Franval”. Not to be confused by Jess Franco’s other Sade adaptation named Eugenie… (1970), which was reviewed here. This was shot in 1970, but wasn’t released until 1973. The plot is again trivial in this sex&murder story: Young Eugenie (Soledad Miranda) lives with her step-father (Paul Müller). He is a writer interested in S&M erotic literature, and Eugenie secretly reads some decadent writings she finds in his library. Her curiousiy leads her to discover secret passions of her step-father and together they embark on a sexual and murderous ‘project’. We are in Marquis de Sade’s and Jess Franco’s world, so hedonism, depraved sex and murders galore! The film is inevitable much tamer than Sade’s story – the incest theme is softened by turning Eugenie’s father into a step-father. Also, the mother in the original story is murdered by the daughter and father
Their first victim is played by Alice Arno, a French model who was going to feature in many European sexploitation and horror films throughout the 70s, including Jess Franco’s. She was the lead actress in a similarly titled adaptation in 1972, Justine de Sade. Eugenie de Sade has a different style than the previous two psychedelic films above and has a more somber, darker tone. Many Franco fans consider this story of passion, decadence, love and death as one of his best films. This is again Soledad’s film, with her discovery of her forbidden desires and her eagerness to participate in her step-father’s evil intentions, she keeps the viewers glued to the screen. Soledad’s mysterious aura and the way she can look innocent and devious at the same time is what makes this movie so watchable.
The film starts with a very original scene: We watch Eugenie with her step-father murdering a young woman in an erotic setting, before we see it is Jess Franco as an actor watching this reel of film with a real murder in it. This is probably the first instance of a ‘snuff film’ is introduced to the audience in cinema, much before the concept of ‘snuff’ as an urban legend was invented. This film-inside-the-film will later be revealed to be of the ultimate murder project of Eugenie’s step-father. One dialogue between them recalling Marquis de Sade’s philosophy of pleasure and pain is worth quoting here.
- Paul Müller (Step-father): Eugenie, you’ll find out that the key to life is nothing but your own pleasure. You’ll be amazed to find out that pleasure is always at someone else’s expense. We’ll carry this to its ultimate expression through wounds and blood and death. I know you’ll love every moment of it. You’ll revel in the secret knowledge of having done something savagely beautiful but forbidden.
- Soledad Miranda (Eugenie): I accept. I’ll do absolutely anything you want me to, anything you say. Your will will be mine. We’ll act as one. I had a premonition – that life would be full of passions, how it’s marvellous what we’ve become to each other. Father, I promise to obey you!
FOR COLLECTORS
VAMPYROS LESBOS can be collected as a multi-format region-free release by SEVERIN FILMS. First disc of this Collector’s Edition has the Blu-ray of the German version with English subtitles and the 2nd disc has the DVD of the Spanish version named Las Vampiras. Extras include an interview with Jess Franco and 2 more interviews about Miranda and Franco.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY gets a similar treatment by SEVERIN with a multi-format 2-Disc edition. It has German audio with English subtitles and is Region-free, features many extras.
SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY (BLU-RAY&DVD)
EUGENIE DE SADE is the more obscure title among these 3 films, with no recent releases. But the 2008 DVD by BLUE UNDERGROUND is still available for collectors. It includes both French and English audio tracks and English subtitles.
This last film is also included in a very interesting collection by BLUE UNDERGROUND named “FIFTY SHADES OF JUSTINE”. It features 4 films to do with de Sade‘ Justine or Eugenie: MARQUIS DE SADE’S JUSTINE (1969), EUGENIE… THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (1970), EUGENIE DE SADE (1973), JUSTINE DE SADE (1972). First three are by Jess Franco, and the last film is the one with Alice Arno in the lead role mentioned above, directed by Claude Pierson.
FIFTY SHADES OF JUSTINE (DVD SET)
A SEXADELIC SOUNDTRACK
Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party is available in various formats on AMAZON
Follow-up Remix album is also availabe: The Spirit of Vampyros Lesbos