Nerd Girl of Note #68

The leggy, mysterious, and eager to disrobe Soledad Miranda (aka Susan Corday) is quite often the main reason to watch a Jess Franco film. Soledad was unfortunately killed in a car accident in 1970, but appeared in thirty-five films, starting in 1960 (I believe she did some film work as young as age eight, however). Her most famous films are with Jesus Franco, particularly She Killed in Ecstasy, Eugenie de Sade, and Vampyros Lesbos.

I have finally seen Vampyros Lesbos, prompting this post, and found it to be quite good for a Franco film. "Uncle Jess" is kind of like horseradish. If you like it, it goes with most anything. If you don't like it, it goes with nothing. In some ways, to carry the metaphor, Vampyros Lesbos is like cocktail sauce. You just might not know there is horseradish in it, and enjoy the taste.

Miranda plays Nadine, a countess who was turned into a vampire by Dracula himself. Dracula saved her from enemy soldiers that were raping her, then put the bite on. The rape caused Nadine to hate men. After two-hundred years she comes across Linda (Ewa Strömberg) who is not interested in women, but falls under the vampire's spell.

In a lot of ways it is like traditional Dracula stories. There is a Dr. Seward who runs a sanitarium, the character Agra (Heidrun Kussin) is very much Renfield. the ending is quite different. All-in-all it is a solid vampire movie for the Eurotrash milieu.

The film has a great soundtrack, and here is The Lions and the Cucumber, a song many also know from Jackie Brown. Here is an old MTV friendly video with scenes from the film.