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Jesus (or Jess) Franco (born May 12, 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. While never having found wide commercial success, Franco has nevertheless retained a small (but faithful) cult following with his sexually-charged horror movies. His output was very prolific during the 1960s through to the late 1980s, but he has slowed down since then. Some of his most popular titles are Gritos en la noche (1961), Miss Muerte (1965), Necronomicon (1967), The Castle of Fu Manchu (1968), Justine (1968), Vampyros Lesbos (1970), Christina, princesse de l'érotisme (1971), La comtesse noire (1973), Frauengefängnis (1975), Die Liebesbriefe einer Portugiesischen Nonne (1977) and Faceless (1988).

Franco has also worked under innumerable pseudonyms, including David Khune and Clifford Brown.

Franco's themes often revolved around lesbian vampires, women in prison, and sexual exploration (including several films based on the writings of Marquis de Sade). His movies often contained lengthy scenes of nude women writhing uncontrollably on the floor or in bed, for minutes at a time, in uninterupted shots (such as in Lorna The Exorcist and La comtesse noire, among others). He has also worked in other exploitation film genres, such as cannibal films and nunsploitation.

Further reading

• Jess Franco, Memorias del tío Jess (2004) (autobiography, in Spanish)
• Stéphane du Mesnilot, Jess Franco - Énergies du fantasme (2004, in French)
• Alain Petit, Manacoa Files (1994-1999, in French)
• Lucas Balbo, Peter Blumenstock, Christian Kessler, Tim Lucas, Obsession - The Films of Jess Franco (1993)
• Tim Lucas, How to Read a Franco Film, in Video Watchdog n. 1 (1990)
• The book Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 (1994) by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs dedicates a chapter to him.

IMDB listing

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