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Jesus (or Jess) Franco (born May 12, 1936 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 - Geträumte Sünden (1967), The Castle of Fu Manchu (1968), Justine (1968), Count Dracula (1969), Vampyros Lesbos (1970), Christina, princesse de l'érotisme (1971), Female Vampire (1973), Frauengefängnis (1975), Die Liebesbriefe einer Portugiesischen Nonne (1977), Oasis of the Zombies (1981) and Faceless (1988).
Franco has also worked under innumerable pseudonyms, including David Khune and Frank Hollmann. A big fan of jazz music (and a musician himself), many of his pseudonyms are taken from famous jazz musicians, such as Clifford Brown and James P. Johnson.
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 uninterrupted 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.
He has frequently worked with actors Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Paul Müller, Christopher Lee, Lina Romay (his wife) and Klaus Kinski. Kinski is famous for his dislike of directors, but according to Franco, he never had any trouble working with him.
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.
External link
- Jesus Franco at IMDb
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