The Erotic Rites of Jesús Franco: A Blu-ray Guide

[thenoblecollector]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

I love Night, but Macumba and Mansion are still on my to-watch list. I'm a late-comer to Francoland, and have just begun to wade into the shallow end of his filmography, having only watched twenty movies, a mere pittance! But I will certainly give anything that isn't shot on video a chance. (And it looks like Killer Barbys just makes that cut, with his follow-up, Tender Flesh, being the last non-SOV Franco film.)

It sounds like you still have a bounty of Franco to concern yourself with before getting around to his much later work. Even just concerning yourself with what's already available on English friendly DVD and Blu-ray will take you some time.

There are still so many great Franco films that have never received a decent boutique label English language release; THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR (1973), SHINING SEX (1977), SEX IS CRAZY (1981) and many more.

I saw my first Franco film; VAMPYROS LESBOS, some 25 years ago. I'm not sure how many Franco films I've seen but it's a lot. Be careful, once you breach a certain threshold Jess Franco films become an addiction!

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by thenoblecollector

It sounds like you still have a bounty of Franco to concern yourself with before getting around to his much later work. Even just concerning yourself with what's already available on English friendly DVD and Blu-ray will take you some time.

Yes indeed, I'm in no hurry! To rephrase a line from The Hot Nights of Linda, it's marvelous to watch without a sense of time.

[thenoblecollector]

Via Dorado Films Facebook page:

"Volume Two of Jess Franco's forgotten films will be slated for presale purchases within the next two weeks"

Volume Two consists of:

CAMINO SOLITARIO (1984) / DIRTY GAME IN CASABLANCA (1985)

[NoirFan]

Regarding the cover art/design:

Originally Posted by Dorado FB

I would very much like to do a reversible cover with the two different poster arts on each side, have to wait for a couple of days to see what we actually have in house verses getting from a collector etc.

[NoirFan]

BU's upcoming Fu Manchu double-feature is $17.04 from DD during their current site-wide 15% off sale (through 3/31, use the code ROTWANG). Don't forget topcashback for an additional 4% back.

Link (yes, it does say 'Blood of Fun Manchu')

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by thenoblecollector

If the primary Jess Franco group on Facebook is to be believed it sounds like the new Kino/Redemption Franco acquisition is THE DIABOLICAL DR. Z

Correct!

Originally Posted by MisterLime

Coming Soon on DVD and Blu-ray!
Brand New Restoration!

The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966) Starring Estella Blain, Mabel Karr and Howard Vernon - Shot by Alejandro Ulloa (The Mercenry, Horror Express) - Music by Daniel White (The Blood of Fu Manchu, Incubus) - Adaptation and Dialogue by Jean-Claude Carrière (Belle de Jour, The Unbearable Lightness of Being) - Directed by Jess Franco (Succubus, She Killed in Ecstasy)

[thenoblecollector]

Yes, this is fantastic news. Hopefully a KILLER BARBYS announcement will follow in the coming weeks.

[NoirFan]

R!S!P! on Countess/Seduce



Trailers for the two upcoming Kino titles (no English subs on Killer Barbys, but there are dwarves, naked female corpses covered in blood, and exploding vans):

Diabolical Dr Z Trailer - YouTube

Killer Barbies - Trailer - YouTube

[GxyExpress999]

[NoirFan]

The Fu Manchu double-feature appears to be postponed, with Amazon and Deep Discount cancelling pre-orders. People have asked BU about the issue on Facebook, but no reply as of yet.

[thenoblecollector]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

The Fu Manchu double-feature appears to be postponed, with Amazon and Deep Discount cancelling pre-orders. People have asked BU about the issue on Facebook, but no reply as of yet.

The optimist in me hopes it's because they're working on adding some new extras to make the release more inciting.

[NoirFan]

^
No, just more issues with Amazon not stocking BU titles:

Originally Posted by BU on Facebook

Unfortunately we don't have an answer for you. Amazon has been de-listing a bunch of movies they don't want you to see lately, including FU MANCHU. Our distributor is working on it, but so far has not had any luck dealing with Amazon. May we suggest you order it from another retailer, like Diabolik DVD or Deep Discount? Best Buy is currently selling it for $17.99

Deep Discount has their listing back up, but since my auto-cancelled order was originally placed during a 15% sale, I'll probably have to wait for another sale to re-order it. Most annoying.

[thenoblecollector]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

^
No, just more issues with Amazon not stocking BU titles:



Deep Discount has their listing back up, but since my auto-cancelled order was originally placed during a 15% sale, I'll probably have to wait for another sale to re-order it. Most annoying.

Ah, I see. I don't use Amazon (US). I'll assume the title is still on schedule in that case.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by MisterLime

The Diabolical Dr. Z should be out late summer or early fall.

[NoirFan]

MisterLime responded 'Maybe...' in response to my query about Killer Barbys, so it looks like that FB source is 2/2! thenoblecollector, have you heard any further rumor rumblings?


DVD Drive-In on Countess/Virgin

[NoirFan]

From Severin's Facebook on 4/11:

French and Spanish translations happening on the next (Franco) release now.

[thenoblecollector]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

MisterLime responded 'Maybe...' in response to my query about Killer Barbys, so it looks like that FB source is 2/2! thenoblecollector, have you heard any further rumor rumblings?


DVD Drive-In on Countess/Virgin

I haven't heard anymore regarding KILLER BARBYS.

[thenoblecollector]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

From Severin's Facebook on 4/11:

I missed that. Hhmmm. French and Spanish translations suggests two versions of whatever film it is. I wonder if they are releasing THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR? If that's the case it might well be the Euro Cult release of the year.

[NoirFan]

From a Dorado Films Facebook post, as part of a response to a query as to why prints were being used for the transfers, instead of OCNs or IPs:

We own over 20 Jess Franco films...

Here is the entire reply:

[Show spoiler]

Will there is no if that our company owns the rights to our films, but the cost of going directly from the negative in the labs stored in Madrid, Paris, Rome are very expensive and time consuming ...to be completely honest with you the returns on investment are very low and so we will continue to use our prints whenever possible to get these otherwise not legally available titles to the fans. Some of the prints are a bit worn as you say, but most of them have never even been run through a projector, and have been in climatically controlled storage since being transferred from the negatives and brought over to our company. Another reason is working with the very labs that house the negatives can be a very long and arduous task, since most of the labs do not want to give access even with a written letter of access from the films producers whom many of long since passed away. We own over 20 Jess Franco films that he himself signed the contracts, signed a letter of access to the negatives, and recorded the transaction in the Ministry of Culture in Spain. yet we had to go all the way to the Spanish supreme court [over 10 years battle] simply to gain access to what we have already long ago paid the rights for. Other labels have had very similar stories of lab verses access that they can talk about, this has been going on for decades now. Not to many content owners can say that the even have 35mm prints for their catalog so we feel very satisfied that we had the foresight to get these when we signed our contracts in the 1970 - 1990's. Hope this sort of answers your question,

They had told me 'I would assume that Vol.3 and 4 (of the Franco double-features) will be doable this year', but it looks like (at least!) six additional volumes will also be released eventually.

[thenoblecollector]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

From a Dorado Films Facebook post, as part of a response to a query as to why prints were being used for the transfers, instead of OCNs or IPs:



Here is the entire reply:




They had told me 'I would assume that Vol.3 and 4 (of the Franco double-features) will be doable this year', but it looks like (at least!) six additional volumes will also be released eventually.

Yes, Dorado own some very interesting titles among those twenty, or so I'm lead to believe.