Review: The Blood Rose

A tortured artist named Lansac (played by Philippe Lemaire) blackmails disgraced doctor Howard Vernon into using his skills in experimental surgery to restore the once beautiful face of his disfigured wife.

 

Yet another film about a man driven to deadly deeds to restore the once beautiful face of his disfigured love (“Eyes Without a Face”, “Corruption”, “The Skin I Live In”, etc). This 1970 French film from director Claude Mulot (whose background is in adult entertainment pictures) and his co-writers Jean Carriaga (Mulot’s “Sexyrella”) and Edgar Oppenheimer (Mulot’s “Manhunt for Murder” with Sydney Chaplin!) is as stuffy and dull as the awfully smug lead performance by Philippe Lemaire, a block of wood if ever I’ve seen one. Mulot is acting like this Franco-esque exploitation trash material is “8 ½” and it results in a film that is no fun at all. Howard Vernon is quite good as a disgraced surgeon, and the film both looks and sounds immaculate. The women are hot, too. I just didn’t care. About any of it. “The Skin I Live In” it most certainly ain’t, and although the visuals occasionally suggest a mixture of Mario Bava and 60s Roger Corman adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe, it’s nowhere near that level of fun either. It’s repetitive, mopey, slow-moving and dull. It’s a shame that Vernon isn’t in the film all that much, because his character would’ve made for an anchor to a far more interesting and entertaining Gothic horror/exploitation film. There’s a couple of oddball touches here and there and some nudity, but not nearly enough of either to keep you invested (Odd given the director’s porno background).

 

It looks great, the music score by Jean-Pierre Dorsay (“Sexyrella”) is haunting, but you’ve seen this done a million times and usually more interestingly. The co-writer/director (who names the lead character after his own frequent alias, Frederic Lansac) wants to make something artistic and dramatic out of pure schlock. It’s a misguided endeavour. Man, they could’ve had something here with the basic plot. Unfortunately it’s extremely repetitive and every scene drags on for far too long. The French just don’t tend to do horror as effectively as the Spaniards, Italians, Brits, or Americans. Sorry, but this is no fun at all. Howard Vernon’s pretty good but not good enough to come close to saving this one.

 

Rating: D+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit too s
Read more

Review: Eugenie de Sade

Eugenie (Soledad Miranda) makes a deathbed confession to author/biographer (Jesus ‘Jess’ Franco himself), recounting the tale of how her depraved stepfather (Paul Muller) groomed her into a life of depravity, debauchery, and murder.   Not to be confused with the similarly titled “Eugenie…The Story of Her Journey into Perversion” (by the same director) or “Justine de Sade” (which is not to be confused with Franco’s own “Justine” for that matter), this 1973 Marquis de Sade adaptation from writer-director Jesus Franco ( “99 Women” , “A Virgin Among the Living Dead” ) is perhaps the perfect marriage of Franco, sleazy material, and actors. Basically this is what Franco’s “She Killed in Ecstasy” might’ve been like if it were based on a Marquis de Sade work. There’s a few slow spots here and there, but overall I actually think this is Franco’s best film. Yes, even better than my previous choice “Vampyros Lesbos” , and better than his more ‘respectable’ films like “Count Dracula” (a
Read more