Can anybody who is a Jess Franco fan tell me if this one is any good? I think that Franco's movies are always bad, but sublime in their own way (eh! eh!) and should be appreciated in a class of their own. How does this one rates in Franco's scale?
I'm asking, because if I want to see it I'll have to import it and frankly I don't need to spend money on another one as "good" as «Oasis of the Zombies»...
Well, it's Franco-for-hire and it's one of the first films he did for Harry Alan Towers. Unfortunatly its no Venus in Furs, or even Justine. It doesn't make much sense but it is one of those movies that, if you want to be a film-maker, is useful to watch because it's interesting to see how random cheap shots of Barcalona city park, dank cellars, Istanbul, stock footage from other films and scenes strung together involving actors thousands of miles apart cut together, are stitched into some crass abomination that is far less than its parts.
Where Japanese cinema meets Keith Chegwin...
LMAO it's like asking how Ed Wood's movies match up to each other. It's a bad, bad horrible movie deserving of MST3K treatment. I wouldn't have it till the end without the bots. However, it's one of those it's so bad it's good type of film.
shareActually it did get an MST3K treatment, it was episode 323, and it was hilarious.
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I like the Blue Underground DVD of CASTLE OF FU MANCHU a lot. It's great fun!
shareI just saw the MST3K show, and I had NO idea what was going on, and it kept getting too dark and then too bright, and too red and then blue... What the heck? And why did that girl go back in the castle to die? And how did the Dr. and his girlfriend get out? Why did they make this movie? Was that really Christopher Lee? I was crying with the bots by the end. I think it was one of the worst movies they have ever done... and yes, I've seen Manos:Hand of Fate, *and* Sidehackers. I really don't know which is worse. The writers for MST3K *hated* writing for it, I read in the episode guide. I can't imagine watching it without the bots, and I don't think I'd want to....
shareYeah, it's that bad. Thanks alot, Jesus.
If con is the opposite of pro, wouldn't congress be the opposite of progress?
I bought the Christopher Lee box set and they did a great job with the picture quality. You can see every detail and it's very clean. Thing is, the movie is so bad it doesn't seem to really deserve such a treatment! I just saw the MSTK3000 version and they're watching the grainy version, which seems more appropriate.
shareRosalba ("Lady Frankenstein") Neri is sexy, even when butch, and I like the strange way Tsai Chin sometimes says, "opium".
Otherwise it's a completely terrible movie.
Luxuriate in the eclectic...
http://www.eccentric-cinema.com
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Yeah, it's pretty good. My guess is Jess Franco was given a decent budget and saw his chance to make a more than decent movie and actually succeeded! I would say "The Castle of Fu Manchu" is the "Citizen Kane" calibre movie he always wanted to make.
shareThese comments are on the MST3K version of the film; I recognize that they would get rotten prints, and sometimes make edits for length, etc., which would create problems that reflected badly on the affected film. However...
I haven't seen much Jess Franco, but I would have to say that this is about as inept of filmmaking as I can imagine. Every chance to establish conflict, build characters, stage action, etc., is squandered or bungled. Christopher Lee is wasted. Nayland Smith, the supposed hero of the piece, does nothing interesting and is fairly inconsequential in the finale. It's a terrible, terrible film.
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