BLOODY MOON

Having made over 100 films by this point in his career, Jess Franco was no stranger to trying his hand within a myriad of genres. Having been tasked by his producers to exploit the burgeoning slasher craze (though still a year ahead of its 1982 explosion), Franco birthed one of the most violent films in his entire career with BLOODY MOON. Franco combines grindhouse sleaze, unhinged humor, and sumptuous beauty, to tell the tale of a pair of incestuous siblings and their relationship after the brother brutally murders a woman at a party, landing him in jail. It isn’t until he is released from prison, and the murders start all over again, that our story really begins. The entire cast resembles extraterrestrial mannequins more than they do actual humans, making BLOODY MOON a transcendent Bacchanal of horror heaven, one that only Franco could pull off.

Dir. Jess Franco, 1981, 90 min., DCP

NIGHT OF OPEN SEX

Jess Franco also wrote and directed this delirious hybrid of sexy caper comedy, EuroSpy suspense thriller, hard-boiled erotic noir, and depraved fetish shocker complete with jaw-dropping girl-on-girl violence. Jess’ equally legendary partner/muse Lina Romay delivers one of her most deliriously inhibited performances, in this melting pot of exploitation insanity brimming over with biting humor and depraved action. Along with a killer soundtrack (one song in particular) , NIGHT OF OPEN SEX remains one of the most joyously dizzying films in Franco’s long career.