A Virgin Among The Living Dead - Impressi...
Quick Thoughts: A Virgin Among The Living Dead (1973)
Made by Jesus Franco, this is the Liechtensteinian film of the series.
Whilst I do not know what makes this, at least partly, a Liechtensteinian film, A Virgin Among The Living Dead is one of quite a few erotic, exploitative films to have emerged from the country - which does not seem to produce many movies at all. More than the average horror, sex cult exploitation film, this has an intentional artsy facade. In such, as this follows a girl raised estranged from her family whose father has just died back to a house she never called home, we find ourselves in sequences that are elongated greatly by unending close-ups that seemingly mean to access impressionistic subtext. A Virgin Among The Living Dead, it appears, wants us to ruminate upon the eroticism of dying--possibly the sexual complications that arise from the death of a father. Inaccessible, however, are the frankly incoherent sequences through which this is signified. The close-ups then lulled me into a sleepy state without evoking substantial thematic quandaries. During the film's final 15 minutes, we are granted some impressive and illusory shots and exchanges between a dead father and young daughter, but these come far too late. So much of A Virgin Among The Dead is then composed of awkward dead air occasionally punctuated by needless scenes of nudity. I will not be too harsh in my criticism, however, as I could only watch an English-dubbed version of this. Furthermore, there are multiple cuts of apparently differing quality and I can's be sure that I watched what is said to be the best version of this film. Looking past the awful performances, I still see some shaky direction and an incoherent exploration of loose themes. Alas, with better vocal performances, a tone crucial to the impressionistic aspirations of this may have been conjured. As is, this is probably worth a pass.
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Creed II - Cinema At First Sight
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End Of The Week Shorts #88
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Whilst I do not know what makes this, at least partly, a Liechtensteinian film, A Virgin Among The Living Dead is one of quite a few erotic, exploitative films to have emerged from the country - which does not seem to produce many movies at all. More than the average horror, sex cult exploitation film, this has an intentional artsy facade. In such, as this follows a girl raised estranged from her family whose father has just died back to a house she never called home, we find ourselves in sequences that are elongated greatly by unending close-ups that seemingly mean to access impressionistic subtext. A Virgin Among The Living Dead, it appears, wants us to ruminate upon the eroticism of dying--possibly the sexual complications that arise from the death of a father. Inaccessible, however, are the frankly incoherent sequences through which this is signified. The close-ups then lulled me into a sleepy state without evoking substantial thematic quandaries. During the film's final 15 minutes, we are granted some impressive and illusory shots and exchanges between a dead father and young daughter, but these come far too late. So much of A Virgin Among The Dead is then composed of awkward dead air occasionally punctuated by needless scenes of nudity. I will not be too harsh in my criticism, however, as I could only watch an English-dubbed version of this. Furthermore, there are multiple cuts of apparently differing quality and I can's be sure that I watched what is said to be the best version of this film. Looking past the awful performances, I still see some shaky direction and an incoherent exploration of loose themes. Alas, with better vocal performances, a tone crucial to the impressionistic aspirations of this may have been conjured. As is, this is probably worth a pass.
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Previous post:
Creed II - Cinema At First Sight
Net post:
End Of The Week Shorts #88
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
