Vampyros Lesbos
Synapse Films
Cast: Soledad Miranda, Dennis Price
Extras: Trailer
Rating:
Spanish director Jess Franco has long reached cult status among fans of Eurohorror through the 160-some films he directed over the course of his career. Although his films have covered a range of genres, one trait can be found as a common denominator in most of them – sexuality. ’Vampyros Lesbos’ is one of his erotic horror films in which a lesbian vampire lures female victims to a remote island to love and feast on them, and to eventually kill them.
Synapse Films presents ’Vampyros Lesbos’ in a widescreen version on this DVD, matted to create what appears to be a 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio in its uncut version. The transfer is not enhanced for 16×9 televisions. The source print from which this transfer has been made appears to be in pretty bad shape, which is hardly surprising given the film’s low budget and small stature in the market. As a result a large amount of grain is evident throughout the film’s length and the entire movie has a very soft look that almost becomes foggy at many times. The compression on this DVD has been done very carefully however, trying to make the best of what is there. No pixelation or other artifacts are evident in the transfer, reproducing the film as good as possible.
The movie contains a 2-channel audio track in a German dub with optional English subtitles. The audio track is showing a very limited frequency response creating a harsh sounding atmosphere without any notable bass extension. It is especially noticeable in the sibilance found in the dialogues and the music score.
’Vamyros Lesbos’ is a very esoteric film experience and caters to the select group of fans of the Eurohorror genre. This mix of softcore erotic and vampirism is well produced and photographed carrying its European signature all over.