Co-presented by Severin Films and the Oscarbate Film Collective
Venus in Furs (Dir. Jess Franco, 1969, 86 min)
Violated and left for dead, a young woman’s vengeful spirit traverses space and time to seek retribution against her cold-blooded killers, a sinister group of libertines led by Klaus Kinski. Attempting to discover the truth behind her resurrection, a young jazz player begins to fall for this revenge-seeking specter, with the hope he doesn’t befall a similar fate as her and her murderers.
Rising from the psychedelic shadows of the late 60’s, Venus in Furs appeared to fit right alongside certain dosed AIP titles like The Trip and Psych-Out; however, the filmmaker’s mad vision stretched beyond the groovy bounds of those films, and emerged as a definitive statement for exploitation cinema at large. Utilizing an array of kaleidoscopic visuals and a blistering score, Venus in Furs provides the perfect gateway into the world of Jess Franco.
The Other Side of the Mirror (Dir. Jess Franco, 1973, 100 min)
Melissa, a young woman living in a large seaside mansion with her father and aunt, decides one day to marry. She rushes home to tell her father the good news, yet after telling him, she returns home later on to discover (through the reflection of a large ominous mirror) that her father has hung himself. Distraught and heartbroken, she breaks off the marriage and decides to join a touring group of musicians to escape her tragic home. However, as time creeps on, she begins to notice ghostly happenings anytime she stares directly into a mirror, plunging her further into nightmarish conflict with forces from the other side of reality.
A crowning achievement of Franco’s astonishing mid-70’s run, The Other Side of the Mirror remains a fairly classically constructed affair for the director, albeit infused with the sort of cinematic somnambulism that remained signature throughout his entire career. Anticipating moments and scenes that would later appear in the films of David Lynch (Lost Highway and Inland Empire, in particular), The Other Side of the Mirror points to the rarely acknowledged but undeniable influence Franco had over many of today’s greatest and most forward-thinking filmmakers.
TRT: 186 min
In person: Will Morris and John Dickson (Oscarbate Film)
"A dedicated exponent of weird sex, shocking sadism and surreal horror, and one of the cinema's great individualists.” —Stephen Thrower, The Guardian
"Share[s] with Buñuel the distinction of being denounced by the Vatican as the world’s most dangerous filmmaker." —Maximilian Le Cain, Senses of Cinema
"Venus in Furs is one of Jesus Franco's most accessible erotic horror movies, true to its self-contained little world of dreamlike reverie." —Glenn Erickson, DVDTalk
"The beauty of Venus in Furs is watching hot women sing and do murder while a sad wet man plays the trumpet, and from the arrangement of shots and notes, we make meaning. " —Remus Jackson, Hyperreal Film Club
"One of [Jess Franco's] finest films... [The Other Side of the Mirror] boasts a haunting lead performance, marvelously weird atmosphere, and Franco's trademark beloved jazz." —Nathaniel Thompson, MondoDigital
(Available to download after screening date)