PopHorror Let's Get Scared
As a die-hard fan of Euro-sleaze films, my tastes usually veer towards the films of either Jean Rollin or Jesus “Jess” Franco. While Rollin, for the most part, stayed firmly in his vampire/supernatural lane, Franco’s films, however, careen every which way, from Nazi flicks to vampires, to period pieces, jungle prisons, revenge thrillers, and back to straight-up exploitation. He even dabbled in soft-core porn with his muse and eventual wife, Lina Romay later in his career. My favorites of his were his early films with Spanish goddess Soledad Miranda, so I’ve been pretty stoked to see some of his lesser-known films being released by boutique labels. Full Moon, owning the rights to a lot of his later work, has been cleaning up and restoring some unique glimpses into his body of work, Blue Rita being one such title.
Synopsis
Nightclub owner and erotic dancer Rita Blue uses her place as a front for working undercover as a spy. Motivated by her vehement hatred of men that stems from having been sexually abused as a child, Rita and her seductive female cohorts not only gleefully torture guys as a means to obtain vital information, but also manhandle wealthy men in order to make them hand over their fortunes to them.
Have a look at the trailer!
Most Euro-sleaze films of the 70s through the 90s were often long on visuals and short on plot. Never one to let the plot get in the way of a ton of naked flesh on the screen, Spanish schlockmeister Franco (Count Dracula) upped the ante on the story for Blue Rita, now seeing its first North American uncut release. Rita (Martine Flety; I Burn All Over) is a girl with some unresolved issues. Fortunately for her, she has an outlet in the strip club she uses to peddle ill-gotten state secrets and to torture unfortunate rich dudes into giving up their fortunes.
Her willing co-conspirators are a veritable “who’s who” of exploitation cinema: Pamela Stanford (Sexy Sisters), Esther Moser (Ilsa, The Wicked Warden), Angela Ritschard (The Bangkok Connection), Dagmar Burger (Wicked Women), and Sarah Strasberg all have a role in Rita’s femme fatale army. Familiar faces for Franco fans! However, Interpol may be onto Rita and the crew, as they use sex, cages, torture, and bright green horny sauce to extract info from their hapless victims.
What could turn into a very contemporary “smash the patriarchy” film, doesn’t. This is, after all, Jess Franco, so any plot threads that are gender-empowering are tempered with copious amounts of both male and female nudity. Some set pieces read like his only direction was probably “you, over there, take your clothes off and put these go-go boots on!,” but, anyone familiar with his body of work would expect this and more.
Marginal acting, an odd scene with a woman fellating another dancer’s elephant underwear, and decidedly weird (even for the 70’s!) set decoration make for a discombobulated viewing experience, even with all the nude Euro-babes to distract you. While this is ambitious territory for a Franco script, it still has that inherent sense of incompleteness that plagued a lot of his later work. Was this because of budget or his flaws as a filmmaker?
You be the judge.
The Blu-ray from Full Moon features bare-bones trailers and galleries, along with an interesting interview with Peter Strickland and former Fangoria/Rue Morgue scribe Chris Alexander regarding Franco. The packaging sports an alternate art slipcover covering an NSFW cover on the box proper. The uncut, 1080p scan looks crisp and fresh on a 4K screen.
While not a “masterpiece”, or even among his best, Blue Rita certainly isn’t Franco’s worst film. An exploitation fan who is curious, or a devout Franco-phile will find plenty to like here, it’s not for everyone. Blue Rita is a solid release nonetheless that will attract fans of the sub-genre.
Full Moon Pictures’ Blu-ray/DVD combo of Blue Rita is available now from fine retailers.
