Strange Blood is going to Toulouse!
I'm happy to be invited to the festival Extrême Cinéma, where I've programmed and will be introducing the Vampire movies Female Vampire and Ganja & Hess.
In Female Vampire (La comtesse aux seins nus), Jess Franco cast 19-year-old Lina Romay, his muse, in her first leading role as a vampire feeding on both the sexual fluids and blood of her victims. Soaked in hypnagogic atmosphere, this Belgian co-production is one of the director's most transgressive films. Screened in the uncut erotic French-language version!
Female Vampire will be screened on Saturday, February 8th at 11 pm in the Cinémathèque de Toulouse.
Female Vampire will be screened on Saturday, February 8th at 11 pm in the Cinémathèque de Toulouse.
And in Ganja and Hess, a ceremonial dagger grants anthropologist Dr. Hess immortality at the cost of a craving for blood. This highly-stylized curio about sex, religion and Afro-American identity flirts brilliantly with Blaxploitation and horror conventions. Finally shown in its original, restored version.
Ganja and Hess will be screened on Sunday, February 9 at 9 pm in the Cinémathèque de Toulouse.
If you can't make it to Toulouse, you can read more about both movies in the book Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies.
