Cuadecuc, vampir

One of the most important clandestine productions in Spanish cinema, "Cuadecuc, Vampir is an Arthouse documentary film shot on the set of Count Dracula while Jesus Franco was making it. Catalian solitaire Pere Portabella crumbles Jesus Franco's 1970 film, Count Dracula ', to build his own gaze on the leading vampire in Bram Stoker's novel. Produced by Hammer Film, from an idea by poet Joan Brossa, "Cuadecuc, Vampir" was made with negatives stolen from state television, the work is constructed through the filming of "Conde Drácula" (1970), by Jesús Franco, with Sir Christopher Lee and the muses Maria Rohm and Soledad Miranda in the cast. This film is undeniably included within that semi-clandestine stream of films that were made openly in opposition to the Francisco Franco Regime. The sound is by Carles Santos violating the traditional template and replaces soundtrack with an abstract soundscape of coffins, makeup and filming preparation, knocks, worked by reverberation effects, delays and echoes.

'Cuadecuc, vampir' is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Not only does it show how 'The Count Dracula' by Jesús Franco was made, but it hypnotizes, like you have landed yourself on the set and forces you to take advantage of it. It is also one of the favourite films of Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin. Cuadecuc, Vampir feels a lot like an ancestor of E. Elias Merhige's Begotten (1990), blurring the worlds of horror and the Avant-garde. The final passage with Sir Christopher Lee is so wild, the Dracula monologue and the look into his eyes adds to 10/10 rating for this great piece of Art. My respect for Pere Portabella and other artists involved in this film for suspending the notion that a fourth wall even exists.