Le viziose

As much as I hate watching cut and dubbed versions of Euro horror movies I'll take any opportunity to watch a Jess Franco movie. So I haven't seen either the softcore or hardcore versions of this film but the butchered cut known as 'Demoniac'. Maybe anything I say about this version is worthless, but as it is it's far from Franco's best, yet still surprisingly watchable. Despite the lousy English dubbing I thought Franco's acting was more than adequate, in fact he easily gives the best performance in the picture. He plays Vogel, an intense and tortured defrocked priest who writes salacious stories for a racy magazine, the editor of which hangs with a swinging crowd who stage fake sadomasochistic performances for fun (shades of one of Franco's best 'Succubus', but don't get your hopes up). Vogel secretly witnesses a black mass, and not realizing it is fake, decides he must save the souls of the participants via exorcism, which in reality basically equates to murdering them. 'Demoniac' is presumably a lot less explicit than the other versions available. There is a fair bit of nudity including arguably the dullest orgy ever seen on screen. Franco's wife and frequent star Lina Romay is always a pleasure to look at, but if you want to see her at her best check out 'Female Vampire', the one where she kills via fellatio, remember? As I haven't seen the "real" version of this movie I can't honestly say whether it's good Franco or bad Franco, but if you're wanting to explore his work try and see 'Vampyros Lesbos', 'Eugenie De Sade', or 'Succubus' first.