Sie tötete in Ekstase (1971)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writer:

Jesus Franco (writer)

Release Date:

10 December 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A young doctor kills himself after a medical committee terminates his research into human embryos, considering it too inhumane...

Plot Keywords:

Committee | Revenge | Doctor | Seduction | Naked Killer

Cast

Soledad Miranda	...	Mrs. Johnson (as Susann Korda)
Fred Williams	...	Dr. Johnson
Howard Vernon	...	Prof. Jonathan Walker
Paul Muller	...	Dr. Franklin Houston (as Paul Müller)
Ewa Strömberg	...	Dr. Crawford (as Ewa Stroemberg)
Horst Tappert	...	Inspector

Also Known As:

She Killed in Ecstasy (International: English title)
Mrs. Hyde (West Germany) (working title)

Runtime:

Germany:73 min

Country:

West Germany | Spain

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Tele-Cine Film- und Fernsehproduktion

Trivia:

Soledad Miranda, the actress who played Mrs. Johnson, was dubbed by Renate Küster.

Slightly more weighty stuff from Franco

Nobody can deny that Jess Franco made a lot of rubbish in his career...but then he goes and directs a film like this, and it becomes easy to forgive him for past and future sins. She Killed in Ecstasy is thinly plotted and rather predictable, but it's also sexy and violent, and overall; an excellent slice of sleaze from a director who knows a lot about this sort of film. Franco attempts to inject a bit of substance into the film by way of a plot that involves the humanity of scientific discovery as well as emotional torment, which is also the reason behind all the killing. Franco seems to care more about sex than violence, and this shines through as all the kill scenes involve sex, but not all of them feature a lot of blood. The plot focuses on Mrs. Johnson; the wife of a scientist researching human embryos. After his work comes under scrutiny from a medical comity and he is labelled all manner of things, from 'criminal' to 'animal', he decides to take his own life. She doesn't like this very much, and so decides to take revenge on all involved by seducing and killing them all.

The film features a host of sleaze regulars, including Vampyros Lesbos star Susann Korda. Korda provides a good lead for the film as she certainly looks the part and you can believe that many men would easily be seduced by her. She receives good feedback from the likes of Fred Williams and Howard Vernon, and despite the fact that this film is a cheap slice of trash; the acting isn't bad on the whole. Franco gives his plot more credibility with scenes such as the one that sees Mrs Johnson mull over the corpse of her dead husband. Given the type of film, there's a surprising amount of emotion going on. Franco has often said that he hates his body of work, and this film appears to be an attempt at making something with some meaning. The sex scenes are generally well worked, and the lesbian sequence in particular is really well done. Susann Korda also gets to don a number of sexy outfits, which is nice. The plot flows well, and since the film doesn't last long - there isn't a lot of time for it to get boring. Overall, She Killed in Ecstasy is hardly a great film; but it's better than you might expect and I can't say I didn't enjoy watching it.