Jessfrank Reviews

Juventud a la intemperie (1961)

A good example of Spanish crime films

[6/10 · 8 August 2001]

Hello, this is Spain calling... and making crime films. So don't expect a revolutionary plot: this movie narrates the investigation of a crime which has been charged to an innocent guy. Casualties of life, his father is a policeman, who will discover the activities of some young people (drugs, poker, girls abuse). The idea is clear: youth has lost its moral, and only the older generation (who fought for their country and built those kids) can make it work again.

Besides this simple exercise on repressive ideology we can read the name of Ignacio Ferrés Iquino, one of the most underrated Spanish filmmakers (he successfully directed all kind of genres, from comedy to western, from sci-fi to sex movies) but an effective constructor of realistic environments and dramatic situations. Not a movie for film history, but a good example of general Francisco Franco's favorite kind of cinema. If we forget its morality, we can find a nice film behind. Rating: 6 out of 10.

Selva roja (1996)

Good intentions, bad results

[4/10 · 25 July 2001]

Young director Angel Mora didn't have much luck with his first feature film. Shot in 16mm with ultra-low budget and premiered at Sitges (Barcelona), Selva Roja mixes the Death Wish series spirit with the plotless action TV movies we can see every day. Anyway, this movie has some points of interest: the characters are better developed in the script than usual in this kind of productions, and one can see the good intentions that lie beneath Mora's work.

The actors don't help very much. Only veteran Antonio Mayans makes his character believable as the villain, but neither Carlos Reig nor Marta Gil are good performers. Therefore, the results are bad, but the movie is worth seeing. Rating: 4 out of 10.

En busca del dragón dorado (1983)

The craziest Poe adaptation ever?

[10/10 · 5 July 2001]

Once more, Jess Franco makes an incredible film out of nothing. With some Chinese-looking people, two elephants, a tiger, a snake, a monkey and a turtle he succeeds in adapting Poe's classic "The golden beetle". The story is about a little girl (Flavia Hervas, in a pretty good performance) who becomes involved in the search of an ancient treasure, hidden by oriental natives in order not to allow strangers to take it. So the immortal original tale is crazily moved into a kids-oriented martial arts movie, which mixes the Tarzan classic spirit with the gruesome humor from its Spanish director.

No joking. This is one of the funniest, craziest, most revolutionary films ever made in Spain. Its mixture of genres and influences shows Franco's master hand. A cult classic. 10 out of 10!

Gorex: The Zombi Horror Picture Show (1997 Video)

OK horror flick from Spain

[6/10 · 30 June 2001]

OK movie about the experiments of a mad doctor, concerning sex and death. It is supposed to be an adult movie (it has an X rated version) with plenty of gore scenes, but it goes far beyond that. Angel Mora's second film explores the horror genre itself using a lot of film references (from Romero's Dawn of the Dead to Jess Franco's movies), and discovers a particular world of zombies, sex, humor and heavy metal that make Gorex become one of the most interesting Spanish horror movies of the nineties.

For all kind of porn lovers and movie-goers, this is a highly recommended rarity.