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Succubus

Play trailer Poster for Succubus Released Apr 7, 1969 1h 31m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 2 Reviews 53% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A demon (Michel Lemoine) uses a dancer (Janine Reynaud) in a sadomasochists' nightclub to gather corrupt souls.

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Succubus

Critics Reviews

View All (2) Critics Reviews
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Aug 29, 2005 Full Review Jonathan R. Perry Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas) Rated: 1/5 Jun 22, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (17) audience reviews
delysid d another weird film from superfreak jesus franco Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/01/18 Full Review Audience Member It has its own magic... Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member 37 year old Janine Reynaud plays stripper Lorna Greene in this acid-soaked tale of... well... ummm... no, wait... nah... that's not it... hmmm... Well, whatever this flick is about, we get to see 1960's hipsters drink, drop acid and totally trip out, man. There's nothing here even remotely about the Necronomicon, but there are a few mobile and potentially evil mannequins and some putatively evil dude who thinks to himself that he can control people with his mind. He never actually does it, but we do get to overhear him thinking about it. Really, it is hard to figure out what's going on here as dreams and hallucinations compete for screen time with what may or may not be reality. Lorna may just be a stripper, or she might be royalty in hiding, or she may be a demon. You'll never find out, but if you just go along with all the Psychedelic Era weirdness, you'll see one of Franco's more interesting efforts. Just don't select the brown menu. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Psicadelismo, drogas, sexo, devassidão e o diabo, tudo isto em Lisboa em 1967. Nunca imaginei que existiam barmen's todos nús so com um lacinho a servir em Lisboa nessa altura...essa foi a parte mais irreal do filme... Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Early piece from Jess Franco that trys to be part of the whole New Wave movement that was going on in the 60's, but seems to be too little too late. The plot is all over the place and I couldn't seem to make sense of it all but I'll try. A girl that works at some sort of bondage and s&m bar lives wildly with her boyfriend that runs the club, the two party, take acid, and then want to kill each other. Strange Franco film that almost succeeds, with style oozing out of it and a gaggle of nude women running around it just feels like something is missing that I can't put my finger on. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Jess Franco's Succubus is an atypical effort for Spain's master of sleaze. Though experimental like his later films, this maintains the polished feel of his earlier works. As such this comes closest to being a "legitimate" art film, even supposedly being praised by the great Fritz Lang! Unfortunately Franco's avant-garde excesses make this difficult to enjoy, and in many ways comes off as a rather empty imitation of guys like Luis Bunuel and Godard (the latter of whom I can't stand). There are two scenes in particular that came across as particularly pretentious: one being a word association game between Howard Vernon's character and Lorna Green (played by Janine Reynaud), and a random dialogue by one girl about great film directors. It is as if Franco is mistaking postmodern references and namedropping for substance. This is particularly frustrating because there are many effective scenes, and as I mentioned earlier the production values are some of the nicest you're likely to see in a Franco film. Though pretentious the scene with Howard Vernon did have a wonderful hypnotic quality. The way Franco weaves reality with fantasy (via Lorna's visions) is also highly effective. Perhaps my favorite moment is when Bill (played by Jack Taylor of Pieces fame!) tells Lorna the story of a weird property supposedly designed by a demon. One aspect I also really appreciated was how the soft core nonsense that plagues Franco's later films is nowhere to be found here. So to sum it all up, this is certainly better and more polished than much of Franco's work, but not nearly as focused as it should be. For now I have yet to see any Franco films that impress me as much as A Virgin Among the Living Dead. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Succubus

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A demon (Michel Lemoine) uses a dancer (Janine Reynaud) in a sadomasochists' nightclub to gather corrupt souls.
Director
Jess Franco
Producer
Adrian Hoven
Screenwriter
Pier A. Caminnecci
Distributor
Anchor Bay Entertainment, Trans American Films
Production Co
Aquila Film
Genre
Horror
Original Language
German
Release Date (Theaters)
Apr 7, 1969, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 24, 2017
Runtime
1h 31m
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