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Vampyros Lesbos

Play trailer Poster for Vampyros Lesbos 1971 1h 29m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
56% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 48% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stroemberg) is an American living in Istanbul. After having a recurring dream in which she is seduced by a gorgeous vampire, Linda is sent to a small island for her work. There, she meets and is actually seduced by Countess Nadine (Soledad Miranda), a dark, beautiful nightclub owner whom she immediately recognizes as the seductress from her dreams. When the conniving Dr. Seward (Dennis Price) learns of this, he contacts Linda, hoping to use her to become undead himself.

Critics Reviews

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Scott Tobias The Dissolve 05/11/2015
3/5
Franco brings it across with a bright yet minimalist color scheme, scene-setting shots of Istanbul's spires and glimmering seas, and more zooms than a Formula One car on race day. Go to Full Review
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 03/13/2007
Extremely prolific and generally untalented, Jess Franco is the Spanish Ed Wood, albeit without Wood's gift for humorously inane dialogue. Go to Full Review
Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine 04/16/2002
3.5/4
a pyscho-sexadelic celebration of soft-core lesbianism and vampire lore. Go to Full Review
Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault 11/29/2022
C-
One of those cult movies that appeal more just because they exist than because of anything actually in the film. Go to Full Review
Nadine Smith them. 10/27/2022
While it’s hard to dispute Vampyros Lesbos as an object produced primarily for the titillation of the male gaze, there’s something thrilling about reclaiming a film so terrified and almost worshipful of the carnal power that queer women possess. Go to Full Review
Fernando F. Croce CinePassion 11/05/2008
Try to locate a narrative, and the whole thing dissolves; better to take the lead of Heidrum Kussin's buxom, straitjacketed Reinfeld, who emerges from the reverie bewildered and aroused. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Taylor L 10/11/2022 There's no setting more accepting and supportive of a homoerotic relationship than Turkey, or so I'm told. Ok so imagine Dracula but it's on an exotic island and the main characters are both beautiful women who decide to swim naked together the first minute they meet. On the one hand, it is pretty low-budget and features a lot of softcore pornographic scenes that you're either going to think are unnecessarily long or brilliantly subversive; it's got the slow, dreamlike energy of a film that wants to be slightly delirious or simply has very little substance. Part of the reason it's difficult to interpret Vampyros Lesbos as some sort of subversion of traditional fears of feminine sexuality is because the film's director, Jesús Franco, is known almost exclusively for his exploitation and B-movies that have typically been considered not much more than pulp. The story is understandably weak, but it is also a pretty interesting take on the source material (at least as a premise), one that seems appropriate for the period in which is was released as the mainstream was embracing a new understanding of sexual desire. Now a cult film and probably the best known work from its prolific low-budget director, Vampyros Lesbos didn't really cast a spell on me in the way that it seems to have many other fans of exploitation films. It's got some experimental/amateurish cinematography but nice color and a particularly good psychedelic soundtrack, one that was groovy enough to take on a life of its own decades after the film was released. (2.5/5) See more 11/18/2018 Not that good, but whatever I wasn't expecting much. I did enjoy that it felt like a Time Capsule to the 70s weirdo Turkish life, but regardless, this is probably the only time I'll ever watch the movie. Meh concept, ok execution. See more 10/31/2015 Somehow trashy and pretentious, all at the same time. A woman starts having strange, erotic dreams. Meanwhile she is resolving an inheritance issue on behalf of a Countess who inherited an estate from Count Dracula. Once she meets the Countess she starts to figure that this case and her dreams may be linked... Well, that's as much as I could figure out, plot-wise. It is all over the place and the plot is really quite token. The whole movie is a classic example of the 70s horror-exploitation genre: horror theme, basic, nonsensical plot, much gratuitous female nudity, all done in a faux arty sort of way. While this may have worked in the 70s, it is quite silly now. Quite tame now too. Not worth watching, for any reason. See more 06/08/2015 Entertaining euro trash; high points being the trippy soundtrack and Soledad Miranda's intoxicating on screen presence. See more david f 05/28/2015 This stylish retro vampire lesbian horror film is a somewhat superior exploitation film owing to its good soundtrack and the mesmerizing acting of Soledad Miranda. See more 01/18/2015 Tedious titillation improved by some gorgeous (and sometimes peculiarly decorated - even for the time) settings, occasionally interesting camerawork, and a really great score. See more Read all reviews
Vampyros Lesbos

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Movie Info

Synopsis Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Stroemberg) is an American living in Istanbul. After having a recurring dream in which she is seduced by a gorgeous vampire, Linda is sent to a small island for her work. There, she meets and is actually seduced by Countess Nadine (Soledad Miranda), a dark, beautiful nightclub owner whom she immediately recognizes as the seductress from her dreams. When the conniving Dr. Seward (Dennis Price) learns of this, he contacts Linda, hoping to use her to become undead himself.
Director
Jesus Franco Manera
Producer
Artur Brauner
Screenwriter
Jaime Chávarri, Jesus Franco Manera, Anne Settimó
Genre
Horror
Original Language
German
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 15, 1971, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 29, 2017
Runtime
1h 29m