Vampyros Lesbos

Lore & Background

Vampyros Lesbos was shot in Turkey between 1 June and 10 July 1970. The film follows Linda Westinghouse, an American lawyer working in Istanbul, who has erotic dreams about a mysterious vampire woman. When she travels to an island to settle an inheritance, she recognizes the woman as Countess Nadine Carody, played by Soledad Miranda. The plot involves seduction, blood-drinking, and a struggle to break the vampire's curse. The film's score, composed by Manfred Hübler, Siegfried Schwab, and Jesús Franco (under the alias David Khune), marked a shift from Franco's earlier jazz soundtracks to a more psychedelic style. The film went under several titles before release, including Das Mal des Vampirs and Im Zeichen der Vampire. Less than a month after finishing production, Franco began working on his next film, She Killed in Ecstasy (1971).

Reader's Guide

Vampyros Lesbos is significant as the first of Jesús Franco's films to feature a prominent lesbian theme and a psychedelic score. The film was a popular success in European theaters upon its release in 1971. Its soundtrack gained renewed popularity in the mid-1990s when the compilation album Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party reached the top ten on the British Alternative charts. The track 'The Lions and the Cucumber' was later used in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown and in season three of The L Word. Critical reception has been mixed: Total Film gave it three stars, noting its fascination despite amateurish elements; Slant Magazine praised it as 'effortlessly dreamlike'; while The Dissolve found parts tedious but acknowledged the film's mesmeric vibe from its score and Soledad Miranda's presence. A remake directed by Matthew Saliba was released in 2008.

Did You Know?

• The film was shot in Turkey between 1 June and 10 July 1970.
• The soundtrack compilation Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party charted on the UK Independent Albums chart but did not reach the top ten.
• The track 'Vampyros Lesbos' from the soundtrack was used in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown; 'The Lions and the Cucumber' is not in that film.
• Jesús Franco appears in the film uncredited as the character Memmet.