Customer Reviews

Mansion of the Living Dead

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This was disappointing. It is Jess Franco's sexploitation take on George Romero's "Living Dead" films. For me, a sexploitation film needs one thing above all else: Beautiful women! Sadly, the women here are a far cry from the "Hotties" advertised on the back cover. They look more like 4 middle-aged, plumpish looking housewives on vacation (Lina Romay had put on quite a bit of weight at this time). To be fair, this boils down to personal taste - if you like older, Rubenesque women, then these'll appeal to you. Sadly the film doesn't work on the horror front either. The undead Monks of Cathar are not in the least bit scary. Seeing them in their Halloween masks is in fact quite funny. Amazon's description "jaw-dropping saga of sex and sadism" is a laugh. Nowhere close. "Lesbian lust?" Hmm... I couldn't wait for it to be over. I'm not sure where they got their idea of "extreme sadism" from. About the closest thing to kinky S&M was Eva Leon in a dog collar and chain. Don't get your hopes up. She's not exactly young or pretty and she doesn't suffer very much except for being put on a forced diet by her husband who thinks she's getting too plump. The photography however is lovely, aided by the scenic locale - Gran Canaria in the Spanish Canary Islands.

Severin deserves praise for taking the trouble to fully restore and remaster this pretty obscure film to pristine glory. It is presented in its original 2.35:1 OAR (Anamorphic). It looks absolutely gorgeous. The print is clean and near flawless. The image is sharp. Colors are rich, vibrant and always natural. It makes it a pleasure to watch. Sound is in the original Spanish 2.0 Mono with optional English subtitles. Still, a rental at most. Buy only if you're a Jess Franco fan and need to complete your collection. Personally I prefer his classic sexploitation films from the 1970s.

first I want to say that if you're not a fan of franco or exploitation horror than you're not gonna like this at all ..I thought this was a weird atmospheric little flick..in a good way

love severin

I am not a fan of Jess Franco and Mansion of the living dead is the second of his movies I have seen. The movie has some innovative ideas when combining horror and erotism but it does not deliver either. It was a disappointing experience for me.

WHY OH WHY! as a fan of the 'proper' Blind Dead films and having the occasional dabble with that nutter Jess Franco i thought 'why not,how bad could this be?...' very in actual fact.

Gone are the skeletal Templers,gone are the spectral horses they ride on,gone is the ethereal doom laden bell and chant sountrack that accompanies them,gone are the sexy dolly birds...gone are...you get the idea.

In comes bored blokes in white dressing gowns with flour on their faces,no horses,no atmospheric music..oh and not very dolly dolly birds.

Its a shambles,sorry but just for completists...and fans of flourey faces.

This movie is not that bad ,but it doesn't live up to the great blind dead series that were from the previous decade. But to compare them is not a fair issue these zombies are monks who have been cursed by a witch.

They are not templars or related to that story. However this is clearly influenced by those movies. It has lots of nudity and it's not a sadistic as one would assume from the box. but it's a fun flick and the women are attractive and it's about time women in their late thirties and early forties featured as sex objects. One of the women was much younger than the three others. but that makes this movie refreshing in that these are what alot of real women around you look like. This was made in 1982 and I like the atmosphere that the movie presents it's spooky and strange. This movie is strange and the rotting face of the main character does look like a flour face! But I would say that it's worth getting used and adding to your zombie collection. There's alot worse out there that have nothing but gore and no plot. This did okay in it's creepiness and it could have been worse. but at least it has a plot , some jess franco movies have no plots and are all images and give me a plot anyday.

If you're a afficionado of Jess franco's work , I' m sure this DVD is already on your shelf, along with many others, ...and if you're not , please stay away from this "oeuvre"

If this movie was any worse, it couldn't have been made. It works neither as a horror movie nor as a porn movie. It's too stupid to be scary. It's too ugly to be erotic. If Franco wanted to make soft-core porn, why didn't he at least pick better-looking actresses for the four strippers? Jeeeesus, Franco!

--Bryan Cassiday, author of "Fete of Death"