Customer Reviews

Red Lips Double Featute: Two Undercover Angels / Kiss Me Monster

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Before director Jess Franco pursued erotic cinema with the beautiful Soledad Miranda, he made numerous films in which he blended different genres, in this case, the spy and horror genres. This excellent double bill from Blue Underground shows director Franco having a really good time. Seemingly made back to back with the identical casts and technicians, they emerge as underrated classics of the 60's pop-art spy craze which were flowing out of Europe after the James bond phenomena. Predating films such as 'THE DOLL SQUAD' and even television's 'CHARLIES ANGELS', Franco introduces us to Diana and Regina, two partners in a detective agency, who are the female versions of international secret agents globe hopping into dangerous territories . They come off as bubble heads but as you enter their worlds, they are definitely lethal when the chips are down and their trademark is to leave a red lipstick mark at the scene of a crime or investigation either on a glass or handkerchief. Played flawlessly by Janine Reynaud who Franco also used in his film 'SUCCUBUS aka NECRONOMICON' and the gorgeous Rosanna Yanni who will appear in many Euro genres films especially with Spanish horror star Paul Naschy, they make a great team constantly being thrown into unbelievable situations. The best of the two is 'SADISTEROTICA' here released as 'TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS', the girls are involved in a missing persons case involving fashion models. Eventually, it comes out that a mad sculpter from the 'BUCKET OF BLOOD' school is killing them and encasing them in plaster to display and Diana is his latest fetish. Blending the spy genre with the horror film and a great lounge score by Fernando Garcia Morcillo, the film is a hoot throughout its 90 minute running time. The second film in the series "KISS ME MONSTER' is more convoluted, the girls are hired to find a missing professor who leads them into a plot involving human robots. Franco keeps everybody busy as the film zips from one unbelievable situation to the next. After both films are over, you wish the girls had more adventures on the way. Both films have great Jess Franco touches( jazz scores, erotic sequences which are never over the top and even a character named Morpho whose name appears in other Franco films). Kudos to Blue Underground for releasing both films in pristine transfers and including interview extras with the director. A must for Francophiles and fans of Euro Spy films.

Franco fans!!!! Franco fans!!! At least these films prove Jess Franco could point a camera in the right direction. If you are reading this, you are probably aware Jess Franco is a much reviled director. And some have even gone as far as claiming he could not focus a camera. But these two fairly early efforts, released before 1970, prove at least he could.

Admittedly there is some silliness in these films, but they are watchable. And again, there is good lighting, good sets, and some good out-door photography. The locations, or geography, of the films is a little ambiguous, albeit appropriately exotic. Was some of Kiss me Monster filmed on an island off spain somewhere?

Moreover, after watching them a couple of times a few gaffes appear. One funny one is there is little blood. Characters are shot with a double barrel shot-gun and there is no blood spilled.

Typical jess franco offbeat junk, with interchangable plots; TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS is a female James Bond movie with some semi-werewolf, while KISS ME MONSTER has a Frankenstein monster without any makeup. These are generic 1960s movies, as far from any high concept contemporary movie as you can get.

Both are eurotrash adventures, with a few seconds of topless nudity, and made quick---which is why Franco directed over 100 movies; he was able to hack out such stuff on a shoestring; that was the "talent" eurotrash producers wanted.

Both movies come across as fascist spain versions of 1960s edgar wallace movies made in germany. And, they also seem like ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS episodes!

If you're a jess franco or eurotrash fan you'll probably like these movies, with franco even making a cameo in both movies. UNDERCOVER ANGELS even begins like a mario bava thriller, with a model in a wedding dress being stalked.