Jess Franco

The first edited volume devoted to the legendary cult director Jess Franco.

Jess Franco was a Spanish director, cinematographer, writer, composer, editor, producer and actor in more than 150 fiercely independent films he made from 1959 to 2013. Kristofer Upjohn celebrates Franco in a collection of essays that examines his individual movies for the first time.

Forthcoming from the MIT Press

The Mabuse phenomenon is recognized as an icon of horror in Germany as Frankenstein and Dracula are in the United States. A study of the 12 motion pictures and five books (and some secondary films) that make up the eight decades of adventures of master criminal Mabuse, created by author Norbert Jacques in the best-selling 1922 German novel and brought to the screen by master filmmaker Fritz Lang in the same year. Both on screen and off, the story of Dr. Mabuse is a story of love triangles and revenge, of murder, suicides, and suspicious deaths, of betrayals and paranoia, of fascism and tyranny, deceptions and conspiracies, mistaken identities, and transformation. This work, featuring much information never before published in English, provides an understanding of a modern mythology whose influence has pervaded popular culture even while the name Mabuse remains relatively unknown in the United States.

Pornodelic Pleasures is an illustrated document of the films of Jess Franco, the European cult director best-known for his lurid depictions of sex, obsession and horror with over 350 photographs and posters, more than 150 full-colour pages, a new introductory essay on Franco's career and work and a complete illustrated filmography. In the continued absence of a comprehensive critical evaluation of Franco's work, the book serves stimulating introduction to the world of one of cinema's most enduring and original visionaries.

Examines crucial moments of transition in Spanish culture and society during both dictatorship and democracy.

From 1968 to 1977, Spain experienced a boom in horror-movie production under a restrictive economic system established by the country’s dictator, Francisco Franco. Despite hindrance from the Catholic Church and Spanish government, which rigidly controlled motion picture content, hundreds of horror films were produced during this ten-year period. This statistic is even more remarkable when compared with the output of studios and production companies in the United States and elsewhere at the same time. What accounts for the staggering number of films, and what does it say about Spain during this period? In Sex, Sadism, Spain, and Cinema: The Spanish Horror Film, Nicholas G. Schlegel looks at movies produced, distributed, and exhibited under the crumbling dictatorship of General Franco. The production and content of these films, the author suggests, can lead to a better understanding of the political, social, and cultural conditions during a contentious period in Spain’s history. The author addresses the complex factors that led to the “official” sanctioning of horror films—which had previously been banned—and how they differed from other popular genres that were approved and subsidized by the government. In addition to discussing the financing and exhibiting of these productions, the author examines the tropes, conventions, iconography, and thematic treatments of the films. Schlegel also analyzes how these movies were received by audiences and critics, both in Spain and abroad. Finally, he looks at the circumstances that led to the rapid decline of such films in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By examining how horror movies thrived in Spain during this decade, this book addresses a sorely neglected gap in film scholarship and also complements existing literature on Spanish national cinema. Sex, Sadism, Spain, and Cinema will appeal to fans of horror films as well as scholars of film history, European history, genre studies, and cultural studies.