5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Nightclub owner and erotic dancer Rita Blue uses her place as a front for working undercover as a spy. Motivated by her vehement hatred of men that stems from having been sexually abused as a child, Rita and her seductive female cohorts not only gleefully torture guys as a means to obtain vital information, but also manhandle wealthy men in order to make them hand over their fortunes to them.
Starring: Dagmar Bürger, Pamela Stanford, Eric Falk, Esther Moser, Angela RitschardErotic | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Sexploitation Jodorowsky: the most succinct description of the late Spanish filmmaker Jesús "Jess" Franco's bizarre, surreal, hyper-sexualized and, of all things, jazzy films you're likely to find on the interwebs. Famous among '70s Grindhouse fans (and infamous among censors), Franco's strange witch's brew of erotica, giallo, horror, funky music, lumpy old men seducing lithe young women, and dead-eye sexual encounters is as fascinating as it is off-putting; as provocative as it is shameless. Most of you will pass right by. Some of you will give it a go and find your brow furrowed in confusion, wondering what the unholy hell people see in this Euro trash. But a scant few of you will laugh, cheer and shake your head all the way through whatever Franco flick you choose, wondering how such twisted genius has gone unrecognized for so long. Largely dismissed at the peak of his career, his films have found a new audience -- niche as it is -- with the high definition revival of more noted works like 99 Women (his most financially successful film in the US, filmed in 1969), Eugenie (1970), Cuadecuc Vampir (1971), The Other Side of the Mirror (1973), Sinner: The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac (1973) and, of course, Vampyros Lesbos (1971). I can already hear at least one of you typing a furious DM to point out other notable titles...
More visually striking than Voodoo Passion (or at the least, more consistently striking), Blue Rita's vivid, in-your-face 1080p/AVC- encoded video presentation will be a boon for fans of Franco's art. Sumptuous splashes of color, searing primaries, inky blacks and gorgeous fleshtones combine forces with able-bodied contrast to produce an image that's quite impressive. Contrast, clarity and grain irregularities still rear their heads, particularly when the film ventures into naturally lit exteriors (some shots of which look downright terrible), and detail veers from crisply defined, sharply textured standout sequences to soft, hazy dreamlike meanderings. A lot of it is in keeping with Franco's surrealist vision but much of it, I suspect, traces back to a deadline-driven shoot-shoot-shoot hurriedness that skips past basics like foreground focus for skintilating flourishes. It's all in keeping with Franco's Grindhouse roots and aesthetics (as are the print specks, marks and blemishes that appear throughout), but it's also most certainly the best Blue Rita could -- and most likely ever will -- look. Fans will be pleased, so long as they properly adjust expectations and manifest Franco's erratic arthouse eye circa 1977.
Like the Blu-ray release of Voodoo Passion, Full Moon Features doesn't deliver a lossless audio mix, electing to grant Blue Rita little more than a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track. It isn't that big of a deal, mind you. Dubbed and low on sound design aplomb, the film delights in hackneyed dialogue (clear and intelligible as it is) and thin, canned effects. Franco's music selections sound pretty good, although LFE output and rear speaker activity leave a lot to be desired (in regards to the score and the overall soundscape of the film). But Franco fans aren't here for the masterful audio mastering and will probably consider every hiccup and letdown another quaint trait that lends itself to his low budget Grindhouse stylings.
Looking at screenshots of Blue Rita, I realize that I find Franco far more interesting an artist in still photographs than in moving feature films. He has an unmistakable eye for the strange, the macabre, the disarming and the female form, not to mention sheer surrealist horror. But there's an erratic, almost messy nature to his cinema that wears me down and leaves me exhausted and unimpressed. Of course, I'm not everyone, and I'm not one who enjoys what Franco is peddling. That doesn't mean it isn't art, though, and some of you will be able to see things I cannot. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, which proves itself objectively and subjectively true here and in any of Franco's appreciated works. He may not be for me, but what does that ultimately mean? Not a thing. I can at least recognize daring filmmaking and bold strokes of damn-the-censors erotica, and Franco is the Jodorowsky of his trade. Full Moon Features honors Franco's legacy with as striking a video presentation of Blue Rita as I imagine the original elements allow (without a deeper, more costly restoration); not so much, though, when it comes to the disc's lossy audio and unexpectedly slim collection of extras (especially considering how hyperbolic the package is described in press materials). All told, fans of Franco's films will find plenty to love in FMF's Blu-ray release of Blue Rita. Enjoy.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1987
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