Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Blue Rita Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown February 16, 2024

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...

IMDB places Franco's filmography at nearly 200 movies, with his most productive years bearing six, eight, even ten productions. Whew. Quite the sexploitation workhorse. Voodoo Passion and Blue Rita (both released in 1977 and recently made available on Blu-ray) have ranked surprisingly high in the sales charts since their Full Moon Features high definition debuts (surprising to me, perhaps not to you), but I can't imagine they're not lesser Franco works. Sleepy, high on plot-twisting sleaze, low on art house flair (to my eye), Blue Rita is at least more meaty in its plotting and has more trajectory to its pacing than Voodoo Passion. It limps along a bit too much, and seems more interested in titilating and confounding than in delivering more than a string of weird, brightly colored, sadomasochistic visuals set to oddly catchy tunes. And good God, so much goo. Still, you know if you know, and you know if you're one of the faithful few. Franco isn't for me, particularly after this 1977 double feature, but who am I to judge? One man's trash, another man's treasure.

So what of Blue Rita? Hailed as "one of the strangest spy movies ever made," it's a lurid, sexually daring shocker from Franco and longtime producer Erwin C. Dietrich that follows the tawdry exploits of the titular heroine, Blue Rita (Martine Flety), an exotic dancer and gentleman’s club owner who just so happens to also be -- bum bum baaaaah -- a covert communist spy. Rita secretly gets her kicks seducing then torturing her freedom-fighter enemies, which Franco is more than happy to show in ooey, gooey, above all suggestive graphic detail. Rita's reign of charged caged terror climaxes in a deadly game of domination from which no one is guaranteed an escape. Released on Blu-ray for the first time in North America, fully remastered in high definition, and unapologetically uncut, Full Moon Pictures' special edition release includes a collector’s slipcase with alternate art, uncensored art on the interior wrap, and several special features. Full Moon says, "get ready for the sort of slick thrill-ride that only Jess Franco can deliver."

Blue Rita Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

Blue Rita Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Blue Rita Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Interview (24 minutes) - Previously included with Barbed Wire Dolls, this audio interview with filmmaker Peter Strickland is oozing with praise for Franco, sometimes to the detriment of real insight, although he does go to great lengths to unpack Franco's on- screen relationships and male-female power dynamics. Conducted by Chris Alexander.

• Slave in the Women's House (8 minutes) - A second audio interview with actor Eric Falk (who plays Janosch Lassard in Blue Rita) can be found on the 2-disc set's standard DVD. Why it hasn't been ported to the Blu-ray is strange, but Falk offers very little anyway.

• Photo Gallery (HD, 2 minutes)

• VHS Trailer Reel (SD, 7 minutes)

• Eurocine Trailers

Blue Rita Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.