Voodoo Passion Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Voodoo Passion 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. Blue Rita and Voodoo Passion (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 supernatural sleaze, low on art house flair (to my eye), and meagerly plotted and paced. 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.

What exactly is the film about then? Maverick filmmaker Jess Franco and producer Erwin C. Dietrich (Blue Rita) team up in the aptly titled Voodoo Passion (aka Call of the Blonde Goddess or Porno Shock), a voyeuristic, sex-soaked thriller that veers wildly between reality and fantasy. Ada Tauler stars as Susan, who arrives in Haiti to live with her new husband Jack (Franco regular Jack Taylor), who has an apparently unhealthy, possibly incestuous relationship with his sister Olga. Lost in a fever dream of sexual delirium, Susan suddenly finds herself in a weird world of black magic, clandestine couplings and bloody voodoo rituals, all the while her possibly sinister housekeeper (Muriel Montosse) looks on lustfully. Voodoo Passion also stars Eurocult superstar Karine Gambier and features a groovy score by Walter Baumgartner (Franco’s Jack the Ripper) and is presented here fully uncut and remastered in high definition from Dietrich’s original negative.

Voodoo Passion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Certainly the best Voodoo Passion has ever looked (at least stateside), Full Moon's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer has been created utilizing Dietrich's original negative. Presumably this is about as good as the film could look without extensive and expensive remastering, which is unlikely in the foreseeable future. First the positive. Colors are often rich and quite striking, with vibrant bursts of primary power (reds especially) and fairly lovely, well-saturated fleshtones. Contast is also dialed in nicely on the whole, black levels are satisfying, and detail... well, detail is as revealing as any given shot allows. Which brings us to the not so positive. Softness abounds, and between that and at-times diluted contrast (which, while thankfully infrequent, is nevertheless distracting when it occurs), the image is a bit too unwieldy and inconsistent. The same extends to the film's grain field; refined one moment, then pulpy, soupy or swarming the next. Print blemishes are also out in force. Does it all trace back to the original elements? I assume, though the minor artifacting that sometimes slips in calls the quality of the remastering into slight question now and again. Still, this is as crisp, clean and precise a picture as Voodoo Passion seems capable of producing. Fans of Grindhouse cinema -- warts and all -- will be moderately pleased. Just adjust your expectations accordingly.

Voodoo Passion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Full Moon Features forgoes lossless audio in favor of dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. I suppose it gets the job done. It's not like there's high quality audio on tap to begin with. Sound design was obviously the least of Franco's concerns. Dialogue is intelligible (how could dubbing not be?) and effects have the patented sleaze-n-cheese of a low budget Grindhouse production. But rear speaker support and low-end oomph are lacking, as is a convincing soundfield. I doubt many of you are hear for the sonics but greater efforts on the audio front would have still been appreciated. Ah well. This is likely the peak of Voodoo Passion's soundscape, so enjoy it for what it delivers.

Voodoo Passion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Franco, Bloody Franco (40 minutes) - A vintage 1976 audio interview with filmmaker Jess Franco, recorded during the production of Jack the Ripper. Presented in French with English subtitles.

• Archive Photo Slideshow - Several rare photographs.

• German Trailer (SD, 4 minutes) - An original trailer.

• Vintage Franco Films Trailer Reel (SD, 6 minutes) - A VHS trailer reel of then-Wizard Video releases.

Voodoo Passion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Feel free to make fun of me. Criticize. Dismiss. Whatever's your pleasure. I don't get the appeal of Franco's films, although admittedly the deep affection for Jodorowsky (more of an arthouse master in my mind) and his brand of intentionally inaccessible surrealism baffles me as well. These just aren't the flicks for me. So ignore the movie score and focus on what you're here for anyway: the AV quality. Full Moon Pictures delivers on the video front with a transfer that's, by and large, about as revealing and technically proficient as you're likely to find, and restores the film to fuller life than I expected. Audio is a disappointment, no thanks to a lossy Dolby Digital presentation of an already dubbed sound design, and the supplemental package, for all its touting in marketing materials, is actually quite slim. Fans will appreciate the love that's gone into Voodoo Passion's Blu-ray release but it did little to convince me to delve any further into Franco's filmography.