Jesús Franco
1930-2013
Biography
Jesús "Jess" Franco was a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England. Though he had some American box office success with Necronomicon, his first women-in-prison film Ninety-Nine Women, and his two Christopher Lee films, The Bloody Judge and Count Dracula, he never achieved wide commercial success. Franco moved from Spain to France in 1970 so that he could make more violent and sexual films, and it was at this point that his career began to go downhill commercially, as he turned to low-budget filmmaking with a heavier accent on adult-oriented films. Although he produced a few well-received, low budget horror films in the early 70's, many people in the industry considered him a porn director due to the huge number of X-rated adult films he began churning out. Franco returned to low-budget horror in a brief comeback period from 1980-1983, but after 1983, his career took a second downturn. With the exception of Faceless and Killer Barbies, his films after 1984 are quite disliked and obscure due to their incredibly low budgets. Franco has nevertheless retained a large cult following through the years with his sexually-charged horror films, some of which are regarded as masterpieces by his avid followers.
Movie Credits
The Sadist of Notre Dame (1979)
Downtown (1975)
Ban the Sadist Videos! (2005)
Exorcism (1975)
Vampire Blues (1999)
Sex Is Crazy (1981)
Female Vampire (1975)
Strange Voyage (1964)
Macumba Sexual (1983)
A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973)
Eugenie de Sade (1973)
Daughter of Dracula (1972)
She Killed in Ecstasy (1971)
Angel of Death 2: The Prison Island Massacre (2007)
Midnight Party (1976)
Shining Sex (1976)
Women Behind Bars (1975)
Sinner: The Secret Diary of a Nymphomaniac (1973)
Al Pereira vs. the Alligator Ladies (2012)
Night Has a Thousand Desires (1984)
The Night Of Open Sex (1983)
Lorna, the Exorcist (1974)
Venus in Furs (1969)
White Skin Black Thighs (1976)
Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
Succubus (1968)
Greta, the Mad Butcher (1977)
The Hot Nights of Linda (1975)
Cuadecuc, Vampir (1971)
The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)
The Girl from Rio (1969)
The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966)
White Cannibal Queen (1980)
Barbed Wire Dolls (1976)
The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1973)
The Sinister Eyes of Dr. Orloff (1973)
99 Women (1969)
Two Undercover Angels (1969)
Dr. Orloff's Monster (1965)
Jailhouse Wardress (1981)
Night of the Skull (1974)
X312 - Flight to Hell (1971)
Eugenie (1970)
Kiss Me Monster (1969)
Bloody Moon (1981)
Esmeralda Bay (1990)
Celestine (1974)
The Corpse Packs His Bags (1972)
The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)
Inferno Rosso: Joe D'Amato on the Road of Excess (2021)
The Other Side of the Mirror (1973)
Count Dracula (1970)
Red Venice (2003)
Marquis de Sade: Justine (1969)
Flesh Eating Mothers (1988)
