Mansion of the Living Dead (1982)

In the 1980s, Jess Franco returned to the Spain from which abject censorship had driven the aspiring film-maker 30 years previously. With the General Franco reign now ended, censorship was lax, and the opportunity for shooting films without restrictions was finally presenting itself. In the 1980, Franco shot dozens of productions, mostly for Golden Films International, generally writing, scoring, editing and directing the films entirely himself.

Four young waitresses from Germany head to the Canary Islands for their first holiday in years. Yet when they arrive, they discover the hotel is completely deserted with only a manager for company. Trying to make the best of their holiday, the girls head to the beach, but find it deserted too. The next day, Lea decides to take some photographs near to an old monastery, and after some screams, she is never seen again. Later, another of the girls takes a ride with the hotel manager (who we discover keeps a naked woman chained up in a remote room) but after teasing her with sexual hints, he takes off, and as she chases him, she finds herself in a room of robed monks who seize her and announce a death sentence. At the hotel, Candy (Lina Romay) finds the disappearance of her friends puzzling, and sets out to discover what is going on.

Written by Franco himself (with the idea credited to a fictional novel by non-existant writer D. Khunne), Mansion of the Living Dead is a strange fusion of themes and ideas, with a very liberal helping of sex and nudity. After the title sequences play out over some shots of the monks (more on them later), we get what seems like a Carry On film sequence as the girls arrive at the hotel and draw lots to decide on who would share each room - fortunately the two sets of lesbian lovers each get drawn together (and simultaneously decry the other two girls for being so prudish), and although this light comedy vein is largely forgotten, it does awkwardly pop up a few times later on and damages the film's atmosphere. Meanwhile, the most interesting theme in the film begins to develop - the lonely isolation of the hotel, the eccentric receptionist and the very surreal atmosphere that stars to pervade the picture. Ultimately, the monks themselves (who only emerge half way into the picture) are rather a disappointment: they are very creepy visually (and a couple of scenes might prove scary), but once they begin to talk, it becomes clear that at best they are highly confused, sacrificing women to their satanic master, yet praying for forgiveness while they sin (surely an essential part of any black ceremony?). The film's climax is simply bizarre and non-sensical (the idea that Candy and the receptionist could fall in love, having known each other for mere minutes, is quite absurd). Fortunately, the film's desolate atmosphere helps to create a distinctively Franco-style dream-like ambience that makes most of these logical flaws seem irrelevant, but unfortunately, it does nothing to stop the film from dragging in many scenes, and the almost non-existant characterisation means that we hardly care for any of the cast.

Although the monks here are often compared to the Templar Knights of de Ossirio's Blind Dead quartet, the links seem to stop with their hooded appearance, as the directors use them in very different ways and create different backgrounds and motives. Similarly to the earlier films, however, there does appear to be an underlying political/social commentary - here Franco seems to be criticising the hypocritical and outdated manners of the recent deposed Spanish government under General Franco, comparing them to the Spanish Inquisition. Unfortunately, most of this message is lost behind the inexplicable devil worship, and the gratuitous sex. Some hints are also made to Sadism, a key staple of many of Franco's productions, although this is rather lightly brushed over and certainly not as developed as it was elsewhere in his oeuvre, and comes off as rather unnecessary to the storyline.

Fortunately, despite the sometimes poorly written storyline, Franco's direction is very strong here - the lonely hotel corridors, the creepy monestary and the general other-worldly isolation of the whole film are very effectively realised, with some very modern hand-held camera-work in many scenes. Unfortunately, the various sex scene are directed with little flair and are often quite dull (especially compared with the more understated erotica of the Harry Alan Towers era or the Soledad Miranda productions). Franco's soundtrack (credited as Pablo Villa) has a very impressive theme, with some distorted chanting, that helps to make the scenes with the monks particularly effective - although it is notably absent in many of the other scenes. The film sadly suffers from some rather poorly designed effects (the monk's make-up looks very cheap) although sets/locations are nicely used throughout.