Rote Lippen, Sadisterotica (1969)

Rote Lippen, Sadisterotica: Directed by Jesús Franco. With Janine Reynaud, Rosanna Yanni, Chris Howland, Alexander Engel. “Red Lips” are two female detectives trying to find missing models and dancers. A pop artist called Klaus Thriller and his werewolf-like assistant, Morpho, are the main suspects for the murderers.

“As Tim Lucas has pointed out, Jess Franco has made some of the best and some of the worst of European exploitation. The man made so many films that the majority fall somewhere in between, usually falling on the negative side of the spectrum. Two Undercover Angels is one such film. On the plus side are a terrific soundtrack, some good photography, and the occasional moment of genuine Franco lunacy. The downside: everything else. That the storyline is a mishmash of genres wouldnu0026#39;t be so important if Franco knew what kind of spirit or tone he wanted to aim for. The editing alternates between avant-garde and sloppy. But absolutely inexcusable are the English-language script and the dubbing. I have a high tolerance for much of the Franco dialogue that some critics refer to as u0026quot;relentless and risible,u0026quot; but this was too much even for me. The banality of the dialogue seems inherent to the material: the dubbing-script translation makes matters worse by making much of it incoherent. As far as the technical aspects of the dubbing are concerned, there are repeated scenes in which characters speak but the actorsu0026#39; lips donu0026#39;t move. While not a disaster, this is a far cry from such amazing fare as She Killed in Ecstasy and The Bloody Judge.”