Anne Libert Movies

Presented as the drug-induced fantasies of a shy chemist, this cartoonish exploitation comedy from cult director Jesus Franco is a minor entry without much to recommend it. The chemist, Robinson Crusoe (Yuda Barkan), is an ineffectual Walter Mitty character who develops a potion allowing his daydreams to come true. Soon he is on a tropical island, where two beautiful women (Anne Libert, Ingeborg Steinbach) make love to him constantly. The group soon includes Crusoe's friend Linda (Andrea Rau), a reticent actress. The fantasy begins to sour a bit when Crusoe gets visits from his employer, mother-in-law, and wife, as well as a native tribe headed by Franco regular Howard Vernon in a grass skirt and warpaint. Crusoe's fantasies also include a pornographic film segment, lifted from Franco's own Jungfrauen-Report. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

A detective is on a case of homicide and he gets more involved than his police department may have intended in this French mystery. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Jesus Franco, Spanish cinema's leading purveyor of the perverse, sank to an all-time low with this lecherous and sadistic tale of torture, debauchery, and demonic possession. Taking a cue from Ken Russell's far superior The Devils, the vile deeds take place within the walls of a Medieval convent. The story begins with a powerful sorceress being burned at the stake by agents of the Inquisition; before the flames consume her, she manages to spit a curse upon the descendants of principal witch-hunter Lord Jeffries (John Foster) and his underlings. Decades later, the witch's twin daughters -- both nuns in a cloistered abbey -- are overcome by their mother's vengeful spirit. This leads to another round of sadism as the sisters are accused of witchcraft themselves and subjected to a gallery of vile tortures while Franco's camera lingers lovingly on every depraved act of sex and violence. Justice is finally served (more or less) when one of the sisters develops the ability to vaporize people by kissing them. This is achieved via sloppy special effects -- another Franco trademark. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Pretty Christina (Christina von Blanc) encounters ghostly apparitions when she travels to a mansion in Honduras for the reading of her father's will. Thinking that she is going mad, Christina investigates further and discovers some horrible family secrets which could consume her. This witty erotic horror effort from cult director Jesus Franco is a perfect example of the re-editing and butchering of European films, which became common practice in the 1970s. At least 10 different versions exist, some with completely different plots than others. A 1974 re-release contained softcore sexual inserts featuring Marie-France Broquet, Waldemar Wohlfaart, and other performers not present in the original version. In the 1980s, French director Jean Rollin was hired by the Eurocine studio (by far the most common offender in the area of "cut-and-paste filmmaking") to shoot additional scenes. Rollin's footage consists of approximately 15 minutes of gory, uninspired zombie attacks, meant to capitalize on a then-popular subgenre initiated by Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2. Yet another version contained scenes from a Rollin-directed vampire film and was advertised with a picture of Vincent Price, who does not appear in any known version of this film. Further complicating matters is the fact that most of these alternate versions exist in varying lengths, reducing a rather interesting film to an incomprehensible mess. Britt Nichols, Paul Muller, Howard Vernon, and Anne Libert co-star, and Franco appears in a cameo role excised from some prints. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

A beautiful young gold digger enters into a deadly game of deception when she marries a blind millionaire, and quickly discovers that she's not the only one after his money. As the unscrupulous new bride enters into a torrid affair with her husband's handsome valet, it's soon revealed that the household servants have their own murderous plan for striking it rich. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this comedic horror film from cult director Jesus Franco, Jonathan Seward (Alberto Dalbes) tracks the evil vampire Count Dracula (Howard Vernon) to his castle and kills him with a stake through the heart. The nightmare has hardly begun, however, as the mad Dr. Frankenstein (Dennis Price) revives the vampire using the blood of a nightclub singer (Josiane Gibert). The pair then join forces, along with Frankenstein's monster (Fernando Bilbao) and a mutant assistant named Morpho (Luis Barboo), in an attempt to create a vampire army to rule the world. This parody manages to deconstruct traditional legend without saying anything remotely interesting or clever, and the special-effects are strictly of the bargain-basement variety. Paca Gabaldon (appearing as "Mary Francis"), Britt Nichols, and Anne Libert co-star. Franco returned to the Frankenstein theme the following year with La Maldicion de Frankenstein. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

The "vice and virtue" of the title of this wartime drama directed by Roger Vadim are exemplified in the personae of two very attractive women: Juliette (Annie Girardot) and Justine (Catherine Deneuve). Juliette is a collaborator and Justine supports the resistance movement, yet when her husband is arrested on her wedding day, she goes to Juliette to ask for help. That simple plan is nixed by a series of unfortunate circumstances that send Justine to a brothel for German soldiers and make Juliette the mistress of a brutal Nazi officer. The symbolism in this tale harks back to two stories by the Marquis de Sade, one titled "Juliette" and the other, "Justine." Vadim seems to have been caught between creating symbolic characters versus creating believable women since as the story unfolds, Juliette is not exactly vice incarnate, nor is Justine a model of pristine virtue. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi