Jose Frade Movies

This drama about dueling health clubs focuses on Roger (Daniel Greene), who runs a gym called (logically enough ) "Roger's Gym." But Roger is fast losing business to The Rejuvenarium, a health club owned by Marlene (Helga Liné). It seems Marlene is making off with Roger's best instructors and is keeping close watch on his business, possibly using illegal surveillance. The rivalry between the two gyms leads to a hotly contested battle at an aerobics competition, including a "race" on stationary bicycles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Ernesto (Martin Hahn) is a young Italian Jew of the early 1900s who works in his uncle's factory in Trieste. Not entirely secure with his sexual orientation, Ernesto enters into an affair with one of his uncle's employees--then experiments with heterosexuality, courtesy of an obliging prostitute. When the boy finds himself participating in an arranged marriage with the female twin of one of his male lovers, he finally makes the choice that will determine the direction of his subsequent sex life. The carnal confusion inherent in Ernesto is nothing new to director Salvatore Samperi, who has trod this path before in previous films. This particular effort was based on a novel by Umberto Saba. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When an elderly relative (Francisco Rabal) who has made a fortune in the Americas returns to Spain for a visit with his relatives, the mother (Conchita Velasco) of a bevy of daughters feels certain that at least one of them can snare him for a secure future. Imagine her frustration, then, when the old fellow falls in love with the family's servant girl (Ana Belen). Not only is she haplessly preventing the family's daughters from snaring a mate, the servant has been having an affair with a priest which was not good for anyone. In the end, the old man's love prevails, the conscience-ridden priest is freed of his entanglement, and the newly married couple move out of the country. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This Spanish horror film (which has developed a cult following among Eurotrash enthusiasts) follows a group of itinerant workers who travel to a small village where they've been told domestic workers are in great demand. However, when their bus driver dies along the way, several begin to suspect that something odd is going on, and while the new arrivals are welcomed with open arms, enough seems amiss that many of the group are certain of foul play. As it turns out, the newcomers have every right to be suspicious, as they've been lured into a village populated entirely by hungry cannibals and thirsty vampires. Orgy of the Vampires was directed by Leon Klimovsky, who also helmed several of Paul Naschy's werewolf outings, with Jack Taylor in the leading role. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Like his more famous La Morte Accarezza a Mezzanotte (1972), this delirious Italian-Spanish co-production from filmmaker Luciano Ercoli is a star vehicle for his wife, Nieves Navarro, who appeared in several giallo thrillers (among other genre roles) under the name Susan Scott. Navarro plays Nicole, a famous French stripper whose father is stabbed to death on a late-night train. The police question her about some missing diamonds, she begins receiving threatening phone calls, and the poor woman is even assaulted in her own bedroom by a masked maniac with frighteningly blue eyes. Nicole's personal life is hardly less complicated, as she runs off to the seashore with a British eye surgeon (Frank Wolff), causing her insanely jealous boyfriend (Simon Andreu) -- who happens to own a pair of blue contact lenses -- to follow in a murderous rage. The loopy Ernesto Gastaldi screenplay is loaded with some outrageously contrived set pieces, and bears more than a passing resemblance to another one of his scripts, Lo Strano Vizio Della Signora Wardh (1970), in its concluding intrigue. The similarity is notable precisely because that film starred Edwige Fenech, whom Navarro was doing her best to unseat as the queen of giallo heroines at the time, as the lady in distress. She does a fairly good job here, burdened as she is with a demented screenplay and her husband's often overreaching direction. The overall effect isn't likely to win much crossover viewership, particularly in light of an avalanche of the genre's more noteworthy examples on DVD in the early 2000s. Giallo devotees, however, are likely to enjoy the film for its very artifice, as well as a nice score by Stelvio Cipriani and a cast including genre regulars Jorge Rigaud, Jose Manuel Martin, and Luciano Rossi. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Sister Maria (Rosanna Schiaffino) is the Belgian nun who is raped while doing missionary work in the Congo. Pierre (John Richardson) is the doctor who treats her and harbors a secret love for the nun. She is one of only five who survive the vicious native attack on the mission. Maria returns home where she must choose between leaving the order and raising her child, or remaining and giving the baby up for adoption. She confides in her sister Lisa (Mara Cruz), who risks losing the support of their family when she stands up for Maria in this poignant historical drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide