Kino Lorber and Redemption Release Jess Franco’s Female Vampire and Exorcism on Blu-ray and DVD

New York, NY – October 4, 2012 – Kino Lorber, Inc. announces a new partnership with Eurociné (Paris) for North American distribution of its library of cult classics, highlighted by the erotic thrillers of Spanish-born director Jess Franco.  Films will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on the Redemption Films label, as well as other digital platforms.  Mastered in HD from archival 35mm elements, the films will be offered in deluxe editions with a carefully curated selection of special features.

For years, Franco has been a favorite of Euro horror enthusiasts — for the dreamlike tone of his films and the sheer audacity with which he indulges his morbid sexual curiosity.  With the release of these Blu-ray editions, Kino Lorber brings Franco to a wider audience, and places him alongside Mario Bava and Jean Rollin in the pantheon of cult directors ripe for rediscovery.

Without a doubt the 40-year partnership of Jess Franco and Lina Romay was one of the most provocative director/actor, husband/wife collaborations in contemporary cinema.  For Franco, the horror film was a vehicle through which he could explore his darkest sexual fantasies, and in the mysterious and sensual Romay he found an exhibitionist who not only indulged his every cinematic whim, but did so with absolute confidence and bravado.  They remained lovers and collaborators up until Romay’s untimely death in February of 2012, at the age of 57.

Female Vampire

“One of the most erotic and transgressive works in the horror genre.” — Tim Lucas, Editor of Video Watchdog

Includes the Complete Alternate Version: Erotikill

Channeling his deepest libidinal desires and darkest fears into films, with no apparent concern for narrative convention or the boundaries of mainstream taste, Jess Franco is a cinematic iconoclast.  And Franco was never better than when working with his wife, Lina Romay (1954-2012), a haunted waif who would go to any extreme to assure that the director’s wildest imaginings were brought to the screen without compromise.

Their most highly-regarded collaboration, Female Vampire stars Romay as the mysterious Countess Irina Karlstein, a beautiful vampiress who feeds on victims at their moments of sexual climax. Because she destroys those whose essence she consumes, Irina is doomed to a life of solitude, wandering through the Western Coast of Europe in a dreamlike state, shrouded in a lush musical score by Daniel White.

This Redemption edition includes the extended erotic version (Female Vampire), as well as the shorter horror version (Erotikill), in which Irina draws her liquid sustenance from more conventional parts of the human anatomy.

Special Features
* Mastered in HD from the original film elements.
* French with optional English subtitles or English dubbed
* Extended erotic version: Female Vampire (100 min.)
* Standard horror version: Erotikill (70 min., English only)
* “Destiny in Soft Focus: Jess Franco Remembers Female Vampire,” a new documentary by Elijah Drenner and David Gregory
* “Words for Lina,” a tribute by co-star Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, produced by Daniel Gouyette
* Original theatrical trailer