Jess Franco
Anchor Bay R2 DVD
Severin Films R0 DVD
Macumba Sexual dates from 1981 and is
considered by many to be Jess Franco’s best film, offering a truly unique and
surreal exploration of sexual transgression.
Alice
and her husband are on holiday in the Canary Islands. While she is having a
very relaxed time, her sleep is regularly disrupted by vivid and recurring
dreams about a beautiful and seductive black woman known as Tara. In the dream
she is both attracted and terrified of Tara who seems to wander the beaches on
a local island with two naked slaves and then dies with a strange idol between
her legs.
Her
holiday is interrupted by a phone call from her employer asking her to visit a
client on a local Island who wishes to buy a property. She is reluctant to
break her leisure time but being offered a nice percentage of the sale
reluctantly agrees to take the commission.
The
journey to the island is unconventional and includes a boat trip on a old style ship and a journey by
camel. For some reasons she travels in a way too tight top and a pair of very
tight shorts which give her a truly revealing “camel toe!”
When
she arrives, she finds herself in a peculiar Moorish resort owned by Princess Obongo. She
instantly identifies Obongo as the Tara of her
dreams, but rather than being frightened finds herself strangely attracted.
Soon she is seduced by Obongo (with the help of her
naked slaves Poppy and Tulip) and beings to experience a new world of sexual
abandon, voodoo (Macumba) and sorcery.
On
one level Macumba Sexual could be seen as a eccentric adaptation of the
Dracula story. Alice is the real estate agent, Obongo
is the Voodoo Priestess (the Dracula equivalent), her “vampires” are slaves
Poppy and Tulip and the rather pervy hotel manager
(played by Franco himself) is Renfield.
But
this sells the film short. The power of Franco’s work is in its dreamlike
quality. It places emphasis on texture and atmosphere, rather than on
narrative. Indeed there are long periods in Macumba
Sexual when hardly a world is spoken and it is the images and flesh which do
the speaking. It is amazing how Franco is able to use naked bodies in a way
that communicate something beyond the traditional confines of nudity and sex.
There
is a powerful mood to the film created by some truly beautiful locations,
evocative music and the sheer eccentricity of its major characters. Ajit Wilson as Tara and Obongo is
a tall, beauty dark skinned woman who was a famous transsexual porn star. She
has a certain gender variance which gives the film an eccentric feel, she is both very beautiful and a little disconcerting.
Lina Romay who
plays Alice is a stunning blonde and the juxtaposition of the tall dark skinned
beauty and the short voluptuous blonde works well throughout the film. Both
spend most of their time out of their clothes and even when dressed
show off their bodies as much as possible.
Macumba Sexual is brimming with nudity,
eroticism and sex. It is certainly explicit and at times borders on hardcore but never becomes a simple porn film. It is a
textured surreal exploration of voodoo and sexuality and creates an pervasive mood and atmosphere.
Photographed
in Techniscope by Juan Soler
off the coast of Spain on the island of Gran Canaria
it is visually stunning. Filled with eroticism and sex.
Brimming with dreams, nightmares and visions. It is a
very unusual experience.
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