The House of Lost Women – Severin Films (Blu-ray/CD Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain, 1983
Director: Jesus Franco
Writer: Jesus Franco
Cast: Lina Romay, Antonio Mayans, Carmen Carrión, Asunción Calero, Tony Skios

Release Date: December 7th, 2021
Approximate Running Time: 92 Minutes 42 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Spanish
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.98

"Lina Romay - here in her blonde 'Candy Coster' guise - stars as a pensive young nymphomaniac whose life on a remote island with her father, stepmother and mentally-challenged sister seethes with violence, incest and some of the most degenerate scenarios of the entire Franco canon." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

The House of Lost Women comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 28.8 GB

Feature: 23 GB

The source used for this transfer looks great, and any source-related debris is minimal. Colors look correct, image clarity and black levels look solid throughout.

Audio: 3.75/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Spanish, and included with this release are removable English subtitles. Though this audio track is rather limited range-wise, it more than gets the job done. Dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. That said, there are some minor imperfections that are fortunately not intrusive.

Extras:

Extras for this release include reversible cover art, a locations featurette titled In The Land of Franco Part 6 (20 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Stephen Thrower author of Murderous Passions, Franco Volume 1: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús and Flowers of Perversion, Volume 2: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco titled The Island of Perversion (16 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio essay with I’m In A Jess Franco State of Mind writer Robert Monell (11 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), reversible cover art, a CD with music composed by Daniel J. White titled In The Land of Franco Volume 2 and an Insert with track listing for CD.

Summary:

There have been two constants throughout Jess Franco’s filmography: horror and erotica. And though he has often mixed these two elements, most of his films fall into the latter category. A case in point is The House of Lost Women, a film about a dysfunctional family consumed by their perversions who live isolated on an island.

Reportedly, the screenplay for The House of Lost Women originated from a screenplay that Jess Franco co-wrote with Jean-Claude Carrière (Belle de Jour, The Unbearable Lightness of Being). And though the final screenplay credit only bears Jess Franco’s name, There are moments in The House of Lost Women that could have originated from Jean-Claude Carrière’s contributions to the original screenplay.

Jess Franco had a tendency to deep dive into dark subject matter without a filter. And though he had his own fertile mind when it came to concocting perverse scenarios, There's no denying that a writer like Marquis de Sade had an impact on him as a filmmaker. After all, Jess Franco made numerous films that were adapted from the Marquis de Sade’s writings. And though The House of Lost Women appears to be an original scenario created by Jess Franco, The result is a film that could have easily been inspired by the Marquis de Sade’s writings.

The House of Lost Women can be broken down into two halves. With the first half revolving around the dysfunctional family, an impotent father, a sex-starved stepmother, a daughter curious about sex, and an intellectually disabled daughter, The second half sees the family's world disrupted after a stranger arrives on the island.

From a production standpoint, The House of Lost Women is a typical bare-bones production from Jess Franco. The bulk of the narrative takes place in a central location, and the dialog and cast are minimal. With the soft-core erotica moments being the bulk of the narrative, Also, most of the score is an elegant piano piece that perfectly underscores the perverse story at hand.

It’s not surprising that most of the House of Lost Women’s cast also appeared in black boots and leather whips. Since both films were shot in 1983, and Jess Franco was known to shoot films back-to-back or multiple films at the same time, All around, the cast are all very good in their respective roles, especially Asunción Calero, under the alias Susana Kerr, in the role of the intellectually disabled daughter. Another performance of note is that of Antonio Mayans (Cecilia) in the role of the father. Ultimately, The House of Lost Women is a perverse film that could have only come from the mind of Jess Franco.

The House of the Lost Women makes its way to Blu-ray via a solid release from Severin Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a wealth of insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer