Linda (Ewa Stromberg) is a beautiful German Lawyer who has been sent to Isatanbul, Turkey, by her company to handle the inheritance of a large Estate by a young and beautiful woman, Countess Nadine Carody (Soledad Miranda). Prior to making the trip, Linda has been plagued by recurring, ominous dreams… a scorpion by a swimming pool, a moth caught in a net, a single drop of blood running down a pane of glass and a strange, alluring woman. Upon arriving in Istanbul, Linda's boyfriend, Omar, takes her to a club where she witnesses a most unsettling and arousing performance by two women, one of whom has been haunting her dreams. The next day Linda goes to the island Estate of Countess Carody only to discover that she is the woman from the club, the one from her dreams and everything falls into place.

Linda and Nadine swim nude in the Ocean and sunbathe on the beach before attending to the business at hand, transferring the island Estate into her name from her benefactor's… Count Dracula. After Linda goes over the paperwork, the two women toast, but Linda's wine has been drugged and she is taken to a bedroom. When she comes to, Nadine is there and seduces her, eventually biting her neck. Linda eventually finds herself in Dr. Seward's clinic with no memory of the last several days. Omar comes looking for her and tells her that she's been missing for over a week. Meanwhile, the Countess, who has seduced so many with her unnatural charms, finds that she has fallen under Linda's spell. She reveals to us how when she was a young girl her village was ransacked and as she was about to be raped by a gang of looting soldiers, Dracula appeared and saved her, only to take her blood for himself, turning her into a vampire.

It turns out that Dr. Seward knows far more about vampires than anyone rightly should, as he has an agenda to become one. Unfortunately for him, Countess Carody never puts the bite on men and leaves them to her twisted manservant, Morpho. Linda makes her way back to the island to get to the bottom of her memory loss and weakened state from her previous visit with Nadine. Arriving at the island armed only with the knowledge that Dr. Seward gave her, Linda confronts the Countess only to learn that Nadine has become so enamored of her that she has forsaken all others and has grown weak from starvation. Linda essentially holds the Countess' life in her hands and must decide what kind of life she wishes to lead.

Filled with tons of symbolism, either to make up for, or because of the low, low budget which Franco turns to his advantage. He is able to convey so much of the story and mood of the piece through his recurring use of imagery which represents the various characters and their intertwined relationships, as well as, foreshadowing upcoming events in the picture. As I mentioned before, the Soundtrack is to die for and has long been admired by Audiophiles all over the world. German composers Hubler and Schwab created a crazy lounge score that would live on in Club DJ's record stacks and was even used by Quentin Tarantino in his film, Jackie Brown.

Jess Franco had already tackled Dracula with El Conde Drácula (1970), his version of Bram Stoker's timeless story starring Klaus Kinski as Renfield and Christopher Lee as The Count. Vampyros Lesbos could almost be considered a sequel, with several actors/characters reprising the same or similar roles. Soledad Miranda was Franco's rising star and played Mina Harker in El Conde Drácula prior to assuming the role of the Countess in Vampyros Lesbos. Sadly, just as her breakthrough film was completed she died in a car accident which cut short a promising career at the age of 27.

The DVD:

Picture: This movie is presented in a 1.78:1 Letterbox aspect ratio, which has been enhanced for 16:9 Televisions. I can't imagine that the film has ever looked this good… ever. Image has spent considerable time and money to restore this print to a pristine condition. The full palette of Franco's colors comes through with perhaps just some minor film grain to show the film's age. This print is features the German dub, which is considered by many to be the superior version as it is Uncut, unlike the original Spanish version.

Audio: This film is in 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono which sounds amazing. The film is dubbed in German with removable English subtitles. The incredible Soundtrack sounds especially amazing considering the supposed limitations of the Mono format. It's mixed in perfectly and really propels much of the film, as was its intention.

Extras: The only Extras included on this DVD are the Theatrical Trailers for Vampyros Lesbos, Jess Franco's She Killed in Ecstasy and a Stills Gallery.

Conclusion: Jess Franco's Vampyros Lesbos was once considered the Holy Grail of Cult Cinema by collectors, and deservedly so. It's dreamlike, otherworldly visuals and landmark Soundtrack cemented it as a favorite of fans of Exploitation and Euro-horror the world over. Now in its second DVD incarnation, it's still missing the copious Extras that would make it a Must Buy, but the package that Image has put together, including their jaw-dropping transfer and the nice price make this one a no brainer.