As one of the world's most prolific directors, Jess Franco gets a lot of mixed reactions from movie buffs, particularly those of us fascinated by European cult films. Franco has made all sorts of different films on all sorts of different budgets and in all sorts of different genres but widely considered some of his best are the few films he made with the smolderingly sexy Soledad Miranda. In a sense, she acted as his muse and more so than any other woman (save for Lina Romay) she is most often associated with his work.

Dr. Johnson (played by Fred Williams who also worked with Franco on El Conde Dracula and others) has a happy life that he shares with his jaw droppingly gorgeous wife, played by Miranda (of Vampyros Lesbos and Eugenie DeSade fame). When Johnson's experiments bring him under the scrutiny of the local medical community based on their rather unusual methods and the involvement of human embryos, he's cast out of their circle and his license to practice is revoked. Johnson, a wreck because of this decision, takes a knife and cuts his wrists, leaving his wife alone and upset over her loss. In order to avenge his death, Mrs. Johnson seduces four people (played by a rather interesting cast – Howard Vernon, Paul Muller, Ewa Stromberg and the director himself!) she holds responsible for her husband's suicide, and once she has them where she wants them, takes their lives in return.

While much of Franco's work is sporadic and uneven, She Killed In Ecstasy almost seems a little too straight forward in its plot – which when you get to the heart of it is simply an eroticized tale of revenge from a woman who truly was scorned. Franco doesn't go too hog wild with his trademark zooms though his use of loungey jazz music (some of which is eerily reminiscent of some of the cues from Vampyros Lesbos - the films do compliment each other quite nicely) to compliment the action on screen and his pop artist sensibility in regards to his use of comic book colors on his filmic canvas are ever present here. While it isn't necessarily a mainstream film in the traditional sense of the word (and by mainstream I mean a film that is meant for a large audience, one that is accessible to those who may not necessarily be so well versed in arthouse or European genre movies) and it may not be the best film to get someone started on a Franco kick, it moves along at a reasonably brisk pace and benefits from a pretty decent storyline as well.

While Franco's direction creates and maintains a very dreamlike (or nightmarish) ambience, the real star of the film is Soledad Miranda – a woman who could make any man swoon for her. She's perfectly cast as a woman who is out to use her feminine wiles to entrance her soon to be victims and she's just gorgeous enough to be convincing working under this premise. While some of the more sexual elements are in there for presumably exploitative reasons the film never goes so far as to reach the hardcore level that some of the director's other 'erotic horror' films have such as Lorna The Exorcist or Dorianna Grey. These scenes make for an interesting contrast against the bloody murders Miranda's character enacts, and this contrast in a sense embodies much of Franco's work.

NOTE - It has since been pointed out that this release runs three minutes shorter than the previous release from Synapse films. Though the trims are minor they are there, making this version of the film slightly less complete than the earlier release.

Video:

Image presents She Killed In Ecstasy in a gorgeous 1.66.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. It looks like they've put quite a bit of effort into cleaning up the image as the colors are incredibly vibrant and are clearly distinct without any over-saturation or bleeding. Print damage is almost non-existent and while there is a natural coat of grain present, it's never heavy enough to distract from the imagery unfolding on screen. Flesh tones look lifelike and natural, which is good because there is a lot of flesh on display here, and edge enhancement and compression artifacts are never a serious problem. This film looks great.