A Virgin Among The Living Dead: Remastered Edition

One gravely telling scene in 'A Virgin among the Living Dead' comes when we see writer and director Jesús Franco fall asleep and snore through the entire reading of a dead relative's will. This becomes dangerously indicative of the film's overall quality as a man speaking in monotone goes on for several minutes about the law, the testament, and all his belongings. The fact that we see Franco as Basilio, a simpleton who speaks in gibberish and works as some kind of groundskeeper to an eerie castle, snoozing to his own material is pretty comical but also suggestive of how the story can be somewhat boring in some parts.

Thankfully, the production as a whole is not a complete loss as there is more to the plot than just endless chatting about nothing. In fact, many of the conversations between characters are downright weird with a slightly spooky edge to them. The people living in the aforementioned castle speak in strange detached tones, particularly Howard Vernon and Rosa Palomar. When asked by another about eating breakfast, a deadly serious Vernon replies that the family rarely eats and suddenly bursts into laughter. Cousin Carmencé (a half-awake but very seductive Britt Nichols) wanders the halls like a ghost in nothing more than a loosely-tied robe.

The reason we're surrounded by these weirdos is that the young, innocent Christina Benson (Christina von Blanc) has traveled there from England. Her estranged father (Paul Muller), who she hasn't spoken to since childhood, recently died under mysterious circumstances, and the loony crackpots claim to be long-lost family members she's never met. Expecting to be the new proprietor of the estate, Christina enthusiastically explores the grounds with child-like glee, discovering a nearby pond decorated with water lilies and an abandoned church with a creepy old man muttering scary legends. At night, a mysterious blind girl (Linda Hastreiter) roams about the manor talking more freakish nonsense.

So, ignoring that dreadfully dull scene with the notary, the rest of the film is intriguing, filled with perplexing encounters and curious exchanges with these weirdly indifferent relatives. Being a Franco production, you can expect a reasonable amount of nudity, much of which is done at the oddest moments and meant to be somehow erotic, like Carmencé and the bling girl getting freaky with a pair of scissors. The most unusual confrontations take place at night, which seems fitting enough in a horror tale, when Christina is either roving the castle or possibly sleepwalking. And it's this last bit which is also of most interest and adds another perplexing layer by film's end to Franco's bizarre plot.

Originally titled 'Christina, Princess of Eroticism,' the movie has an impressive design for such a cheap, low-budget exploitation flick. Franco immerses his fable with a haunting, otherworldly atmosphere that has audiences wondering where it's all going, but also leaves them pondering on the fantastically whacko conclusion. When the worldwide zombie craze was in full effect in the late 70s and early 80s, the film was re-released under its now familiar title, which is rather fitting when considering the odd behavior of Christina's family, and with new scenes directed by Jean Rollin showing a couple of zombie attacks. Sadly, the new footage is more of a distraction than a benefit, and the curious should check out 'A Virgin among the Living Dead' in the 79-min cut as Franco intended.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Kino Lorber brings Jess Franco's 'A Virgin among the Living Dead' to Blu-ray under the distributor's "Redemption" label. Housed inside a normal blue keepcase, the Region Free, BD50 disc goes straight to a static menu screen with music playing in the background. When pressing "Play," the disc defaults to the original 79-min director-preferred version.