A journalist (Monica Swinn) has tracked down rich businesswoman Doriana
Gray (Lina Romay), who is said to have her twin sister (Lina Romay again)
away in an asylum, down to her castle, where she lives alone with her mute
servant Ziros (Raymond Hardy), but instead of a preposterous, ruthless and
self-centered woman who locks away relative for her own advantage she
finds a troubled and lonesome young woman whose life seems to be shrouded
in sadness and whose sister (they were Siamese twins) has been locked away
in the asylum simply because she has gone mad. Soon, the reporter and
Doriana feel attracted to each other ...
What Doriana does not tell the reporter though is that she needs to
feed on the life energy of other people via oral sex (but kills them in
the process of course), and that her loyal servant Ziros sees to it that
she has a steady supply of donors, even if that means sacrificing his
girlfriend (Martine Stedil) or even himself. Thing is, Doriana can't even
enjoy sex, but her sister, who is telepathically linked to her, enjoys
every moment of it for her.
Eventually, Doriana and the reporter find themselves in bed together,
and even though Doriana feels honest affections for her, she can't help
herself but kill the woman.
In the end, Doriana visits her twin sister, who seems to lie around
naked in bed all day and who tries to seduce everybody who crosses her
path. Consequently, Doriana and her sister have sex, and the sister dies
in the process. Then Doriana returns to her castle and kills herself in a
pool ...
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, reinterpreted (and
largely rewritten) by Jess Franco as a vampire/sex story, more than a
little reminiscent of Franco's earlier Female
Vampire, but even more delirious than the earlier movie, more
explicit (Martine Stedil has a hardcore scene in this one, and when Lina
sucks a cock - including cumshot - the camera is full on), but
unfortunately less poetic and less seductive. Still, those who like Jess
Franco for his trademark style - delirious and not always consequent
screenplays, unusual camerawork consisting of many zoom-ins and zoom-outs,
out of focus shots and a camera constantly on the move, and much nudity
including extreme close-ups of genitalia - will find this one at least
interesting (even if it lacks Franco's trademark tongue-in-cheek humour),
others though probably shouldn't even bother.
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