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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: February 25th, 2020.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Lina Romay, Robert Foster, Albino Graziani, Miguel Aristu
Year: 1983
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Night Of Open Sex - Movie Review:
When Jess Franco's 1983 film, Night Of Open, begins, we meet Moira (Lina Romay) - a beautiful dark haired lady who, at first, seems to be working as a DJ at a Spanish nightclub. The camera pulls back and, after we watch her 'work the mic' for a bit, she climbs out of the car-shaped booth and gets down to some pretty explicit bumping and grinding. Moira is not a DJ, she's an erotic performer and we see her entire performance, nothing is really left to the imagination at all. The audience loves her.
With that out of the way, a con artist named Vic (Miguel Aristu) manages to talk Moira into helping him coerce an aged Nazi general (Albino Graziani), who is not long for this world, into giving up his stash of Nazi gold. How? By impersonating his niece. Before they can make that happen, however, they have to kidnap Tina Klaus (Carla Simons), the old man's actual niece and torture her with a curling iron (in a scene that involves the curling iron going exactly where you'd expect in a Franco movie - the smoke coming up from between this poor woman's legs… possibly the result of Jess exhaling underneath her?) to eventually get information on where exactly the old general is hiding out.
From there, Moira makes out with a few people like Eva (Lorna Green) and Al (Antonio Mayans, credited once again as Robert Foster), the later of whom soon coerces Moira into working with him to get to the gold first - and also doing it with him a lot. That happens too. Moira and Al eventually take a break from the bumping and grinding and get back to work, putting together the pieces of the puzzle and making their way towards the gold's location. But will they get there before the others?
Featuring a fun cameo from Franco himself (he gets bound and gagged and beaten up towards the end of the movie), Night Of Open Sex features about thirty or so minutes of plot and about an hour or so worth of Lina doing what Lina does best, but it's a pretty entertaining picture in its own wonky way. As per the norm, Franco's eye for locations is in fine form here, and fans of Countess Perverse will instantly recognize that amazing room full of red stairs that was used so well in that earlier film. There are also some great seaside vistas featured here and while Franco's does occasionally get caught up with focus issues and his penchant for zooming, the film, overall, is very nicely shot.
Story wise? Well, there is one, and it's not terrible. It'll keep you engaged when people are doing the dirty, but the fact of the matter is that most people are going to want to see the movie for that reason, rather than the narrative. On that level, it's pretty successful. Lina is, obviously, the focus of attention for the vast majority of the picture, but she earns it. Never less than completely uninhibited, she gives it her all and you can't help but marvel at her sheer, rampant horniness. The supporting cast are fine as well, Lorna Green is fun to look at and Mayans is Mayans, but as it is in so many of the films she made with Franco, all eyes area on her.
Night Of Open Sex - Blu-ray Review:
Night Of Open Sex comes to Blu-ray from Severin Films taken from a new 4k scan of the original negative and framed in its original 2.35.1 widescreen aspect ratio and it looks really good, despite a bit of print damage in the opening minute or two. As is the norm with his films, there is some of the director's trademark soft focus employed here and there and the cinematography doesn't lend itself to a super sharp, crisply focused production but this transfer is solid. Colors look very good, frequently quite beautiful (again, that red room with all the stairs!), and skin tones, a constant in the movie, appear naturally throughout. There are no noticeable issues with noise reduction or edge enhancement and compression artifacts are never a problem. This looks nice and filmic and the elements used appear to have been in good shape, as while there are white specks and small scratches here and there you won't see any major damage.
The only audio option on the disc is a Spanish language DTS-HD Mono track. The track is nicely balanced and it sounds fine. The score has a surprising amount of depth to it for a relatively older single channel mix and the dialogue is clean and clear sounding, despite a few moments of minor sibilance. Optional subtitles are provided in English only.
Extras start off with In The Land Of Franco Part Two, a fifteen-minute piece that picks up where part one (included on Severin Films' Cries Of Pleasure Blu-ray) left off. Here, in Portugaul, Thrower tours and provides background information and historical details on some of the locations that Franco used in productions like Swedish Nympho Slaves, Cecilia, Voodoo Passion, Succubus, A Virgin Among The Living Dead, Devil Hunter, Sinfonía Erotica, Dracula's Daughter, Dracula Prisoner Of Frankenstein and an unfinished picture called Juliette 69. Lots of great information in here and it provides a very cool opportunity to see some seriously interesting locations, some of which will be instantly recognizable to Franco's fan base.
Up next is When Donald Met Jess and Lina Part 2, a ten-minute segment from an interview that filmmaker Donald Farmer conducted with Franco and Romay in 1993. Taken from a VHS source, this intimate little piece is quite charming in its way. This time around the conversation covers shooting Faceless, Charles Band's distribution of various Franco films, how the man was rarely given proper budgets for his productions and his tendency to work fast and fairly compulsively.
Thrower shows up again in the twenty-one-minute The Night Of Open Jess featurette. Here Thrower covers Franco's ridiculously prolific period wherein he made this and five other pictures in the span of a year, how Franco not only served as director and actor in the film but cinematographer and cameraman as well, where the film was shot, where Franco got his story ideas from for the film, the music used in the film and more.
Menus and chapter selection options are also provided on the disc.
Night Of Open Sex - The Final Word:
Night Of Open Sex is a decent mix of sleaze and intrigue, not a film likely to covert the naysayers, but a picture primed to please those who can appreciate his quirk and kinky filmography. Lina's in fine form here and the supporting cast are game. Great cinematography and location work helps here too. Severin Films' Blu-ray release is a good one, presenting the film in very nice shape and with some seriously solid supplements too. Recommended!
