I am a huge fan of the eccentric films of Jess Franco, and a defender and admirer of the work from his later years. Far from comfortably sliding into respectability or mainstream, he became possibly more perverse, more extreme and as a result, more 'niche'. 'Red Silk', a sex farce starring crew-cut Lina Romay and Christie Levin as Gina and Tina, a pair of flirtatious detectives, is, however, pretty dreadful.
There are many elongated sex-scenes accompanied by Casio-style Bingo Hall music; there's a character who IMDb lists as Kalman (Paul Lapidus), a young man dubbed unconvincingly by the elderly, virtually toothless Jess; the accents are very thick and at times impenetrable. And yet, all this wouldn't really matter if there was a spark of something vaguely arresting, or frightening or even a storyline. But there is nothing.
Usually, a Franco production will display at least a few moments of eccentricity, of weirdness, a set-piece or location, which lifts you out of the superficial micro-budget world on offer and invites you to see things through Franco's eyes. There's nothing to dissuade you to view this as an 'outsider' would view it, nothing to draw you beyond the point of a first-time Franco-viewer and see before you only what there is: a bad production. Bad dubbing, incoherent storyline, unengaging situations, and nonsensical performances: the list goes on.
It gives me no joy to say this, but at the very best, the constantly horny twosome's perpetual giggling at anything suggestive is irritating; at worst, it is a Spanish-accented Benny Hill mentality way past its sell-by date. At least Lina shines as she always did, and is the best and most talented performer here.
Jess Franco made many, many films and I've enjoyed all of them to varying degrees. This, however, is the exception. At least it is cheerful, I'll give it that.
There are many elongated sex-scenes accompanied by Casio-style Bingo Hall music; there's a character who IMDb lists as Kalman (Paul Lapidus), a young man dubbed unconvincingly by the elderly, virtually toothless Jess; the accents are very thick and at times impenetrable. And yet, all this wouldn't really matter if there was a spark of something vaguely arresting, or frightening or even a storyline. But there is nothing.
Usually, a Franco production will display at least a few moments of eccentricity, of weirdness, a set-piece or location, which lifts you out of the superficial micro-budget world on offer and invites you to see things through Franco's eyes. There's nothing to dissuade you to view this as an 'outsider' would view it, nothing to draw you beyond the point of a first-time Franco-viewer and see before you only what there is: a bad production. Bad dubbing, incoherent storyline, unengaging situations, and nonsensical performances: the list goes on.
It gives me no joy to say this, but at the very best, the constantly horny twosome's perpetual giggling at anything suggestive is irritating; at worst, it is a Spanish-accented Benny Hill mentality way past its sell-by date. At least Lina shines as she always did, and is the best and most talented performer here.
Jess Franco made many, many films and I've enjoyed all of them to varying degrees. This, however, is the exception. At least it is cheerful, I'll give it that.