Buoyed by his film 'Vampyros Lesbos', Director Jess Franco quickly employed a very similar cast and crew for this typically leery-titled horror/drama.The mighty Soledad Miranda plays the wife of Doctor Johnson, whose experiments with embryos has caused him to be vilified by his peers and banned from continuing his work. Taking care to wear a series of tight shirts unbuttoned to reveal some handsome jewellery, he then goes through spiralling turmoil ending in suicide. His wife determines to get revenge on those who drove him to this.As with just about all Franco films, scenes of tension are accompanied by exotic and jaunty jazz music that sometimes works because it is so inappropriate and sometimes doesn't. The former Mrs Johnson's subsequent seductions-prior-to-murder are scored with grimly fitting incidentals, and together with Franco's obsession with close-ups and zoom-outs, concoct a heady, disorientating nightmare. Surprisingly, Franco regular Howard Vernon is the first person to cop it.Apart from making her name in 'exploitation' films, there's no denying Miranda's power as an actress. She is tremendous throughout despite (on the DVD I am watching), she is buried beneath unbefitting dubbing and subtitles, and has a genuine sense of presence that makes the routine seduction/death plot line far more interesting than it would have otherwise been. Her early death on the eve of what looked like global stardom remains a great tragedy.

"Sie tötete in Ekstase" or "She Killed In Ecstasy" is a pretty short West German / Spanish horror movie about a woman who goes insane after her husband commits suicide. The husband was a renowned doctor, but one of his studies was performed in a way that other important doctors could not accept and that is why they publicly humiliated him and forbid him to keep working in his profession. As a consequence, the man commits suicide and his wife takes revenge on the people who caused this to her husband. The director is the famous Jesús Franco and the lead actress is played by his muse Soledad Miranda. Miranda was already dead when this was released here and there is certainly some irony to the last scene of the movie and her tragic death. The most known 8at least to me) actor in here is Horst Tappert, who plays a police detective who does apparently not have 1% of Derrick's wit and intelligence.You can watch this film for a couple reasons. Taking it seriously in terms of story, however, is not one of them. It was obvious who the killer was after the first murder and yet nobody came to stop her. Instead the police still wonders almost at the end of the film who did this. Pretty ridiculous. The murder scenes are also not too scare actually, more like funny how weird they are and there are several more scenes for which this applies. The best reason to watch this is either because of Miranda's stunning beauty (some nudity in here too) or simply as a guilty pleasure. Yes sexuality certainly was different in the 1970s and I am not only talking about the protagonist's bush down there. At one point, the film almost sounded like an installment of the popular "Schulmädchen" franchise. Solid watch all in all, but by today's standards really more funny than scary. I recommend it. Maybe my favorite from Franco.

While I noticed that there were quite a few very positive reviews for this one, mine will certainly not be among them. Some described this as being among director Jesús Franco's best films, though I just don't see it. To me, the film was poorly made, had a plot they 'borrowed' from "The Bride Wore Black" and was just an excuse to show a lot of flesh. The plot, for the most part, seemed relatively unimportant and several times throughout the movie I saw mistakes that should have been eliminated had anyone really cared about producing a quality film.The film begins with some insane (or at least completely amoral) doctor doing experiments on viable embryos. While he assumes folks will hail him as a great man and humanitarian, not surprisingly he's attacked by the medical community and his license is revoked. He becomes depressed and ultimately kills himself. His wife, a bit of a nut-job herself, blames four people for his death and goes about killing them. Inexplicably, all these murders involve her taking off her clothes and showing off her pubic regions.My biggest problem isn't the gratuitous nudity but the way the film was made. Too much emphasis was made on the nudity and too little on constructing a more believable story or interesting murders. There just wasn't a lot of intelligence in constructing the plot--and little style. Plus, the killer wife drug her dead husband's corpse around with her--but he clearly was sweating. And, in one scene, a shroud is pulled away from a dead blonde--and you can see her moving!! She is supposed to be dead and dead people aren't supposed to move! How can this be a great film or among Franco's best?! It was sloppy and these scenes should have been re-shot. Overall, a sloppy film and one that should have been much better.

Frano is on again/off again more than probably any director in history. His days with Soledad Miranda were arguably his best, as can be seen in this tasty tale of revenge.Miranda plays a recently widowed woman who seeks out revenge upon the people she blames for her husband's suicide. She first seduces them and then kills them. The preying mantis metaphor is slapped on a little thick, as the later victims know what's going to happen to them, yet do nothing to stop it.The film is played out in a dreamy kind of pacing. Little sound and dialogue, distanced shots, slow camera movements; it's like a lethargic daze echoing the detachment of the lead character. Franco takes his time unfolding the seduction and revenge, and he displays more flair for cinema than many would believe him capable of. The film is far from flawless though; the story is never complex, acting is either too subtle or over stated and the dialogue is pretty simple. Also, the character motivations lack strength all around, which robs the film of most all emotion.Of the MANY Franco films to choose form, I would suggest this one for a view, especially to those unfamiliar with the director.7/10