Emanuelle and Francoise (Severin Films Blu-Ray Review)

Is Emanuelle and Francoise Treasure or Trash?

Blu-ray Distributed By Severin / April 30, 2019

Joe D’Amato’s sleaze masterpiece on disc for the first time ever in America!

On the heels of the ‘official’ Sylvia Kristel sequel EMMANUELLE II and a year before his own first Laura Gemser/EMANUELLE film, EuroFilth maestro Joe D’Amato (BEYOND THE DARKNESS) took the entire formula to new depths of depravity.

When a cold-hearted stud (George Eastman of ANTHROPOPHAGUS infamy) drives her sister to suicide, Emanuelle (Rosemarie Lindt of SALON KITTY and WHO SAW HER DIE?) plots a seduction that includes sodomy, torture, J&B, lesbianism, cannibalism, meat cleavers and a super-groovy ’70s soundtrack. Maria Rosaria Riuzzi (IMAGES IN A CONVENT) and Massimo Vanni (ZOMBIE 3 & 4) co-star in this still-extreme sex sickie – also known as EMANUELLE’S REVENGE, DEMON RAGE and BLOOD VENGEANCE – co-written by D’Amato with fellow filth maven Bruno Mattei (SHOCKING DARK) and now featuring a 2k scan from the original negative.

Jamie’s Take (2 / 5)

Someday I would just love it if a documentary was released about the entire history of the Emanuelle films. This strange series is a real head scratcher as the first Emmanuelle (yes, the name spelling changes throughout the series making it all the more confusing) is about a French woman embarking on some sexual discovery. The series got weirder and more violent, with several actresses portray Emanuelle. Think of it as a soft-core, hard R rated James Bond series as the character usually goes undercover to track someone or discover something. She’s a horny sleuth, more or less. Without a doubt, the series itself is oddly intriguing and this is the film that started the change.

Directed by sleaze master Joe D’Amato (Absurd) and written by Trashmen favorite Bruno Mattei (Robowar, Cruel Jaws) the third entry in the series now stars Rosemarie Lindt as Emanuelle, taking over the role that was made famous by Sylvia Kristel. Perhaps the reason for the spelling change is to break away from the light-hearted sex film as this entry is rather dark and pretty damn sleazy. You will need to take a shower after watching this one. Get your boners ready.

The film begins with Francois (played by Patrizia Gori from War of the Robots) as a timid, weak model who is dating the brash, hunky jerk Carlo (George Eastman from Anthropophagous). Francois catches him with another woman and when she asks why, he shrugs with a smirk and tells her simply, “Because.” Classy guy Carlo is. Francois decides to end her life by jumping in front of a moving train.

Her sister is Emanuelle, and she identifies the body (somehow Francois’s body is intact and not a gory mess) and reads a note left by her sister on why she killed herself. The note goes on about the he horrible things that Carlo did to her. Vowing to get revenge, Emanuelle decides to seduce Carlo and eventually knocks him out by poisoning his drink. When Carlo awakes, Emanuelle has Carlo chained up in her home in a secret room with a one way mirror for him to see out, almost like an escape room. Emanuelle tells Carlo she plans to starve him to death if he doesn’t obey her commands.

Emanuelle eventually teases Carlo by stripping in front of him, masturbating, seducing other men and women in front of him, just to make him horny since he cannot touch his Carlo corncob (yeah, that will teach him a lesson!). I guess since the man was a womanizing piece of shit, this is her way of exacting revenge. Strangely enough, Carlo starts to hallucinate and begins to see things like a dinner party of guests eating body parts while they rub or jerk one another under a table as well as Carlo’s violent thoughts on what he would like to do to Emanuelle if he breaks free.

While all the other films portray Emanuelle as either a victim or the heroine, this may be the only one I have seen in this weird series where Emanuelle is cold blooded and is in this for pure revenge. Lindt seems rather cool and portrays Emanuelle as a pissed off Charles Bronson type who uses her boobies and hair pie as her gun. She refuses to let the demise of her sister be forgotten or go unnoticed – the #metoo crowd may really like this film. Every male character is a scumbag but every woman comes off as either weak or cold-blooded.

The problem I have with Emanuelle and Francoise is that the film drags and runs a long 98 minutes. It takes too long to get to the seduction of Carlo and the viewer is stuck seeing poor Francois in various flashbacks raped by not only Carlo but by other men. Also, how many times do we need to see Carlo “in pain” as he’s forced to watch lesbiens and sex acts? It gets dull pretty fast.

One also has to suspend their disbelief quite often with this strange escape room that comes off as something the Wayne manor may have in Batman. And without giving anything away, the ending also comes off as way too convenient with Carlo doing something rather stupid.

Severin’s blu ray looks good as always and comes with a few special features but the highlight is the deleted scenes. This film was may more graphic in terms of sex. Almost every deleted scenes shows a fair amount of flesh and there is an alternate opening credit sequence that had me burst out laughing as the director’s name comes up over a mound of pubes. It looks like a gigantic spiders nest! But yes, this was borderline porographic so I am unsure if these deleted scenes were intact in foreign markets or they were taken purposely since it was so graphic. Either way, viewers now have the option to see even more sex and nudity. Hooray!

Jamie says: One’s Trash is Another’s Treasure.