6/10
Spanish/French co-production in which a beautiful girl is really haunted by a ghost on the mirror
30 January 2022
This average-budget film contains thrills , a criminal intrigue and various murders . It's a passable slasher movie directed by prolific filmmaker Jess Frank concerning a nightclub singer is haunted by the ghost of her late dad . Anetta(Emma Cohen) is a pianist in cabarets and nightclubs , she's very close to her widower father (Howard Vernon) after their mother's death . Anetta suffers a tragedy on the eve of her wedding to Arturo (Wal Davis) , as his father is extremely opposed to this marriage , that's why he commits suicide by hanging . Later on , the dead man summons her through a mirror , forcing her to commit a series of violent crimes . This becomes a nightmare for her when she starts seeing him in all the mirrors making signs.

Austerily slasher film revolving around an unsettling , deranged young woman who suffered an emotional crisis that is torn between death and pain expressed in the reflection of the windows . It contains thrills , chills , haunting poetic fantasy , nudism and grisly killings . Here Franco manages to give us an adequate ambient , evocative production design , being regularly narrated , including a murders plot enough to keep you intrigued throughout the flick . In this passable as well as eerie yarn , Franco established his ordinary poetic and visually striking style . There are other versions in which Annette and Mary are sisters , and the latter haunting Annette on the mirror and another hardcore retelling with Lina Romay , Franco's muse , playing the erotic scenes , as usual . Emma Cohen gives a decent acting as singer/pianist Ana who will kill all men who feels sexually attracted to her by fulfilling the wishes of the late daddy . She's well accompanied by a good cast , some of them Franco's regulars , such as : Robert Woods , Alice Arno , Françoise Brion , Philippe Lemaire , Ramiro Oliveros and Howard Vernon as the father incites her to an unprecedented massacre. And Jesus Franco or Jess Frank cameo as a pianist at a bar .

One of the slasher movies by prolific writer/producer/director Jesús Franco , one of the kings of the ¨Spanish Fantaterror¨, and considered to be one of the best films from his second period . Jesús Franco who never considered the film to be a horror story , but instead felt it was tale of "anguish". Being produced in short budget by Robert de Nesle and José María Forqué . It packs evocative cinematography by Antonio Millán, filmed on Portuguese locations in Lisbon, Madeira, Tobis Portuguesa, Lumiar, Lisbon, (studio) . Likewise, atmospheric musical score by André Bénichou and Adolfo Waitzman, including Jazzy soundtrack and catching songs . The motion picture was regular but professionally directed by Jesus Franco. However , here he doesn't use his trademarks , as he carries out a traditional narration , without excessive zooms , neither lousy pace . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as zooms , nudism , foreground on objects , filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY , double-versions , and managing to work extraordinarily quickly . In many of the more than 180 films he's directed he has also worked as composer, writer, cinematographer and editor. His first was "We Are 18 Years Old" and the second picture was ¨Gritos en la Noche¨ (1962) , the best of all them , also titled "The Awful Dr. Orlof" , it's followed by various sequels such as El Secreto del Dr. Orloff (1964) aka "The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll" , " Orloff y el hombre invisible (1970) aka "Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster" and finally "Faceless" (1987) . He also directed to the great Christopher Lee in 4 films : "The Bloody Judge" , ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨The Blood of Fu Manchu¨ and ¨The castle of Fu Manchu¨ . Jesús's influence has been notable all over Europe . From his huge body of work we can deduce that Jesús Franco is one of the most restless directors of Spanish cinema and often releasing several titles at the same time. Many of his films have had problems in getting released, and others have been made directly for video. More than once his staunchest supporters have found his "new" films to contain much footage from one or more of his older films . Jesús Franco is a survivor in a time when most of his colleagues tried to please the government administration. He broke up with all that and got the independence he was seeking. He always went upstream in an ephemeral industry that fed opportunists and curbed the activity of many professionals . But time doesn't pass in vain, and Jesus' production diminished since the 90s ; however he went on shooting until his death . Al otro lado del espejo (1973) rating : 5.5/10 . Mediocre but passable.
2 out of 2 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed