TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Claudio Carvalho In an undefined country, the Governor Mendonza (Jean Guedes) summons the lawyer Lindsay (Denis Price) to his death bed to disclose that the lovers Raymond Franval (Andrés Resino) and Beatriz Coblan (Geneviève Robert) are innocents. Mendonza tells that he had an unrequited love for Beatriz while his lover Emilia Franval (Danielle Godet) was jealous of Beatriz. Emilia had had a love affair with her godson Raymond, who ended their relationship to stay with Beatriz. Mendonza plots with Emilia to kill his wealthy sister-in-law Margarita Santiago to frame Raymond and Emília. The lovers are convicted of murder and sentenced to a life imprisonment in separate wings of the Devil's Island prison. Lindsay decides to visit his clients and when he arrives, he meets the inmate Rosa (Jossiane Gibert) that tells the fate of the two lovers."Quartier de Femmes" is an average film by Jess Franco with a disappointing conclusion. The plot is a shallow soap opera with one- dimension characters, with the theme "women in prison", the same that this director explored three years before with "Der Heiße Tod", but with lesser and lesser exploitation. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Amores Satânicos" ("Satanic Loves")

Graham Greene As was allegedly quite common for Franco's films of this particular era, Devil's Island Lovers / aka The Lovers of Devil's Island / aka Female Quarters (1974) exists in many different versions, some with explicit sex, others with violence, others with very little of the two. The version that I saw was the longer cut that maintains the use of the flashback structure and tones down many of the more obvious Franco exploitation flourishes to present a mostly straight story, which despite never really overcoming it's obvious B-movie/exploitation roots, at least presents an intelligent story well told. Still, depending on the version you see, Devil's Island Lovers could be viewed as either a B-grade treatise on political corruption, dictatorship and the horrors of the death penalty, or as a lurid slice of sexploitation schlock. You have been warned!For me, this isn't a particularly great film; Franco has a reputation for his incredibly low budget productions in which films seem to have been shot in no more than a single take with inexperienced actors and obvious post-production dubbing. Sometimes it works in favour of the subject matter and other times it doesn't. However, having said that, the film here certainly wasn't disinteresting or badly performed, with the atmosphere of the film drawing us in with its lurid characterisations and exploitation clichés, and the general air that anything could happen within the limitless confines of this Gothic, medieval-like prison. On some levels the film and its style reminded me of the early work of Jack Hill, in particular films like Bamboo Doll House (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972), with the women in prison subplot and sensational depictions of state corruption and prison guards as grotesque caricatures with a regime of brutal degradation. However, Franco's film lacks the giddy style, playful sleaze and tongue-in-cheek absurdity of Hill's early work, including the films aforementioned, which still stand out as some of the greatest exploitation/low budget film-making ever seen.Given the lack of sleaze in the version that I saw, it is its unknown who this film will really appeal to. I suppose people like myself; hardcore cineastes who genuinely love film and will watch anything no matter how poor a reputation it might have. Certainly, the low budget, rough around the edges style obviously germane to exploitation sub-genre will turn off many viewers unfamiliar with the particular style, while the slight plot and only subtle allusions to political corruption may prove disengaging to those looking for Franco's usual low-rent decadence. Regardless, Devil's Island Lovers is still an interesting film despite the required exploitation factor or the occasional stabs of outré imagination and filth that Franco would occasionally revel in. This is a slight film, though I think it has its charms and does manage to tell a story with obvious socio-political references and shades of hidden depth.

Michael_Elliott Devil Island Lovers (1974) * 1/2 (out of 4) An incredibly boring and lifeless WIP (Women in Prison) film from director Jess Franco. A man and woman are sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit and soon find themselves being beaten by the guards. I love Franco's WIP films when they're over the top. Sleazy and full of girl on girl action but this thing here featured none of that and tries to tell a serious story but fails on every level. The film has way too much talk with none of it being interesting. Dennis Price, Howard Vernon and Brit Nichols star.

The_Void As with most Franco films I see these days; I was expecting this one to be the pits, but actually; Devil's Island Lovers isn't bad at all - especially by the director's usual standards! Before watching, I thought this was yet another 'women in prison' flick, but after the first few minutes; it would seem that Franco is actually trying to tell a story this time round. The plot concerns a man who has framed the woman he loves and her lover after she 'betrayed' him. Now on his deathbed and wanting to put things right, he tells a lawyer what he did - leaving the lawyer with the task of getting enough evidence together to get the lovers off the hook! As mentioned, this isn't really a women in prison film - although Franco couldn't completely stay away from the genre he (apparently) loves, as we do get to see some females behind bars during this film. However, the prison scenes aren't all that sleazy, which is odd considering Franco's (vast) filmography. The story here isn't likely to actually intrigue anyone, but it really isn't all that bad and I wouldn't hesitate to put Devil's Island Lovers in the top half of a list of Franco's best efforts!