EUGENIE… THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION (1970)
aka Eugenie
Article 3362 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-15-2010
Posting Date: 10-28-2010
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Maria Rohm, Marie Liljedahl, Jack Taylor
Country: Spain / West Germany
What it is: Jess Franco movie

A businessman is seduced into letting his daughter spend a weekend with a libertine brother and sister on an island. Their designs on her are certainly not innocent…

Look at the title. Now look at the director. Know that the movie is based on a book by the Marquis de Sade. Quite frankly, this told me a lot about the movie already, and it’s pretty much what I expected. The biggest question I had going in was whether this was going to turn out to be Franco in top form or Franco on automatic. It’s the former; it’s definitely one of Franco’s better movies, and he shows a real commitment to it; from what I hear, it’s the movie of his Franco says he hates the least. Granted, it’s an acquired taste, and since I don’t share his fascination with de Sade, my use for it is very limited. But that doesn’t mean the movie lacks a point and a purpose. The horror content becomes clearer near the end, as it involves human sacrifice; the movie is also somewhat ambiguous as to whether it’s really happening or all a dream. At any rate, like it or not, it does appear to be one of Franco’s touchstones.