Female Vampire

Infobox Film | name = Female Vampire


caption = DVD cover
director = Jesus Franco
producer = Marius Lesoeur
writer = Jesus Franco
Gérard Brisseau
starring = Lina Romay
Jack Taylor
Alice Arno
Monica Swinn
music = Daniel White
cinematography = Jesus Franco
editing = Jesus Franco
distributor =
released = FRA 1973
runtime = 72-105 min
language =
budget =
amg_id = 1:133024
imdb_id = 0069745

"Female Vampire" or The Bare Breasted Countess is a 1973 French erotic horror film by Jesus Franco. The plot revolves around Countess Irina von Karstein (played by Lina Romay), a mute woman who needs sex like a vampire needs blood in order to stay alive forever. She sucks the life essence out of her (both male & female) victims while performing oral sex on them. Lina Romay bares it all in this one, even doing a few open crotch shots and simulated intercourse scenes. Veteran Spanish horror actor Jack Taylor seems lost in this one, no doubt himself shocked by the total frontal nude scenes Franco had him doing, quite shocking since Taylor is considered something of a "real movie star" by horror fans.

The movie's shooting title was "La comtesse noire" (The Dark Countess), but it has been released under several different titles, including "Bare Breasted Countess", "Erotikill", "Female Vampire" and "Les Avaleuses" ("The Swallowers") with running times ranging from just over 70 to over 100 minutes. Some versions focus on the horror aspect while some focus on the erotic aspect, some even including hardcore pornographic inserts. The film doesn't quite stand on its own as a horror film, since 80% of the running time is just basically porn footage. The movie has a great soundtrack though, which Franco later (wisely) re-used in some of his later movies.