'The Frightened Woman' is a wonderful slice of 60s sexploitation - stylish, erotic and camp to the nth degree! Fans of Jess Franco's non-horror movies like 'Succubus' and 'Sadisterotica', or Dallamano's underrated 'Venus In Furs' (aka 'The Devil In The Flesh') will eat this baby up! Philippe Leroy is well cast as Sayer, the rich, jaded sadist who likes to degrade women for kicks, and Dagmar Lassander (who some may remember from Fulci's so-so 'House By The Cemetery') is equally good as the inquisitive journalist who unexpectedly finds herself trapped in his vicious games. She surprises Sayer (and us) by subverting his tricks and tortures, and takes him on a journey that he could never have foreseen, and the ending may be slightly predictable, but is still worth waiting for. Like much of Franco's output from the same period, this movie is equals parts art and trash, with many psychedelic touches, some very effective, and others unintentionally hilarious. You either dig this era and these kinds of movies, or you don't. I do, and I loved it. An underrated movie that deserves a much larger audience.
Review of The Laughing Woman
