Most of the cast and crew of Jess Franco’s VAMPYROS LESBOS return for SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY. The film was released under the more inaccurate title, MRS. HYDE, in 1970. Though SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY has no supernatural elements, the film perfectly recaptures the Eurotrash vibe that Franco established with VAMPYROS LESBOS. Also returning is the great 1970’s soundtrack provided by Hubler and Schwab. Franco fans will be delighted to see the director in his largest acting role yet, as a doomed physician who falls prey to the revenge-seeking Soledad Miranda. Sadly, this was one of Miranda’s final films, as she died in a car accident soon after. Genre fans will always remember Miranda for her beauty, grace, and presence. Synapse Films have seen fit to preserve one of Soledad Miranda’s finest performances on the DVD format for present and future generations.

SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY has a very interesting cast, highlighted by sultry Portuguese actress Soledad (VAMPYROS LESBOS) Miranda, billed here as Susann Korda. Miranda plays revenge-crazed wife, Mrs. Johnson. Fred Williams is her deceased husband. Williams had a key roll in Franco’s version of COUNT DRACULA. Howard (ALPHAVILLE) Vernon plays kinky Professor Walker. Ewa (VAMPYROS LESBOS) Stromberg portrays the lesbian, Dr. Crawford. Paul (LADY FRANKENSTEIN) Muller plays another physician, Dr. Houston. And director Franco has a key role as Dr. Donen.

Young Dr. Johnson (Fred Williams) divides his time between experimenting on human embryos (to increase their resistance to disease) and spending time with his beautiful young bride (Soldad Miranda). Because of Dr. Johnson’s profession, the young couple live an opulent lifestyle, but she loves her husband not for his money, but because they share the same soul. When Dr. Johnson presents his work to the Medical Council, instead of embracing his research, they brand him a charlatan, and revoke his medical license. The Medical Council even goes so far as to destroy his laboratory and burn his notebooks. Dr. Johnson dedicated his life to medicine because he wanted to help people, and now he is forced give up his aspirations. As you would imagine, the young physician is crushed.

The sanity of Dr. Johnson is compromised by this series of events. Mrs. Johnson’s perfect world crumbles apart when her husband can’t even acknowledge her existence. She tries to support her husband the best she can. She takes him to their island chateau retreat in hopes that his frazzled psyche can be salvaged. Dr. Johnson breaks out of his psychosis only to slash his wrists. After finding her husband’s dead body, Mrs. Johnson then begins her own journey into dementia. She wants revenge on those who ruined her husband’s life. Mrs. Johnson begins planning painful deaths for each member of the Medical Council. She begins by setting a trap for Professor Walker (Howard Vernon), a senior member of the Medical Board. She dresses up real sexy, and offers herself to him as a prostitute. After returning to his hotel, the old professor turns out to be a sexual deviate to wants to be abused. He orders her to rough him up and she does. He doesn’t realize her mental and physical abuse is real. As they are about to perform the sex act, she withdraws a knife and sees to it that Professor Walker will never have sex again. To add insult to injury, she castrates him.

Mrs. Johnson continues her descent into madness. She keeps her husband’s dead body with her in their chateau. And she targets the three other members of the medical board that she holds responsible for her husband’s death. Mrs. Johnson seduces the remaining members of the Medical Council, including the female Dr. Crawford. The sex acts are never concluded, though, as she makes the killing stroke before her victims realize what is happening. Next, Mrs. Johnson targets Dr. Houston (Paul Muller), who falls for her charms even though he knows she is a killer. When she does away with Dr. Houston, only one other target remains; the sniveling Dr. Donen (Jess Franco). Meanwhile, a police inspector (Horst Tappert) is assigned to solve this string of sex crimes. But can he track down Mrs. Johnson in time to save her intended target, Dr. Donen?

SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY has all the Franco earmarks; acid-drenched jazz music, overuse of the zoom lens, shots of objects that have nothing to do with the story, wild facial expressions, 70’s era softcore sex scenes, and a main role by the man himself. These are the highlights of a Jess Franco film. Of course, Franco’s flaws are all evident too. SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY has some moments where the narrative goes on without a focal point. Franco introduces a police inspector character (Horst Tappert) into the script that goes nowhere. He has about three minutes screen time then shows up in the end to neatly wrap things up (why even bother with him at all?). Well, at least you can’t accuse Franco of wasting time with a police procedural sub-plot. Not all the actors hit their spots, but Franco provides rich dialog. And Soledad Miranda’s waxes poetically in the narration. You might say that we get to see Franco’s romantic side in the script!

When Soledad Miranda is not reciting her romantic lines, she’s a sexual predator hunting down her prey. The character of Mrs. Johnson is like a chameleon, she changes clothes and wigs so many times that it’s hard to keep track. We see her slice an old man’s throat. She stabs another guy in the back of his neck, and then removes his family jewels. Jess Franco himself is slowly castrated in the drawn-out climax. In one of the film’s best moments, Soledad Miranda once again seduces Ewa Stromberg (what is a Franco flick without lesbianism?). Then she takes a clear plastic pillow and uses it to smother her female companion to death, and we see her victim choking to death through the clear pillow! Franco depicts these scenes with an uncharacteristically gritty tone. The kills are very graphic, but the actual castrations are shown just out of range of the camera. Soledad Miranda plays the role with a sadistic relish, but she never makes it look campy or over-the-top. By doing this, she imbues SHE KILLED IN ECSTACY with a sense of dread and a dose of grim reality.

Audio is a good Dolby Digital two channel mono mix. I detected some hiss and pops, but the soundtrack was free of distortion. The film is in German and the dialog comes from the center speaker. You can clearly hear Soledad Miranda’s poetic dialog in her narration. The screams of Mrs. Johnson’s victims rings true on the soundtrack, along with the thick German accents. The mono mix has a good range of depth, and does not sound flat or tinny. Manfred Hubler and Sigfried Schwab compose another excellent psychedelic rock/jazz/synth score, worthy of an isolated soundtrack. The music produces an otherworldly effect and perfectly compliments Franco’s bizarre visuals. As if to contrast the psychedelic music, there is a scene inside a church, that reverberates with organ-heavy religious motifs.

-  Luther Manning