I must admit that I have a bit of a back-and-forth relationship with Jess Franco. Some of his films I have found surprisingly good (Eugenie: The Story of Her Journey into Perversion), some vaguely entertaining (Sadomania, Bloody Judge, Justine) and some downright awful (Oasis of the Zombies). I have never quite understood why some people find Franco such a fascinating director, at least, that was, until now. What converted me? A wonderfully ridiculous slice of 70's cheesecake called Blue Rita.

The very limited plot of Blue Rita concerns a Parisian nightclub, named, appropriately, Blue Rita, where powerful and important men are captured by the club's dancers and trapped in a cage. Once in this place, a victim is doused in a green liquid that induces hypersexuality, causing him to become so desperate for sex that he is unable to resist the demands of his captors. In this way the ladies of the club get money and information from their victims, and in turn get more money for this information by selling it to a mysterious man interested in obtaining it.

The Blue Rita nightclub is lorded over by Blue Rita herself, a pretty, blue-haired lesbian. After a prostitute is killed while trying to escape the club, Rita decides that a new girl must be taken on. In this interest she hires Sun, a pretty young girl whom she is quite attracted to. When a world-famous wrestler is captured by the girls, Sun is left with the responsibility of seducing him into giving in to Rita's monetary and informational demands; however, Sun takes quite a liking to this fellow and decides to secretly have sex with him in order to help him resist the influence of Rita's potion. Soon after this, Sun, in helping the wrestler escape, reveals herself to be a spy, which understandably causes Rita great consternation. All of this leads to a final confrontation just bursting with double-crosses and secret motives, wherein it's revealed that very few players are the people they seem.

If the plot sounds a little clunky, that's because it is. Luckily, plotting really isn't an issue in a film like this. Style is more important here than substance, and if there's one thing Blue Rita has going for it, it's plenty of that strangely wonderful 70s Euro-cult style. Blue Rita contains a lot of the Franco-isms that, in my limited experience with this director's oeuvre, I had heard about but not yet encountered. We get one of those oh-so-infamous sex-through-a-fish-tank scenes (I never would have thought they would be so strangely compelling), as well as plenty of revealing up-angles from the prisonersâ cage, and, on top off all this, plenty of sex as well.

Indeed, sex is most obviously the point of Blue Rita, as its stuffed to the brim with it. I can think of very few movies that have as much nudity (by ratio) as this does; indeed, I would estimate probably 80% of the film contains nudity of some sort. The characters also find plenty of opportunities to get frisky with each other, yet, in the end, it always stays in good fun, with the scenes, while fairly graphic, never going hardcore (though in a scene or two I wondered if the actors were aware of that).

Of course, Blue Rita is in no way a perfect film. Effects are pretty terrible, pacing is erratic, it's rather confusing at times and the ending seems rushed and will probably leave you scratching your head (I was). Still, I didn't come into this film expecting art or even coherence; I was planning on getting a good dose of low-budget weirdness and I came away more than satisfied. Anyone looking for a strange, artsy, fascinating piece of sexploitation schlock as only the 70's can deliver should feel the same way.

On that positive note, it is great to see Blue Rita getting such a nice treatment on DVD. What was once a fairly rare Franco title is now readily available in a good-looking DVD from VIP Entertainment. The transfer, presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen looks nice, if a tad dull, with few scratches or spots to mar the picture. Audio is presented in German, French and for the first time ever, an English dub. Sadly, this English dub is a little lacking. There are many instances of Godzilla syndrome, wherein dialogue bares little or no resemblance to the movements of the charactersâ mouths. While it would have been nice to have an English subtitle option, the English audio is nevertheless bearable, and it's certainly better than not having any English at all.

As for extras, the VIP release is certainly satisfactory. We receive a poster gallery; a small still gallery; cast bios; trailers for Me A Groupie, Jack the Ripper, and Blue Rita (all in German, Blue Rita with Italian and French subtitles); and, finally, a 21-minute documentary / interview with producer Erwin Dietrich (in German with English subtitles and anamorphically-enhanced). Don't let his monotone voice fool you, Dietrich is actually a fairly interesting fellow, and this piece allows him to impart some interesting information on his relationship with Franco and his experiences producing some of the man's movies. All of this is surprisingly interesting in an anecdotal sort of way, though it is plagued by the problematic fact that Blue Rita itself is never actually discussed. Nevertheless, while I would have liked to have heard something 'anything!' about Rita, the docu. is still fairly interesting as a general-interest piece and makes an acceptable addition to the DVD.

While it may not be a paragon of cinema, Blue Rita is nevertheless a cool little 70's throw-back for fans of cheesy, sexy cinema, as well as a rare gem that should make any Franco-phile as delirious with pleasure as the men Blue Rita douses in her ooze. Fans of Franco or no, you owe it to yourself to check this one out; chances are you'll probably enjoy it. I sure did.

Pick up a copy of Blue Rita at www.xploitedcinema.com