The Origin of Love
My first encounter with Jess Franco's cinema came at an early age. Those who know me have heard this non-story many times already; those of you who don't might be interested to read it anyway.
There clearly has been a "before" and "after" phase. BEFORE I knew that these intriguing little movies I was watching were directed by the man, and AFTER. The VHS years. Tracking down every title patiently, with the help of the Internet, and friends made through that medium. The DVD age making us reconsider everything. The uncertainty. Keep going. The methods of viewing.
Here's how my first contact occured.
My father and his girlfriend Guylaine - don't ask me why I remember her name - had rented porn during a week-end where my kid brother and I were visiting them. We were living at mom's in Laval at the time, and were visiting our father in Shawinigan every once in a while, traveling by bus. We met the delightful Yannie Richer (Guy's daughter) this way, but that's another story altogether.
Of course, the folks waited until we were in bed to pop the tape in their VCR and watch it at a very discreet volume. My brother snuck out of bed and went to spy on them - or rather, on the screen. I was too much of a coward to go with him, so he came back and summarized what he had seen : "There was a girl peeing in a toilet ! And a guy broke in and started watching her ! He said he liked to watch girls pee ! They then got out of there and started to make out, and then have sex ! Then another girl, a big-breasted blonde, joined them out of the blue !"
I was fascinated. The following day, while nobody was watching, I opened the black plastic box in which the VHS was lying and took a peek at the title : "Je Brûle de Partout". The big-breasted blonde girl was, of course, Brigitte Lahaie. And this is a movie I would not come across again for more than 10 years. The tape was returned to the video rental store, and the memory buried.
Some years after that, when I was finishing high school and beginning college in litterature, in Shawinigan, I suddenly started being interested by horror films on VHS. The sleeves had this mysterious appeal, most of them being reproductions of old posters, drawings, and photos that had the strongest impact possible; after all, nobody really knew what these movies were about and their only shot at marketing was the image they conveyed. And the retitlings.
I was then living with my father, and paid frequent visits to my mother in Laval. The dynamic had changed. Whenever I would be in Montreal, I'd go book hunting at the Collisée du Livre, a gigantic used bookstore located in the basement of the now disappeared Palais des Congrès, on Berri Street. Just to give you an idea of how much time has passed, it was demolished and became a vacant lot for years before anything was built there. Now, the Grande Bibliothèque stands on these grounds.
It was convenient : I would arrive downtown in a Voyageur bus, whose terminal is located just in front of the GBQ - a terminal that has also been partially demolished since then, to make place for the "Ilot Voyageur", a new UQAM project. I would then put my luggage in a locked case, cross the street and go crazy.
There was a whole underworld of "used" culture in there. First the Collisée, and then the "Marché du Livre". And, snatched in between, the legendary "Foire du Vidéo". Which can be translated to "The Video Fair". Some clever vandal had erased the "O" on the indoor sign, turning it into "La Foire du Vide" - litterally the emptiness fair. The store was stacked from floor to ceiling with VHS tapes, and it was the golden age. Their porn section was reputed to hold some "forbiden" Traci Lords titles. They had a cult section, and some baskets where you could get "bargains".
It is during one of my first visits, the first of many, that I bought one of the first VHS tapes of a collection that would grow & grow until it almost choked me in my sleep : A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD. I didn't really like it at the time - in fact I don't even think I watched it to the end. It was around 1995, when the Franco mania was quietly preparing for take off.
During my first year in college, I had a radio show, and the studio was located in the student's lounge, where every could get coffee and food, play pool and watch TV. During one of the shows I brought A VIRGIN... and played it. I made the mistake of leaving the tape there when I left. During the following week, every time I would go into the lounge to get a coffee or talk to a friend, I looked up the TV and saw Howard Vernon or Britt Nichols prancing around or playing the piano. They litterally played the movie ad nauseam, until I reclaimed the tape !
No mistake - I had no idea who Jess Franco was at the time, and would only connect the dots in 1997.
There clearly has been a "before" and "after" phase. BEFORE I knew that these intriguing little movies I was watching were directed by the man, and AFTER. The VHS years. Tracking down every title patiently, with the help of the Internet, and friends made through that medium. The DVD age making us reconsider everything. The uncertainty. Keep going. The methods of viewing.
Here's how my first contact occured.
My father and his girlfriend Guylaine - don't ask me why I remember her name - had rented porn during a week-end where my kid brother and I were visiting them. We were living at mom's in Laval at the time, and were visiting our father in Shawinigan every once in a while, traveling by bus. We met the delightful Yannie Richer (Guy's daughter) this way, but that's another story altogether.
Of course, the folks waited until we were in bed to pop the tape in their VCR and watch it at a very discreet volume. My brother snuck out of bed and went to spy on them - or rather, on the screen. I was too much of a coward to go with him, so he came back and summarized what he had seen : "There was a girl peeing in a toilet ! And a guy broke in and started watching her ! He said he liked to watch girls pee ! They then got out of there and started to make out, and then have sex ! Then another girl, a big-breasted blonde, joined them out of the blue !"
I was fascinated. The following day, while nobody was watching, I opened the black plastic box in which the VHS was lying and took a peek at the title : "Je Brûle de Partout". The big-breasted blonde girl was, of course, Brigitte Lahaie. And this is a movie I would not come across again for more than 10 years. The tape was returned to the video rental store, and the memory buried.
Some years after that, when I was finishing high school and beginning college in litterature, in Shawinigan, I suddenly started being interested by horror films on VHS. The sleeves had this mysterious appeal, most of them being reproductions of old posters, drawings, and photos that had the strongest impact possible; after all, nobody really knew what these movies were about and their only shot at marketing was the image they conveyed. And the retitlings.
I was then living with my father, and paid frequent visits to my mother in Laval. The dynamic had changed. Whenever I would be in Montreal, I'd go book hunting at the Collisée du Livre, a gigantic used bookstore located in the basement of the now disappeared Palais des Congrès, on Berri Street. Just to give you an idea of how much time has passed, it was demolished and became a vacant lot for years before anything was built there. Now, the Grande Bibliothèque stands on these grounds.
It was convenient : I would arrive downtown in a Voyageur bus, whose terminal is located just in front of the GBQ - a terminal that has also been partially demolished since then, to make place for the "Ilot Voyageur", a new UQAM project. I would then put my luggage in a locked case, cross the street and go crazy.
There was a whole underworld of "used" culture in there. First the Collisée, and then the "Marché du Livre". And, snatched in between, the legendary "Foire du Vidéo". Which can be translated to "The Video Fair". Some clever vandal had erased the "O" on the indoor sign, turning it into "La Foire du Vide" - litterally the emptiness fair. The store was stacked from floor to ceiling with VHS tapes, and it was the golden age. Their porn section was reputed to hold some "forbiden" Traci Lords titles. They had a cult section, and some baskets where you could get "bargains".
It is during one of my first visits, the first of many, that I bought one of the first VHS tapes of a collection that would grow & grow until it almost choked me in my sleep : A VIRGIN AMONG THE LIVING DEAD. I didn't really like it at the time - in fact I don't even think I watched it to the end. It was around 1995, when the Franco mania was quietly preparing for take off.
During my first year in college, I had a radio show, and the studio was located in the student's lounge, where every could get coffee and food, play pool and watch TV. During one of the shows I brought A VIRGIN... and played it. I made the mistake of leaving the tape there when I left. During the following week, every time I would go into the lounge to get a coffee or talk to a friend, I looked up the TV and saw Howard Vernon or Britt Nichols prancing around or playing the piano. They litterally played the movie ad nauseam, until I reclaimed the tape !
No mistake - I had no idea who Jess Franco was at the time, and would only connect the dots in 1997.
posted by Clifford Brown at 4:23 PM
1 Comments:
Brigitte Lahaie... The best. Ever. Period. For ever and ever. I have 13 Lahaie movies, all uncut, all in perfect condition, and I want more, more, MORE!
RIP La foire du vidéo. It reopened a couple o' years ago in The Village, but has been closed for quite a while now. I must have spend like a thousand bucks there, back in the old days, in that basement, close to that photocopy/fax shop. They had this amazing collage of hundreds of fucked up pictures from various sources. I must have had like three parking tickets because of that store, 'cause I always lost track of time whenever I decided to set foot there. How many times do you think we've been there at the same time, you and I, shoulder to shoulder, reading behind boxes, going through the cheap basket, looking at tapes that, because they were box-less, were now selling for like $2.95...
Man... Une vierge chez les morts vivants! Thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot about that movie, which I've seen at a pretty young age, like 10, 11. I think the one I saw was called "Christina, comptesse de l'érotisme", or something like that. Now's the time for a little refresh. I don't even remember a single frame from it. But that drawing there, the one you uploaded, it's magnificent, astonishing. One of the best art cover in Beta/VHS history.
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