Women Without Innocence (1978)

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The almost 40-year-old "Frauen ohne Unschuld" or "Women Without Innocence" (and there is a handful more titles for this one) is a Swiss German-language film from 1978 and the writer and director is the (in)famous Jesús Franco. It's another of his collaborations with Erwin C. Dietrich. The film is fairly short like some other works by Franco and it stars his girlfriend Lina Romay playing the main character. She portrays a young woman who witnessed a murder and is unable to speak since then. as a consequence, she is brought to psychiatric facility, where she is in a room with several other young woman and it does not become clear why they are there. But as this is a James Franco film, you know the answer, namely to get naked most of the time and screams and be mean towards out protagonist, which is of course tolerated by the doctors. And Romay herself offers a great deal of nudity too, even if she is not as attractive in here as usual with her very short hair. And of course female doctors strip naked too and engage in sexual activities with the patients. And another murder happens and everybody is in search of a bunch of lost diamonds. The whole film is very much over the top. I thought the initial premise with the woman watching the crime and being borough to the hospital was decent, but Franco turned it into quite a B-movie mess as he always does. With a little bit more writing talent, this could have been n interesting story and plot. But the way it turned out it's really about nothing other than the exploitation and nudity. I do not recommend the watch, even if I will admit this film has more good moments than Franco's films usually do, at least the ones I saw.

Wicked Women is pretty much a textbook example of what ultra-prolific director Jess Franco was churning out in the mid 70's. For what it's worth, the story entails the discovery of a naked, bloodied young woman who is found in a catatonic state in a luxurious house alongside a murdered husband and wife. She is immediately taken to a psychiatric hospital. While there a mysterious black clad killer roams the grounds, murdering several inmates.It's the sort of narrative that seasoned Franco fans will recognise as pretty typical given that it is clearly set-up for a women in prison flick – a sub-genre that Jess was certainly well versed in. Consequently, this one is chock full of sleazy action from start to finish, with plenty of lesbian fumbles and medical examinations. But, despite being a pretty clear example of sexploitation, like quite a lot of other similar Franco efforts it isn't particularly erotic. Don't get me wrong, Jess could make quality soft-core sex films – take a look at any of the movies he made with Soledad Miranda for proof of that – but quite often his approach was to just point the camera at extended scenes of naked groping with very little overall effort beyond that. This film sort of falls into this particular category, although pleasingly it does extend itself a little beyond this with sub-plots involving a serial killer and a hunt for missing diamonds, while there is also an extended flash-back detailing the deadly love triangle that sets up the story. Needless to say, it's production values are truly rock bottom and it's micro-budget is evident at all times, nevertheless, it still has some good looking photography at times when Jess remembers to use the focus properly. Cast-wise, Franco's muse Lina Romay is once again the star attraction, sporting a cropped barnet, and she is pretty good value it has to be said.

Naked and bloodied Lina Romay is found in a luxurious mansion and is promptly taken to a mental hospital.The doctors and nurses are hiding something,female patients indulge in lesbian sex and a mysterious figure dressed in black robe stabs women to death.The hunt for missing diamonds begins...I am not a big fan of Jesus Franco.His movies are usually sleazy as hell and pretty dull at the same time."Wicked Women" is no exception.There is plenty of graphic nudity and lesbian encounters.The central performance of Lina Romay as Margareta is quite good.If you liked "Women Behind Bars" or "Faceless" give this one a look.6 out of 10.An average slice of absolute sleaze.

Wicked Women (1977) ** (out of 4) The police break into an apartment where they find a dead couple who appear to have been murdered. Upstairs is another woman (Lina Romay), naked and unable to talk from shock. the woman is sent to a mental hospital for women where a doctor (Michael Maien) and his assistant (Nanda Van Bergen) try to make her speak and tell them where the diamonds the dead couple were smuggling are hidden. Oh yeah, there's also a maniac dressed in black running through the hospital killing the women. This Franco outing got off to a pretty good start but things start to go downhill around the thirty-minute mark and for the most part everything that happens afterwards is pretty slow and dull. The film only runs 76-minutes but it feels much longer. Romay turns in a pretty good performance playing the silent character, which she is very good at doing in most films. The supporting cast is pretty good with Monica Swinn also having a small role. There's some nice visuals in the film and the music score also manages to be quite good. The film takes place in a women's hospital so you can expect several lesbian scenes including the highlight of the movie when five women make love to Romay when she first comes to the hospital.