Eugénie (charming and early deceased Soledad Miranda) , a gorgeous but shy young girl , has been living with her stepfather , the erotica author Albert (Paul Muller) since her mother died when she was a little girl . One day , she happens to read one of his erotic and masochistic tales , and its power so affects her that begins finding herself sexually attracted to him . Step by step, Eugenie develops a fixation with his games growing more complex and perilous . As they take a path of murders and decide a criminal spree by luring each victim turning into compromising situations and then killing them one by one . As this process continues, they follow committing their sadistic deeds , then Albert and Eugénie develop a sexual relationship with fateful consequences . Meanwhile , things go wrong when a writer/intellectual, the acclaimed Attila Tanner (Jesus Franco himsef) who is an admirer of his , discovers the grisly criminal events . Later on , Albert plans a new mark, a jazz musician named Paul (Andrés Monales) desiring for Eugénie to seduce him .
An erotic and eerie horror tale about a middle-age man and his young, seducing stepdaughter who murder innocent victims to appease her insatiable thirst for new experiences and to delight in the pleasures of the violence . This film goes on the usual style of the director Jesus Franco , concerning a twisted story between a stepfather and a stepdaughter who become involved into a dark world of sexual perversion , including kinky sex , deep passion , nudity , lesbianism and murders . This is a passable yarn by the prolific writer/producer/director Jesús Franco , considered to be one of the best films in his second period . Stars the mature Paul Muller , as Eugénie's stepfather , playing a famous writer specializing in stories of erotica , alongside Jess Frank himself as a peculiar writer who goes after them , and brief appearance of Alice Arno , Jesus Franco' regular , as a photo model victim , and cameo by producer Marius Lesoeur as a man who whispers to Tanner in opening scene . And, of course , the unforgettable and attractive Soledad Miranda or Susan Korda -though she was was dubbed- as the woman who falls for his stepfather . This fragile beauty appeared in numerous comedies , dramas, B-movies, and horror films, mostly in Spain , playing over thirty films from 1960 to 1970 . In 1970 , unfortunately , the wonderful Soledad suffered a car accident on a highway in Portugal and she sadly died . Ironically, before this tragic accident , the powerful German film producer Artur Brauner from Constantine Films had offered her a contract which would have made her a great star . Soledad was destined to become a legend .Her biggest break came from legendary director Jess Franco, who cast Soledad in such cult classics as ¨Count Dracula¨, ¨Eugenie De Sade¨ , ¨Sex Charade¨, ¨The Devil Came from Akasava¨ and ¨Vampyros Lesbos¨. She was director Jesús Franco's favorite leading lady and he was planning on starring her in his next film , ¨The bare-breasted countess¨ (1973) . After Soledad died due to a tragic car crash , Jess discovered and cast Lina Romay , who went on to appear in 100 of his films and married him in 2008 . Soledad is generally regarded as Franco's greatest discovery and not until the years after her death has she become a cult starlet with fans all over the world now discovering the beautiful , doomed actress , being this Eugénie (1973) final acting role of Soledad Miranda who died in a car accident in 1970 . Here Soledad Miranda is well accompanied by a good cast with plenty of familar faces in the Franco cinema . Eugénie (1973) is a pure psychedelic movie , being well produced by Marius Lesoeur , Eurocine's owner , but in short budget , resulting to be one of a batch of films Jesús Franco made for this French producer , in fact most Eurocine productions were filmed without sound and dubbed after , in various languages , according to the diverse markets in order to export all around the world . This vintage terror/erotic/mystery motion picture , a classic in some circles , was uneven but professionally directed by Jesús Franco who never considered the film to be a horror story , but instead felt it was tale of "anguish" . The picture was really cut , and it has several versions both , soft and hard . Initial releases of the film were met with negative reactions from film critics , while the general critical reaction had been poor , however ,today is considered to be an acceptable fim. Special mention for musical score composed by orchestra and synthesizer , full of strange sounds , jazzy and psychedelic soundtrack from Bruno Nicolai who was Ennio Morricone's usual collaborator . Furthermore, packing a colorful and brilliant cinematography by Manuel Merino . Shot on German/French locations , in gorgeous exteriors from Berlin, Germany and Paris, France .
The film has a lot of titles , as Eugénie de Franval (Liechtenstein) Eugénie de Sade (France) Sade's Eugenia (France) , De Sade 2000 (France) and while the original American release title was spelled Eugenia (World-wide, English title) . The motion picture was strange and regularly directed by Jess Frank ,by using ordinar trademarks , continous zooms , surprising close-ups , including blood drops and other kites . Jesus Franco was a Stajanovist filmmaker who realized around 200 movies . As the picture belongs to Franco's second period in which he made so-so flicks . Jesus uses to sign under pseudonym , among the aliases he used, apart from the names Jess Franco or Franco Manera, were Jess Frank, Robert Zimmerman, Frank Hollman, Clifford Brown, David Khune , Toni Falt, James P. Johnson, Charlie Christian, David Tough , among others . Franco is really influenced by American thrillers , B-Horror movies and German expressionism . Franco used to utilize usual marks such as extreme zooms , nudism , lousy pace , foreground on objects , and pulling off complex , confuse narratives with no much sense , as well as filmmaking in ¨do-it-yourself effort¨ style or DIY . As Jess Frank manages to work extraordinarily quick , realizing some fun diversions, and a lot of absolute crap as well .
