Remember when I said that Eyes Without a Face kicked off a years-long wave of rip-offs over in Europe? Well, this here is among the first fruits of that rip-off eruption, and watching it is almost sure to make you appreciate how good Jesus Franco’s contributions to that distinctly European mini-genre really were. The original Italian version (which is fully eighteen minutes longer) may well be more logical, more sensible, and just generally better— then again, it might also be that the Italian prints simply feature more strippers with less clothing. Either way, the English-language version of Atom-Age Vampire is a truly ass-tastic film.
Let’s start with one of those strippers, shall we? Exotic dancer Jeanette Moreneau (Susanne Coret, of The Minotaur and My Uncle the Vampire) comes off the stage to find her boyfriend, sailor Pierre Mornet (Sergio Fantoni, from Hercules Unchained and Goddess of Vengeance), waiting for her. Actually, maybe I should have said “ex-boyfriend,” because Pierre has come to tell Jeanette that he’s leaving her. He can’t deal with the idea of her making a living by taking off her clothes onstage, and since she won’t quit, she also won’t be seeing him again after his ship sets sail tomorrow morning. Jeanette protests, of course, but it does her no good. Nor will it do her much good to know that Pierre will soon be feeling like a giant asshole about the terms on which they parted, because the event which causes that change of heart happens to be a horrendous car accident which leaves Jeanette with only about two thirds of a face.
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