Jess Franco had a prolific career as a director ranging from softcore pornography to horror films and everywhere in between. Severin Films’ Blu-ray collection Jess Franco: From Bangkok with Bullets collects the “in between” part of his filmography with a duology of films featuring Thailand as its central locale, despite the fact that only portions of the movies were actually filmed there. These titles were primarily filmed in 1984 and featured more action- and espionage-oriented subject matter than was traditional for Franco, and also notably cut down on some of the more sexually-tinged perversions featured in his work. Here, we review both Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included and Bangkok, Date with Death from a film perspective, and also dive into the new Blu-ray transfers and extras provided by Severin Films on this restorative release.
Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included Film Review
A uniquely bizarre take on an unreferenced Edgar Wallace story, Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included stars a sweaty, sunburned, surly Howard Vernon as Colonel Daniel J. Blimp, a British secret service agent sent to investigate the mysterious deaths of notable officials that all seem linked together: if the machete method of murder didn’t give it away, then possibly the fact they’re all blind from birth, muttering strange cult-like mantras, and supposedly white despite their outwardly black appearances could also be indications something more devious is going on. Blimp eventually partners with Philip Sanders (José Llamas, who stars in both Bangkok films), a younger investigator, and they eventually uncover a strange religious sect led by a prophet named Tao who has been abducting these men from birth, using some sacred stone to turn them into zombie-like killing machines, and siccing them on people who are prophesied to bring about a nuclear annihilation. No, seriously – that’s what happens.
Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included is a particularly talky espionage thriller, and it’s relatively slowly-paced throughout as Franco maneuvers through a number of meet-ups between Vernon’s grumpy investigator and people involved in the cult. Vernon is undoubtedly the best part of this movie, since it’s not clear if he’s playing up Blimp’s sulking for laughs or if he really is just fed up with the heat and sunlight that routinely sees his mustache standing on end. There’s not a lot else here that elicits much of interest; the film hinges on the audience vibing with the overtly nonsensical storyline and/or co-star Helena Garret appearing in various stages of undress. But the Thailand footage is at least pretty and the finale ramps up the “what the fuck?” elements enough to warrant its humorous audience-approved observation from Vernon at the end. Most, however, will find this to be a lackluster excursion for Franco that lingers too languidly.
Bangkok, Date with Death Film Review
Also known as Bangkok, City of the Dead, this thriller stars Franco favorite Lina Romay as Aminia, working with a crime boss Malko (Antonio Mayans) to kidnap a rich guy’s daughter (Helena Garret again) in order to get her millionaire boyfriend (returning José Llamas) to pay up to the tune of $10 million! The father calls in a morally-dubious private dick, Panama Joe (Bork Gordon), and there are a few double-crossings among kidnappers as Aminia tries to figure out how to make off with the millions without Malko’s help.
Much like Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included, the film’s title elicits much more excitement than Franco’s direction provides. This movie also suffers from slow pacing, mostly situated around multiple characters explaining the kidnapping plot over and over again. With that said, there are a few unique Franco quirks here to give this movie a bit more to work with. The first is an Agatha Christie-esque introduction to the characters featuring speech bubbles that describe each one and state their name; there’s even an unknown narrator at the end of the film that sort of leaves things on a cliffhanger for the audience. The second is Franco’s use of graduated color filter throughout the movie, where he tries to give the “Bangkok” skyline a cotton candy pink hue to it. And of course, Franco must work in a sultry ass-shaking sequence with Romay, which serves no real purpose besides titillation for both the audience and Panama Joe.
Speaking of Panama Joe, this movie could have used a lot more of him. Gordon doesn’t really get much of a chance to develop this investigator character besides what’s said about him, and that’s too bad; it’s one of the more interesting elements of Bangkok, Date with Death and could have infused a bit more noir elements. As it stands, Joe doesn’t actually do all that much investigating, or at least not that the audience sees as Franco tends to focus on Aminia as the lead protagonist.
Ultimately, Bangkok, Death with Death suffers from its slow pacing and low budget, but it is a slightly better movie overall in Franco’s Bangkok series despite rarely making use of that setting. Viewers will have to forgive some truly awful fight choreography, though.
Jess Franco: From Bangkok with Bullets Blu-ray Review
Severin Films has collected both Franco Bangkok films in the boxset Jess Franco: From Bangkok with Bullets, and both movies get new 4K scans from their original camera negatives. Each film is housed on its own disc. The new transfers look consistent throughout, with medium-bodied grain that generally resolves nicely except for some darker sequences that tends to get a bit more clumpy. Often, there’s some great detail showcased throughout with pockmarked skin textures and background textures, with some occasional soft focus due to Franco’s particular shooting style of zooming in on objects from a distance. Bangkok, Date with Death seems to suffer a bit more due to a problematic negative; there’s some noticeable judder at times, and towards the end of the movie some speckled damage appears throughout. However, the Blu-ray does manage the color graduation quite well, and overall color grading remains consistent throughout both movies. Overall some very good transfers for these relatively unseen films.
For audio, both films are presented with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono Spanish track; these movies were dubbed in English. The sound quality is pretty good, though there can occasionally be some muffling and background hiss at times that points toward an actual recording issue rather than this Blu-ray itself. Particularly with Bangkok, Date with Death, the soundtrack can be mixed a little low. English subtitles are also included for both and defaulted on.
Surprisingly, extras are spread across both discs and tend to focus in on the particular film rather than more general fare about Franco’s Bangkok series. On the Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included disc, a new featurette with assistant director Carlos Aguilar discusses the difficulty in filming the no-budgeted movie, as well as an interesting tidbit that the film was originally intended to be set in Jamaica. A new interview with Stephen Thrower goes into the historical context behind both of these Franco movies, and then hones in on a critical assessment of Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included and draws parallels to Franco’s earlier movie Attack of the Robots; he also points out a number of Franco Easter eggs that many might not identify. Thrower’s In the Land of Franco featurette continues here with Part 14, visiting filming locations from various movies like Macumba Sexual, Lilian, and Diamonds of Kilimandjaro with both contemporary and historic footage of locales. This one also has an interview and meet-up with Franco favorite actress Katja Bienert and Antonio Mayans.
On Bangkok, Date with Death, Thrower gives another interview and overview of this film, skipping some of the historical backdrop provided in the previous disc’s interview and jumping directly into an assessment of the movie; in it, he addresses the “cheeky” speech bubbles and drawing attention to the overarching narrative, the ridiculous opening pirate attack, and the mysterious mechanical organ that cannot be located. A new lengthy interview with Dr. Álex Mendíbil explores both films, both from their low-budget production as well as their involvement with particular Franco regulars; he also attempts to pinpoint the particular novel on which Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included is based, settling on The Dark Eyes of London. Finally, this one contains Part 15 of Thrower’s In the Land of Franco series, specifically visiting locales from Oasis of the Zombies, Pick-Up Girls, and Night Has a Thousand Desires. Towards the end of this part, they do get to the Bangkok duology.
Extra Features
Trip to Bangkok, Coffin Included
- NEW 4K scan from the original camera negative
- NEW Filmmaking On The Run – Interview With Film Writer/Bit Player/Assistant Director Carlos Aguilar (1080p; 19:23)
- NEW Colonel Blimp In Bangkok – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Flowers Of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema Of Jesús Franco (1080p; 28:32)
- NEW In The Land Of Franco Part 14 (1080p; 18:20)
Bangkok, Date with Death
- NEW 4K scan from the original camera negative
- NEW Carrara In Bangkok – Interview With Stephen Thrower, Author Of Flowers Of Perversion: The Delirious Cinema Of Jesús Franco (1080p; 24:47)
- NEW Bangkok Back To Back – Interview With Film Scholar Dr. Álex Mendíbil (1080p; 35:23)
- NEW In The Land Of Franco Part 15 (1080p; 15:34)
Verdict
Severin’s Jess Franco: From Bangkok with Bullets collects some widely unavailable films in Franco’s filmography; unfortunately, there’s good reason why they weren’t more popular. But this set does allow Franco-philes the chance to see these lost films with great transfers and a wide range of extras that dive deep into the context of the creation and production of these movies, with Franco experts providing an immense amount of information surrounding Franco’s prolific career.
