Female Vampire - Production

Production

In director Jesús Franco's productions from 1972 and onward, his films became more inclined towards themes involving female sex and zoom in shots on female genitalia. After the death of Franco previous preferred lead actress Soledad Miranda, cast 18 year old actress Lina Romay as the Countess Irina. Romay was more open about her sexuality than Miranda, which allowed Franco to focus on his more sex-based themes in his films. Franco himself made three version of the film. The first was the straight vampire film La Comtesse noire, a horror-oriented sex film titled La Comtesse aux seius nus (The Bare-brested Countess and the hardcore pornography film Les avaleuses (The Swallowers). These films ran at 72 minutes, 82 minutes, and 96 minutes respectively.

Franco felt that Female Vampire was an erotica film opposed to a pornographic film. Franco compared the use of sex in his films to the film In the Realm of the Senses by Japanese director Nagisa Oshima who's film contained sex with social and political commentary. Franco compared his film to Oshima's, stating "there are lots of hardcore shots but nobody would say 'Oh, it's a porno film!' No. It's a very important story. I felt in I did the same thing. There was a need to show it, like you must show how Dracula sucks his blood, you need to show how this Countess sucks the semen." Some scenes with the vampires were filmed twice in a traditional vampire film and another in a more graphic style.

The film was edited by Franco and Ramon Ardid edited under combined pseudonym Pierre Querut.