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Customer Reviews of Tender Flesh

Sickening and depraved
I think I'm "one and done" with supposedly legendary director Jess Franco. I watched this movie because of its "Most Dangerous Game"-inspired ending, and I don't want anyone else to go into this film with as little knowledge as I had about what you will see. I knew there was "debauchery" in the movie, but this goes well past debauchery into the realm of true sickness. Everything seems OK at first. Paula is a young actress or performer of some sort who auditions for some type of less than virtuous job and soon finds herself on her way to a private island where she will "entertain" a number of lecherous rich folks. At the house, they are greeted (much more than merely greeted, actually) by a strapping young woman (whom I suspect was once a man) who does not speak simply because she doesn't want to. Okay. The first sign of depravity comes when this woman furnishes a disgustingly personal ingredient for the evening meal. You'll want to prepare yourself for this (or better yet, avoid it entirely by never watching this movie); I can tell you it is no fun to come up on this scene unawares. Later, young Paula is rather viciously abused. Finally, after several incredibly long and drawn-out scenes of no importance whatsoever, I made it up to the human prey segment and hoped for a little something positive to take away from this movie. There was nothing at all positive about it. To top things off, having already included just about every depravity known to man in the film, they introduce yet another hideous practice at the very end. As I said, I knew this movie was a little extreme, but had I known just how extreme it actually was (and in what way it was extreme) I would never have watched it.

Aside from the horrible story, the acting is just awful. Amber Newman does a good job in her unfortunate role as Paula, but the rest succeed only in being weird, distasteful, and depraved. Lina Romay, who is obviously fairly old and extremely unappealing, was by far the worst of the bunch, and her dialogue was completely unintelligible. She sounds like a drunken Charo trying to talk with a handful of walnuts in her mouth-I have no idea what she said at any point in the film. I am a big fan of extreme horror, so I am unaccustomed to being sickened by a movie. Tender Flesh sickened me, and I will avoid any and all Jess Franco movies like the plague from now on.

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I was NOT impressed.
Jess Franco's got this great reputation for making unusual, interesting, and wonderful films, but I've yet to see one I liked! Quite frankly, they're just bad.

Amber Newman is very cute as the girl .... And Monique Parent certainly has that sensual, seductive quality about her as the woman in charge of the hunt. But the casting in "Tender Flesh" is as good as it gets. The storyline as played out on the screen is neither interesting nor even erotic. There's one scene, for example, where pretty little Amber is whipped and then massaged by a beautiful, slightly older woman. Sounds both kinky and sexy, doesn't it? But it's NOT! Somehow even a should-have-been sizzling scene like that comes across as flat in this film...I don't know how he did it, buy Jess Franco ruined what should have been a great flick!

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Tender Flesh
The wild and wonderful world of Jess Franco may not be to everyone's tastes, but those even vaguely familiar with his work should check out this film at the earliest opportunity. Here, the gorgeous Amber Newman plays a young actress who must satisfy the dark desires of her potential employers in order to progress. Newman is certainly put through the hoop by her new admirers before the action moves to a remote island where Franco's twisted take on "The Most Dangerous Game" really kicks in.

As with many Franco films, "Tender Flesh" contains a few scenes that outstay their welcome but, overall, this is terrific stuff and must rank as one of his most erotic features. Of course, Franco's excellent cast contribute immeasurably, blending 'old friends' (Lina Romay, Analia Ivars and Alain Petit) with new Franco babes Newman and Monique Parent to winning effect. As far as the latter two are concerned, it's great to see two American actresses successfully converted to Franco's European scheme of things. Indeed, Amber and Monique fit in so well, it's easy to get carried away with the notion that "Tender Flesh" could slot into the director's extremely productive 1980's output; it certainly wouldn't look out of place.

Extras on the disc include a stills gallery, a nice Amber video shoot and a 51 minute making-of documentary that is a model of it's kind and alone is worth absolutely every cent of the asking price. For a low budget production, picture quality is above average, though the sound occasionally lets the side down (Ms Romay's dialogue being unintelligible on more than one occasion). Apart from that, "Tender Flesh" is a real treat!