Black Boots, Leather Whip — Black Boots, Leather Whip (Blu Ray)

Black Boots, Leather Whip is an early 80’s Jess Franco film that sits somewhere between low-key Private eye thriller & softcore-tinged drama- with moments of off-kilter atmospherics & dabs of humour. It features two Franco regulars Lina Romay( as Candy Coster) and Antonio Mayans( as Robert Foster), with a wonderful wonky, at times cold synth soundtrack. Here from Severin, who of course are the key resurrectors of Franco's film is a region-free Blu-Ray release- featuring a new uncut scan of the film, commentary track, and a few other extras.

Black Boots, Leather Whip(aka Botas negras, látigo de cuero) was released in 1983. It was the first of sixteen films released that year by Franco. It was filmed in & around Costa del Sol, Málaga, Andalucía, Spain- with a cast of just eight actors.
 
The film centres on moustached, down on his luck, and in debt Private Investigator Al Pereira (Mayans). With the picture opening inside his tower block apartment- he gets a phone call from a nude, save for a red hat, woman who is offering him a seaweed bath- he bluntly turns it down, before getting a call from the debt collector he owes money to. Then in walks, the blond bobbed and trenchcoated Lina(Romay)- she’s offering Al a large amount of money to get a purse from the back of a wrecked car in a nearby junkyard.

As the film goes on Al guns down a few folks, has sex with Lina both indoors & outside, and meets her make-up and lashes-wearing boyfriend. With a few notable moments been an S&M whipping scene, featuring two dressed in gold ‘n’ silver women(one who's blind), a man in a tinny glittery thong, and the nude PI. And several brooding and uneasy cityscape/ nature scape shots with great use of dense synth/ percussion soundtrack that moves from the wonky, to coldly sinister.

Both Mayans and Romay try their best here, but unfortunately, the pacing is not great meaning that the just under one hour and a half film does really drag in places- with many of the sleazy encounters feeling somewhat rather flat and bland. On the plus side, we do get very effective moments of distinctive unease/ odd atmosphere, and of course, the weird ‘n’ wonky tonal blend of sleazy, thriller, and comedy does work well. I’d say Black Boots, Leather Whip will certainly appeal to the more seasoned Franco fan, as there are memorable and distinctive moments on display- it’s just not the most consistent of Franco offerings. 
 
The region-free Blu-Ray print looks very clean ‘n’ crisp, with easy-to-read English subtitles for this Spanish language film. On the extra side, we get a nice selection of things- firstly we get a commentary track from I'm In A Jess Franco State Of Mind Writer Robert Monell and NaschyCast's Rodney Barnett, and it’s a rewarding track, though maybe somewhat biased as both commentators love the film. They start by discussing when they first saw the picture, and their initial thoughts. We get chat about Al Pereira character, where Franco got the name from, and how it appeared in a few of Jess’s films- the first being 1964’s Death Whistles The Blues. They discuss lead actor Antonio Mayans giving a brief bio- amazingly he appeared in sixty Franco productions, as well as producing twenty-four!. They talk about how the film plays in the real world being a neo-noir. Later on they chat about how Franco used a very small crew for many of the films of this period, and he often filmed in hotel rooms. We get talk about Golden Films Internacional S.A- the production company behind the film, and those behind it. And more- it’s definitely worth a play if you're interested in this period in Franco's career. Next, we have Shinny Boots Of Leather(32.25) which finds Franco expert/ author Stephen Thrower discussing the film. He starts by talking about how this was the first of thirteen films shot by Franco in the year 1982. He goes in-depth about Al Pereira character- talking about each film he featured in, who played him, and what that version of the character was like. Moving on he talks about how Franco would often build a film from a single scene, and surmises the scene in Black Boots, Leather Whip was the S&M whipping scene. He discusses how the film has a very skeleton plot, though some very memorable shots/ set-ups. He talks about the possible Sci-fi tinge to the film- due to the lack of other people in the film/ deserted streets, and the film's score. He goes on in detail to discuss the score in-depth, and its different cues. He talks about the portrayal of Lina’s gay-turned-straight boyfriend, and how Franco often had outdated takes on gay characters in his films. He talks about Candy Coster pseudonym- and how it was used by both Romay & Franco. Lastly, he sums up his feelings on the film, another excellent featurette from Mr Thrower. Lastly, we have In The Land Of Franco Part 5( 16.52) which finds Thrower and Antonio Mayans visiting a selection of filming locations in & around Alicante. They start off at the language school location from Bloody Moon- with Mayans talking about how this slightly higher-than-normal budgeted German production varied from normal Franco films. They go to the gardens that were used as jungles in The Cannibals. They visit the seaside fort that was used in 99 Women and a few other Franco productions. Before visiting a few locations on the Spanish coastline used in Franco films.
 
 
 Black Boots, Leather Whip will most certainly be enjoyed by the more seasoned Franco fan- and the excellent extras here really give all the depth & detail one could want. Another stellar presentation of Franco title from the folks at Severin.