It’s fair to say The Sadist Of Notre Dame is somewhat of a Frankenstein monster of film- as it utilizes (re-cut & re-edited) scenes from Franco’s 1975’s Exorcism, with new material filmed in 1979. Apparently the film is made up of 75 minutes of material from Exorcism, and 25 minutes of 1979 material. I’ve not seen Exorcism so I can’t comment on how & what footage is used, but supposable it’s been fairly drastically adjusted- with new dialogue dubbed over, scenes radical rearranged, and character names changed.

The film opens in a very low mood- with the character of defrocked Priest Mathis Vogel( Franco) mingling with in the shadows of derelict buildings, and (clearly) real life vagrants- we see one of these walking along while  urinating. This is all sound-tracked by a sinister dirge of church organ & bleak string discord. Fairly soon we see Vogel walking through the bustling tourist streets of Pairs…and he gets pick-up in by a women in a car, and taken is taken to his requested location of Notre Dam cathedral. When they stop it becomes clear she is a prostitute, and she tries to arose then take money from him, & fairly soon she is dispatched down back alley by a switchblade.  From here on we get more scenes of Vogel Creepily lurking then attacking female victims, the police investigation to the crimes. And Vogel taking stories he’s written based on his crimes to an S& M themed magazine for publication. Working at said publication is Ann-played by Franco muse Lina Romay, and quickly he becomes obsessed with her- with it all accumulating with him tying her naked with  to a mirror, then getting handy with his flick knife.

The film has a fairly schizophrenic feel, and in particular in the soundtrack department- as we move from the tone fitting organ dirges to brighter light jazz/ easy-listening music- and personally this made the whole thing come off uneven. Added to these more easy-listening moments we get shots of the Seine, as well as groovy dancing( disco & otherwise), plus sub-character banter. Whether this issue is due to the utilizing of different elements, I’m not sure, but surely if the old scenes where recut & redubbed- then the soundtrack would also be adjusted, too?!.

On the whole, The Sadist Of Notre Dame stands as one of the darker & grim films in Franco’s filmography. Franco does a great job as the greasy haired & staring eyes madman; Lina Romay is as usual pretty good in the supporting role, with the remaining cast been servable. I certainly wouldn’t say this is a film for those new to the world of Franco- due to both the uneven tone, and the feeling of troubling tension prevalent through-out the film. But if like me you’re a (fairly) seasoned Franco fan- it’s really is a must see.

Extras wise we get some relatively meaty extras- first we have a near half-an-hour feature, with the always informative & interesting Stephen Thrower- where he talks about the films make-up, it’s history, and lastly, Franco’s thoughts on the film, as he interviewed him before his death. Next, you get a six-minute selection of scenes from the film, with the webmaster of ‘I’m In A Jess Franco State Of Mind’ website- this is worthy & you lean more insight into the film. After this we get a five-minute interview with Alain Petit who wrote a recent French-language book on Franco ‘Jess Franco Ou Les Prosperites  Des Bis’- here he discusses the film once more, again some interesting tit-bits, but of the three this was the least worthy. Lastly, we get a thirty feature about Paris based Le Brady- a notorious grindhouse like horror cinema, that existed between 1956 & 2005.

So all in all this is a great reissue of this lost part of Franco legacy- with Severin doing a really classy job with the extras. As I mentioned early-on, it’s not a good starter film for those new to Franco, but fans will be most pleased with this blu ray