8. Eugenie: The Story Of Her Journey Into Perversion (1969)
Based upon de Sade's Philosophy in the Boudoir, Eugenie is one of Jess Franco's highly regarded and watchable films. It is the one of which Franco claims to be the most proud of. Eugenie (Marie Liljedahl) is a beautiful young innocent girl who is sold by her dastardly father to an older couple - Ange and Mirvel - who seek to corrupt and deprave her. The duo take her to a Spanish island. When she arrives, Eugenie has a bath with Ange and there is some light lesbianism. She is drugged at dinner and molested. Eugenie is subjected to repeated molestations night after night that build up to rape and whippings. A sect of Marquis de Sade followers are invited to the house to kill Eugenie. However She stabs Mirvel to death as he tries to rape her and the sect decide to kill Ange instead. After the torture of Ange, Eugenie runs naked to the beach only to be presented with a mound of rotting sacrificial victims. She falls on the sand and screams. An awesome effort from smut king who sometimes gets it right - Jess Franco. This is not a porno movie, if you are seeking a masturbation fest, then go look at the real thing. Franco has done a really good job at updating de Sade to the 20th century. The premise sounds incredibly perverse but the film is dreamlike and beautiful and this mitigates the sleaziness. Much better than Eugenie de Sade, this is a film in which everything seems to come together for Franco and he successfully recreates de Sade's vision.