Fear and Desire: Stephen Thrower on Jess Franco (2011)
*** (out of 4)
This 17-minute featurette can be found on Mondo Macabro's release of Jess Franco's LORNA THE EXORCIST. Author and historian Stephen Thrower discusses various aspects of Franco's career including him making so many movies, his visual style, his selection of music and even stuff like zoom shots. Thrower obviously knows his stuff so he is constantly giving good opinions on what he feels motivates Franco and what has made him desire making so many movies over the years. Thrower has a clear idea of who he thinks Franco is so he's constantly discusses the man and his films. I think the documentary works best for someone just becoming familiar with Franco as Thrower does a very good job at explaining why so many people enjoy his films, which of course are the same reasons why so many people hate them. Some of the best stuff deals with Thrower discussing Franco's use of zoom shots and why if they're good enough for Kubrick they should be good enough for anyone. Fans of Franco will certainly want to check this out.