Vampyros Lesbos

Jess Franco's most watchable film, and the one where his hazy, zoom-happy style finally serves the material. A woman is drawn across a sun-baked Mediterranean to a countess who seduces and drains her victims, and the whole thing plays as an erotic fever dream rather than a horror film, scored by an unforgettable psych-jazz soundtrack that long outlived the movie.

Soledad Miranda is mesmerising as the vampire, and Franco shoots her against scorpions, kites and empty modernist interiors in a way that feels hypnotic. The album became a cult object in its own right.

The ideal entry point to Franco, and proof of what he could do on a good day.