This month, B-Movie Enema is going to dive into some Lina Romay movies. Ms. Romay was kind of interesting in her own right. Maybe made more interesting by the man she served as muse to – Jess Franco. Now, I’ve covered one of their movies before – Two Female Spies with Flowered Panties. We’re doing it again with this week’s look at 1983’s Cries of Pleasure. I delved into a little bit of their relationship with Two Female Spies, but I think it might be a good idea to review that as we jump into this month that features a bunch of stuff from them.

Franco had been inspired by (and infatuated with) Soledad Miranda in the late 60s. The pair made a few movies and he saw her as the only possible star for his films. She tragically died in an automobile accident in 1970. A destroyed and heartbroken Franco would soon find his new leading lady in the teenaged Lina Romay. She was married at the time, as was Franco, but as they continued to work on numerous projects and spent much time together, they soon were inseparable. By the end of the 70s, Franco and Romay were living together, and would until the end of her life in 2012. Franco passed away about 14 months later.

The duo made dozens of movies together during his heyday of the 70s, through his downturn in the 80s, and even some of his adult films in the 90s.

Franco made a bunch of explicitly sexual movies. In fact, except for some of his early films, it’s hard to find movies of his that didn’t have a serious sexual slant to it. By the time he moved to pornographic films later in his career, he wasn’t exactly old hat at it. Romay naturally followed him because she described herself as an exhibitionist. So it wasn’t like she wasn’t ready to drop her clothing at a moment’s notice.

This movie isn’t the only time that we’ll also touch upon Franco’s fascination with the Marquis de Sade. In fact, Cries of Pleasure is based on one of his stories. The Marquis was a nobleman and a libertine. What’s a libertine? Well, that’s someone who is pretty devoid of what I think people would consider a sense of morality. They pretty much do whatever they want whenever they want without regard for how it affects other people. It got him into some pretty deep shit – especially as he let that lifestyle shine through in his sexual life. In fact, he sexually abused children too. So the dude was quite fucking literally a sadist. How do I know that? Because it is in his goddamn name, that’s how.

Anyway, Franco made a bunch of movies either based on the writings of the Marquis or about him. He even did some movies featuring a female version of the infamous Marquis. I believe he did this for two reasons. First, it was a different time and fuck off. Second, he wanted to do sexual flicks that straddled the entirety of the debauchery scale… and also fuck off. He just did whatever he could to get naked chicks and a bunch of fuckin’ to be portrayed on screen.

Yes, Jess Franco was fairly perverted.

But I think that’s why we like him around here. Plus, I’m always up for Lina Romay being as exhibitionist as she wants on film. So, with that, let’s get started on Cries of Pleasure!

The movie begins with a beautiful shot out from what I assume is the Spanish Riviera. There’s a guy playing his guitar on one of the properties next to the pool where we get to see some dead dude face down in the pool. What happened to this dude? Why is that dude dead? Is the guitar dude a killer? Is he mourning the dead dude in the pool? What’s the story here with these dudes? Well, that’s what I’m here to talk about, dudes and lady dudes.

As it turned out, yes. Dead naked guy was tossed into the pool by the guitar player. He’s lamenting over throwing his “master” into the pool. He’d seen dead bodies before. He wasn’t so bothered by that, but it was that this guy who had been kind to him, always paid him on time for whatever services he did, and generally thought they were friends was the body he just had to dispose of in the pool. Just a little bit ago, he was alive. Now… Balls out in a pool.

Our guitar player, Fenul, flashes back to the day that his boss, Antonio, brought Julia (Romay) to his home. Julia is excited to be here at this really awesome home right on the Riviera. She’s not even all that upset to meet Antonio’s maid, Marta. I’m excited about Marta and Julia being happy to meet each other because I’m hoping I get to see them do things with each other.

Now, Antonio is weird, but he’s also happy. He’s glad that his friends are getting along so well right away, but when Marta seems a little upset and makes a snide comment about there being another hot lady around, he tells her to not be a dumb idiot. He won’t stand up for this jealousy bullshit. He sends Marta off to show Julia around. He then goes over the Fenul and threatens to throw him into the pool. Fenul, who is either handicapped or a mute, is really not into this idea. I can’t tell if Antonio is just teasing the poor guy or if he really is a monster.

But then again, when he’s alone with his thoughts, he gives this look…

Marta says she’s the assistant to the Lady of the house, but that she’s also jealous of every woman Antonio brings home. Julia says they are just amigos and she won’t steal him from anyone. Marta then goes into her story about how she’s from Africa. Marta is a Berber. These are people who live mostly in northern Africa, which I suppose makes sense for some to immigrate to Spain.

She says that she moved to Spain when she was a little girl with her family. When her parents died, Antonio brought her in and raised her with his wife, Martina. Then she says, “He raped me when I was twelve, and I haven’t stopped loving him since.” That’s weird. How do you follow that up? By then saying that you don’t just desire him but you’ve been his slave since – to both he and Martina.

I do like Julia’s response, “Thank you for the unrequested confession.”

Marta gets Julia something elegant and sexy to wear for dinner. Apparently, Martina likes looking at women who wear something sheer with a “daring” neckline. That’s an odd statement. Every line in this movie has been an odd statement.

Antonio comes into the room and Marta takes off. Antonio rushes Julia and they begin making out furiously. He takes her to the couch where they continue to make out before she gives him a jibber – followed by a furious blowber. He then sits her down on the ol’ dipstick and tells her all about how his wife is coming home from the asylum and that she’s a schizophrenic and a nymphomaniac and that she’ll really like her. They’ll have lots of fun together, orgasm all over the place, and then kill her so they can spend her millions.

It appears Julia is there to help kill Martina. Maybe? I dunno… That all may have been pillow talk. I’m not entirely sure they didn’t really have sex, though. I do know he said they are going to kill Martina, spend her millions, and live at her house in France. I can at least say I know what he said.

Martina comes home later from the asylum. She’s got resting I’m-gonna-fuck-a-bitch-up-if-she-just-took-it-from-behind-with-my-husband face mixed with a staggering walk that is drenched in I-just-came-home-from-this-kegger-completely-bitzed-out-of-my-mind-to-the-point-that-I-shit-in-a-dude’s-Porsche attitude.

And I like it!

This is Rocio Freixas playing Martina. I don’t know much about her, but damn, I think she’s probably able to explode a dude’s balls with a single glare. This saucy babe is nutty, crazy, and down to fuck. She’s apparently been in a handful of movies, all of which I cannot pronounce. So I can’t say too much about her career, but I can say, she was out of the biz one year after this movie was released.

Martina has been in the asylum for at least 4 or so years. Marta is happy to see the lady of the house back home. Martina is so happy, she opens up Marta’s dress to take a look at dem tittaes. Antonio then creeps up behind her to welcome her home too. Julia comes downstairs and is introduced to Martina. Martina decides to just go for it with a kiss right square on the lips. As Marta brings cocktails to salute the arrival of Martina, Martina just gives Julia some mad “I’m going to destroy that snatch” vibes.

Also, yes, Marta is still tits out.

Okay, so… I’m maybe missing something here. Yes, Antonio fucks – hard, often, and with minors. Martina is a schizophrenic nymphomaniac. Marta is their love slave. Julia is there to kill Martina by way of explosive orgasm so she and Antonio can run away together. I understand all of that. I’m not an idiot.

But…

What’s the plan here? Is he really planning on killing his wife? What about Marta? Is she part of this plan too? Has he been telling her the same things as he said to Julia while plowing the bush? Is any of that actually real at all? Is this an elaborate sex game? Is this a harem? What’s going on. More importantly…

How do I obtain one of these harems?

While Martina gets ready for dinner, Antonio goes down on Julia while Fenul serenades them with his guitar. Marta arrives naked and flicks at Julia’s nipple with her tongue. Then Martina shows up… Dressed like Barbarella.

I cannot say I know what is actually going on. At first, I think Martina is upset that Antonio is going to town on Julia, but then she sits down in that big ass wicker chair and it seems like she’s going to watch. But then! Antonio has to go over to her to tell her that he loves her and needs her and what not. Then, Julia, I think, gets herself off. Though, I can’t really say that’s what’s going on. Maybe it’s Fenul’s guitar that brings her to orgasm, but I don’t know. Fenul narrates his thoughts about how he’s not as emotionless as they think he is. He says he gets some feelings when he watches the naked shenanigans.

Then he talks about how Antonio and Martina had a little boy. They killed him by slashing his throat. They forced Fenul to clean up the mess they left behind.

That is a very odd thing to say while I am watching Lina Romay, nude, writhing in ecstasy. It’s also a bizarre thing to have just heard when she goes over to join in on the puddle of erotic goo that is Antonio and Martina. I’m even still forced to think about the bloody mess of a dead little boy while Marta is rubbing one out while watching the goopy puddle of eroticism in that big ass wicker chair.

I honestly do not know if I should be turned on or disgusted. Or both! Why not both?

Also… I thought they were getting ready for dinner. This is certainly not going to sate their appetites. No matter how much breastfeeding Julia does or pussy Antonio eats.

Convinced there will not be a dinner tonight, Marta goes upstairs to lie on her couch and rub another one out. But Antonio comes upstairs and decides to fuck her. Martina comes upstairs and says she’s going to kill Marta for some reason. She’s with Julia. Martina pulls out a knife and Antonio holds Marta down. Julia eats Marta out while Martina slashes at her face and throat and body. I guess this is to demonstrate to Julia how a person’s bits and bobs react when they believe they are about die. Fenul comes up to strum some tunes while all this goes on. Then Julia is instructed to whip Marta to punish her.

Man… This is a fucked up movie. I don’t want anyone to EVER say that I don’t know how to launch a fuckin’ theme month!

Poor Fenul has to get rid of another body as Marta expires from her apparent stab wounds on her body. Considering Marta was the one who made the wine they were drinking earlier, I hope she made a whole bunch because there’s not going to be much more of that to have before future nonexistent dinners. As Fenul gets rid of Marta, we get to watch Julia writhe around like a crazy person on the couch, but I’m not sure why. She’s not doing anything to do that, and no one is with her until Fenul shows back up to strum a tune. Is Fenul’s fingering on that guitar also working on women? I don’t know. Antonio and Martina show up to do something about this.

So, hours, days, maybe weeks pass and these three keep at it like sex is goin’ out of style. I feel like poor Antonio has to be spent. He’s probably not even able to ejaculate anymore. He probably gets to orgasm and a puff of air just lazily pops out.

Alright, so finally, after about, oh, 4 days’ worth of sex scenes, chapped penis skin, and REALLY sticky fingers, we get a little bit of intrigue. Madame Martina over here has fucked Antonio’s brains all the way out his ears, so he’s gotta take a break. While he does, she goes over to Julia and asks if everything is going as planned. You see… Julia and Martina have been “lovers for a while”. They were together in the asylum. They planned the same trap for him as Antonio and Julia set for Martina. Julia has some doubts, though.

It’s probably because she’s trying to operate on an empty stomach. If I miss dinner, there’s no amount of wild and nutty sex that will save me from general wear and tear of not having a full belly.

Eventually, Julia does get over her doubts, and she goes to Antonio. First, she pops a squat on his face. Then, she decides to ride him. Judging by his anguish screams when she was assuming that position, I’m now convinced he is incredibly chapped and that’s uncomfortable to even think about. Anyway, Martina approaches with a chain. We think, oh, more sexy toys to achieve a more “Pinhead from Hellraiser” kind of level of pain and pleasure, right? Nope, the ladies use this strangle Antonio.

Now… The chain is definitely symbolic, I suppose. This guy is rather cruel, seemingly kept people in bondage, maybe. These girls needed to be free of him, so they used instruments of bondage to rid themselves of this jerk. They awkwardly make out over his corpse too. You know, just to make sure this movie doesn’t lose any of its super fucked up vibe and all.

Fenul comes into the room where Antonio is lying dead and is trying to wake up his boss. This is actually kind of sad. He’s slapping at his face and listening for his heartbeat, etc. He then goes into a rendition of the “Funeral March”.

In another room, Martina laments having to act like they didn’t know each other when she came home from the asylum. However, now, they can leave this house forever and begin a new, exciting life. They gleefully discuss how their new life will be limitless debauchery. Martina and Julia make it together (yet again) while a mourning Fenul removes the body of his friend and boss, Antonio. The movie comes full circle with Antonio’s body in the pool and Fenul looking out from the terrace contemplating how he feels about his friend and his intense loneliness that he’ll feel without Antonio.

Wow. So that’s how you start a theme month. It’s really hard to say exactly what this movie is about. I mean, it’s about a lot of sex and a lot of debauchery. That said, I suppose it does fit the libertine description. Whether it is Antonio or Martina, they were lazy people. She was rich, which made him wealthy as well. They did nothing but fuck and fuck some more. Oh, they did kill from time to time too. However, all they ever did was look for the next exciting thing. When they grew bored, they expelled the source of that from their lives.

Marta was part of their excitement before Martina went to the asylum. Now that she’s home and her lover from the asylum, Julia, is also there, Marta was boring, so she had to be expelled. You could say that killing Marta was to just watch the effects of that on a person’s sexual organs. Obviously, that was something Martina and Antonio did with that kid that Fenul describes having to clean up after they killed him. I would also suspect they did more than just kill the boy.

You could say this was a study in debauchery and how it leads to an ever increasing need for sexual and sensual gratification in the libertine. You could also say this movie was completely fucked up. Both assessments would be correct. Guess what, though? We’re going to do it all over again next week!

Yup, we have another of Franco’s Marquis de Sade stories turned into an adult film. Next week, I’ll be looking at Sinfonia Erotica. This also stars Lina Romay, but with a twist. This time, she’s the one returning to her lavish home to find her libertine husband, his gay lover, and a young nun wanting to explore all the decadence and debauchery of the flesh with one another. So yeah… I’m sure that will be as equally fucked up as this one was.

If you missed out on B-Movie Enema: The Series, be sure to go over to the B-Movie Enema YouTube channel and check it out! Thirteen episodes made up season one and season two is already on the slate for this upcoming September. Any clips I can use in my articles here also appear over there, so you’ll get to see lots of content! So get yourself over there and subscribe!