Dr. Wong's Virtual Hell (1999) User Reviews

Hmm?

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 9 February 2022]

Jess Franco is Dr. James Wong, as well as this movie's director and writer, and he's bedeviling Rachel Sheppard, who plays Rita, while his long-time muse Line Romay plays his daughter Tsai Ming as well as his nemesis Nelly Smith (but only when she's wearing the wig that allows us to know that she's Candy Coster).

The whole thing looks like a comic book and Nelly is aided by stock footage* of Howard Vernon as the magician Cagliostro.

Still with me?

Then Analía Ivars does a fifty-minute long striptease while Jess goes wild with late 90s video effects which look as dated as that sounds. There's also this cyberspace virtual reality thing about twenty years before anyone could actually explore that world, so as you can imagine, Jess Franco's idea of VR is basically women dancing and dancing and then kissing tongues and then dancing some more.

Also: Jess Franco dressing up as an Asian stereotype about twenty or thirty years after people were like, "That's a bad look."

*It's from The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein.

Take It On It's Own Terms

[michael_a_manor · 10 September 2011]

I am a tremendous fan of both Jess Franco and Lina Romay and have been for decades. This is not their best film but if you take it on its own terms, it's an enjoyable experience. I don't want to give anything away about the film and to be honest there isn't much to give away. It has no plot, the pacing is slow and choppy, the quality of the film is far from optimal in terms of graininess, focus and sound, but it stomps all over some assumptions and therefore is worthy of consideration. There is an unwritten rule in films that you have to be young, fit and conventionally beautiful to be considered desirable. The notion that folks who are older could be hot is taboo. Romay was unbelievably hot forty years ago and is even hotter now - not because she is young and conventionally attractive, but rather because she brings all the energy, enthusiasm and experience of a woman of her age to the screen and never fails - never - to outshine everyone else on there. And the only person who holds a candle to her in terms of cinematic heat is Franco himself. I cannot give the film high marks, but I'll give it a five out of ten for breaking the ultimate taboo - ageism.

awful awful and I'm a Franco fan

[emrior · 1/10 · 17 September 2006]

Dr Wong's virtual hell...what can one say. Picked this up for 4 euros in Andorra la Vela in Andorra,at that it was overpriced. More than 50% of this is taken up with a fantasy sequence between Lina Romy and the other spainish actress......The rest..well my cat would have been offended remember I'm a Franco fan,well this is,to use an irish expression...Puurrreeee SSShhh...... For the later Franco films let me recommend "tender flesh" or even the "killer Barbie's" The first Barbey film,i mean,the second is dross Remember don't offend your cat A film needs a story and a plot this has not got it I still think Lina Romy,here under the candy coaster handle, is drop dead gorgeous

Actual Hell

[kosmasp · 1/10 · 19 May 2015]

It might be virtual to the "characters" (I'm not sure you can seriously talk or consider what's going on here "acting", it would be an insult to actors), but it's "real" for the viewer. Not sure how Franco got sucked into those things. If you were to judge him on some of the stuff he made (money issues/contracts?), it wouldn't look very good. But let's not argue about the director now, though we could be able to judge his own "acting" skills if we wanted to.

Now the movie and in contrast to Helter Skelter, (both of those movies were packed into a double feature called "Cravings of the depraved" ... you make of that title what you will) this has a "story". You could call it a story at least. There is a lot of experimenting going on and it tries to be funny (at least that's the benefit of the doubt I'm giving it ... not that it works). There are so many things off here, that I can't begin to count. There is also nudity, if that makes any difference whatsoever to you. In any case, I'm pretty sure you have better things to do with your time ... like stare at a goldfish (believe me, it's more fun than watching this)