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What it was, or should have been, is the absolutely stunning LES WEEKENDS MALEFIQUES DU COMTE ZAROFF (1974), which I have just watched on the SEVEN WOMEN FOR SATAN, MONDO MACABRO DVD. Michel Lemoine stars and directs his own version of Zaroff which is much more sophisticated, subtle, haunting, poetic than Franco. This gem is a lost and now found masterwork of European Trash CInema, perhaps the finest example. Howard Vernon is on hand also as the butler who enables the Comte's brutal desires and there's an opening woman hunt which exactly evokes the ones in COMTESSE PERVERSE. The pulsating, eerie music score is alone worth the price of admission. It's simply one of the most memorable film scores I have ever heard and bristles with erotic energy, I wish it were available isolated here or on CD. Also an overwhelming advantage is the frenetic montage of frequent Robbe Grilled editor, Bob Wade, who bends the film into nonlinear territory, it's really a series of sado-erotic tableau but presented at a headlong pace and makes most of Franco's similar work seem slow and boring in comparison. Well, this DVD and this film now changes my overview of the history of that era. It confirms Lemoine as a major talent who unfortunately was limited to a minor career in softporn whereas Franco was a minor talent who managed to have a major career working across 5 decades with many important works. It's time to honor Lemoine, one of the most memorable faces in European genres from that generation his mere presence electrifies the mise en scene (PLANETS AGAINST US, HERCULES VS MOLOCH, WAR BETWEEN THE PLANETS, NECRONOMICON, KISS ME MONSTER, TWO UNDERCOVER ANGELS, all feature marvelous ML performances). His performance here as a modern psychopath, yet tender, dreamy--a businessman who sits in his office caressing a girl's legs though his glass topped desk, an icon of the survival of the European Owning Class as decandents monsters--Vlad Tepes, Gilles De Rais, Sade, are all evoked in his wondrous interpretation. In any case, this will make you forget about Jess Franco for a while and realize that there was a potential landmark talent quietly at work in France, it also makes reveals just how partially realized most of Franco's work really is. In other words, SEVEN WOMEN... is the best film Jess Franco NEVER made! Highest RecommendatonALERT!****