Dean Baker (William Berger) is a depressed American writer whose wife Shirley (Muriel Montossé) has just left him and who has been considering suicide. Then he falls for the much younger Jill (Analia Ivars) at a dance club, which leads to five criminals (Ricardo Palacios, Antonio Mayans, Luis Barboo, Juan Soler and Alfredo Kier) chasing him through Casablanca — he was drunk during a poker game and told one of the card players that they could kill him and take all of his money he just won — just when he’s found a reason to live again.

One of ten movies Jess Franco directed in 1985, this was written by Santiago Moncada (Hatchet for the Honeymoon, Swamp of the Ravens, Voodoo Black Exorcist, A Bell from Hell, All the Colors of the Dark) and made once before as Ace of Hearts (Juego sucio en Panamá) by director Tulio Demicheli (thanks Kino Detour).

This feels personal for Franco, telling the story of an artist on the wrong side of life when most of it is over instead of begun, drinking himself into oblivion as love fails him and lust leads him into dangerous places. I’m on the downside of that hill and drinking on a work night, writing what I’ve wanted to write all day instead of what I had to write all day. These are the things I think of as I watch a Jess Franco movie, but luckily, Lina Romay showed up looking for an autograph in this and just seeing her eyes and smile makes me forget that life is often about just trying to make it through.