How to Seduce a Virgin

Martine Bressac is released from a psychiatric clinic after a year's treatment and is driven home by her chauffeur, Mathias. She is welcomed by the demented hunchbacked gardener Malou and the mute servant girl Adèle, and impatiently demands the key to her mysterious private chamber. There, set out like exhibits in a waxwork, are the bodies of beautiful girls frozen in postures of terror on the point of death. With Mathias' help, Martine has just added another girl, a prostitute, to her collection when her husband and accomplice, Charles, arrives home with slides of a further prospective victim: Cécile the virginal daughter of a diplomat...

Directed by Jesús Franco, How to Seduce a Virgin leans on a strong ensemble — Alice Arno, Howard Vernon, Tania Busselier — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1974.