Customer Reviews

The Blood Spattered Bride

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don't get me wrong here...I like this film quite a bit and this new DVD from Anchor Bay looks great....but the movie just disappoints because it could have been so much more. First off, this new letterboxed DVD is the first time it's been released uncut in the USA...I think it's about 10 minutes longer than the old Gorgon Video release...and although some of that is just exposition, I do think there is some extra nudity and gore that had been previously edited out (but I'm guessing from memory). The movie has a cool serene feel to it, several really haunting moments, and a good share of blood and nudity...but the script just doesn't have much momentum....there's no suspense and no drive to the plot....it just unfolds slowly with really no where to go. After you've sat there for 101 minutes and the movie's over --- it's hard to remember anything about it! Just call it Euro-Fluff. So it's a mixed bag --- definitely worth a look for euro-fans or lesbo vamp fanatics -- but don't expect too much going in.

I'll keep this quick and simple. If you like Euro Horror stuff from the late 60's and 70's than you can't go wrong this film. Although the title is much, much cooler than the film itself, it is still a good representation of Euro horror. Reminds me of Torso and Tourist Trap a little, just a little. Nonetheless, it's a great buy for your collection and the print rendered on this DVD is excellent!

Aside from tombs of the Blind Dead/Return of the Blind Dead, there isn't much to choose from when it comes to horror from Spain. Blood Spattered Bride is one of the finest exports of the genre from Spain. It is a movie about revenge and pre-emptive revenge driven by the engines of rage, paranoia, male domination and female escape. Most of this movie achieves a dream-like sequence, and at times, stupor. There are never any boring moments, except for the love trysts in the first fifteen minutes of the film or so. My two favorite scenes are of Miralla's first appearance in our young bride, Andreu's, dream, and then of Mircalla's first corporeal manifestation . . . on a beach . . . naked . . . buried-and breathing through a snorkel! Aranda has succeeded in telling a very unsettling story about vampirism. By the end of the film, you will be so unsettled by the characters of Mircalla and Andreu that you really won't care whether there were vampires in the film in the first place, because you will have discovered far worse.

"The Blood Spattered Bride" is a pretty decent specimen of the European Gothic cinema. The story develops a bit slowly, but is handsomely mounted and photographed. The "female rage" theme is explicit and disturbing. The actresses playing Carmilla and Susan are quite attractive. The film handles their lesbian relationship with a restraint that is rare in Euro-horror items.

The Blood Spattered Bride is an easy film to enjoy aesthetically, but quite hard to appreciate plot-wise. The film concerns two young newlyweds whose lives are overturned by the arrival of a mysterious woman who proceeds to seduce the wife and cause general death and mayhem alll round. The film does look gorgeous, and both female leads, (Maribel Martin as the young wife, and Alexandra Basteda as the mysterious intruder) are very sensual and beautiful, even if for a lot of their screen time, they appear in silence or staring enigmatically into thin air, particularly in the case of Martin, who is required to take on an almost comatose blankness a lot of the time. I mentioned that the plot is a problem with this film, and as the character of Susan is pivotal to the story, it's often quite difficult to work out what's actually happening as this character is extremely reticent in demonstrating what she is thinking. Right at the start of the film, Susan is undressing on her wedding night, only to be raped in her hotel room by a masked attacker. When her husband finds her later and asks what is wrong, her only comment is: "I don't like this hotel"...!! What does this mean? Is she deeply traumatised, or not that upset, or was the whole attack just a fantasy? You wouldn't know either way, as the matter is never referred to again. Still more unusual is that Susan is definitely the heroine for the first half of the film, confused and isolated, and constantly pestered for sex by her sleazy husband (whose character is never fleshed out at all). She makes it clear that she is unhappy, yet carries on drifting through life in a semi-dazed state.

That is, until the character of Carmilla arrives on the scene. In one fell swoop, the unlikeable husband suddenly becomes the innocent victim in the proceedings, and the second half of the film charts his investigations into why Susan and Carmilla are spending more and more time together, and what they are plotting to do together. It's an odd switch to turn Susan into the villainess of the movie after making her so sympathetic in the early stages, but when I thought about it I realised that maybe Susan was never meant to be a sympathetic character, but instead her refusal to concede to her husband's sexual advances was designed to earmark her as the pervert instead of him...!

Well, I'll leave other viewers to work out their own explanations, but I found the overall tone of the film rather unpleasant if the solution to Carmilla's evil influence (at least Carmilla is unambiguously evil all the time!) was to lump poor Susan in as "evil" as well, rather than have the husband try and rescue her. That aside, I do appreciate the film on several other levels. It's gorgeously filmed, in many stunning locations, and it's full of many, many stylish touches. Look out for the recurring image of Carmilla's inverted rings, the ornate dagger that refuses to stay hidden, the bizarre discovery of Carmilla buried in sand, and the scene in which Susan locks herself in a large cage of fluttering birds to avoid her husband's advances. Plus the film has several moments of extreme violence, most noticeably a dream sequence in which both women stab and mutilate the husband while he sleeps. It's very gruesome, and the DVD has the the longest version of the scene I have ever witnessed among the various releases of this film. It also includes the notorious ending that was always cut on past video releases - however this is more infamous than graphic and very little is actually seen on screen. Animal lovers need to know that a live fox caught in a trap gets blasted with a shotgun at one point, which is the type of thing I hoped never to see again outside of the "cannibal" genre, but apart from that, all the violence is well intergrated into the story.
If you can forgive the meandering plot and main characters whose motives and emotions are hardly ever made visible, there's a lot to enjoy in this film. Alexandra Bastedo makes a superb Carmilla, and her designs on Susan are bewitching to watch. Add that to all the potent imagery on display and you can possibly forget the rather abrupt macho retribution that passes for the happy ending.

When Carmilla first appeared in print the sexually repressed society of the day lapped this subject matter up greedily. Today, such themes of lesbianism and sadistic sex are commonplace enough but some sexual repressions endure. This is the key to understanding The Blood Spattered Bride. It is unfortunate that the producers saw the need to resort to using such a lurid title to attract viewers who would almost certainly be expecting a mad slasher film and thus apt to be disappointed. Although there is some violence and gore it is never rampant. Likewise, those seeking an erotic release will also come away disappointed as the nudity and sexual situations are tainted with violence which is apt to arouse only the sexual sadist. The key to understanding the movie lies with the themes of sexually repressed emotions which manifest themselves in subconscious action, which may sound too freudean to some but is cleverly treated in this film. From the opening scene it becomes apparent that the viewer is going to be forced to decipher which is reality and fantasy. There is one scene which sensitive persons need to be WARNED: A fox is caught in a leg hold trap and dispatched with a shotgun, and that is for REAL. It is a quite disturbing scene but I suppose it adds credence to the reality/fantasy motif. And so the viewer must become a psychological detective rather than a mere passive viewer in order to truly appreciate the film. As such the movie is not a true horror film but a stylish suspense thriller... Thankfully there is no clutter of added features (coming attractions) before the film. Just pop it in the player and the film starts immediately. The movie has been dubbed into english in a manner which is almost seamless, so there is no need to worry about following subtitles.

This is a fine example of Euro-Horror. It's a bloody, feminist version of Alice in Wonderland. Don't expect too much action. This movie is slowmoving but fascinating!

This is a subtle and atmospheric version of Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla, in which the director is far more interested in detailing the failing marriage of his two principles than in using it as an excuse to string together the usual exploitation elements so beloved of EuroHorror fans. Director Aranda takes his time over telling the story of a marriage beginning to crumble almost before it has begun. Appearing almost in the first scene, Alexandra Bastedo's seductress is always in the background, orchestrating the transformation of love and affection into alienation and hatred. Far more profound than the film of Jean Rollin, this nevertheless delivers the requisite gory murders and naked ladies lying in coffins that fans of that director will probably enjoy.
An amusing 'Combo' trailer included on this disc pairs the above with the somewhat less than subtle 'I Dismember Mama' - and its worth two minutes of anyone's time.

The film is inspired by Le Fanu's story Carmila. Pretty much the same identical story: a castle, a curse. It is a very slow movie for today's criterion, but this makes the innovative imagery even more shocking and surprising, most of the film's credit must go to the performances of the lovely leading ladies. The movie isn't a very close version of Sheridan Le Fanu's pompous novel "Carmilla" and it has got nothing to do with Matthew G. Lewis as far as I can tell. The "vampire" intimacy in this film is tied to themes of virginity and rape - most other vampire flicks sort of hint at this but none that I can remember spell it out so clearly. It is exceedingly Freudian in this film. The lesbian vampire catalyst is fueled more by hatred for men than a hunger, a need for blood. The killing is to vindicate, the blood drinking is an aside. The film does a good stint of keeping the audience off balance by cleverly smudging the line between reality and Susan's fantasies and delusions.

The film is a little outstretched, but the plot is complex. After all is said and done the film actually has significance (unlike many films in the genre). It would be notable if someone remade this film and tightened the pacing a bit.

I get the point of the film, I really do. And I actually enjoyed the concept of it. But it was very slow moving, and the acting really jsut wasn't believable. I understand why Susan reacted the way she did to the rape, it becomes apparent later in the film, but there were no real surprises, no real suspense at all. Just a movie about man putting woman down and showing the ugly extremes of feminism. Not a horrible flick, but not great either. Can't really recommend it.