The Blood Spattered Bride

Rating:
Summary: Spanish Gothic
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: Spanish Gothic
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: brilliance
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: This is some fine Spanish horror.
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Could Use a Transfusion
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Could Use a Transfusion
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: incredibly boring Euro-horror
Review: For every great movie Anchor Bay remasters and stuffs in a clamshell package, there's always a clunker like "The Blood Spattered Bride" to bring things down. This horror film is dull Gothic garbage, with Victorian castles, bizarre sexual rituals, and bu$h shots galore as a newlywed couple comes under the spell of a mysterious female stranger on their honeymoon. If this was directed as flat-out exploitation, it might've been redeemable, but it's done in the style of a Merchant-Ivory film, and it's dull as hell. Just avoid it.

Rating:
Summary: incredibly boring Euro-horror
Review: For every great movie Anchor Bay remasters and stuffs in a clamshell package, there's always a clunker like "The Blood Spattered Bride" to bring things down. This horror film is dull Gothic garbage, with Victorian castles, bizarre sexual rituals, and bu$h shots galore as a newlywed couple comes under the spell of a mysterious female stranger on their honeymoon. If this was directed as flat-out exploitation, it might've been redeemable, but it's done in the style of a Merchant-Ivory film, and it's dull as hell. Just avoid it.

Rating:
Summary: an excellent Euro horror
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: an excellent Euro horror
Review: 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!