Michael_Elliott The Blood Spattered Bride (1972) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Effective Spanish horror film is yet another adaptation of the Sheridan Le Fanu novel Carmilla. A husband (Simon Andreu) begins to fear for his new bride (Maribel Martin) after her behavior takes a turn for the worse but things are even more complicated when a mysterious woman named Karstein (Alexandra Bastedo) enters the picture. THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE is a decent horror film that manages to have several positive things going for it, although the slow pacing and extended running time certainly doesn't help matters. I think there are enough good things here to make it worth seeing and we can start with the effective atmosphere. Director Vicente Aranda does a very good job at actually building up a very thick atmosphere and one to where you can believe the setting of the picture. Another strong part is a terrific music score and some very good cinematography. You also get the benefit of some very good performances. I was really surprised at how effective the performances were and especially the one by Martin. I thought she did a fantastic job in her role of the bride who finds herself fallen victim to the vampire. Bastedo is also very good and seduction in her role and Andreu is always dependable. Even more important is how well the two actresses work together because they really do sell the story. There are a couple highlights in the film including an incredibly bloody sequence where the title certainly gets its name from. Another great sequence takes place on the beach but I won't spoil what actually happens. I do think the 102-minute running time was a tad bit too long and I think either a quicker pace or perhaps a shorter running time would have helped even more. Still, this is certainly a film that's worth watching if you're a fan of the genre.

tomgillespie2002 Like Carl Dreyer's Vampyr (1932), Hammer's The Vampire Lovers (1970), and Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960), The Blood Spattered Bride adapts the 1871 Gothic novel 'Carmilla', a story of feminine control over masculine dominance. The 1970's saw a rise in lesbian vampire narratives, partly due to the cultural openness to the representation of female nudity in the cinema. Here Susan (Maribel Martin) is the young, newly married bride, who's husband's (Simon Andreu) sexual desires become increasingly horrific to her. With this escalation of pressure for sex, Susan's dreams become permeated with nightmares of rape. However, after hearing about the 17th century legend of Mircalla Karstein (Alexandra Bastedo), - who murdered her husband on their wedding night - her nightmares entwine inextricably with the ancient brides hatred towards men's sexual demands.The husband increasingly becomes suspicious of Susan's behaviour, as her dreams lead her to a specific knife, that seems to be intended for him. In a strange introduction, he discovers a beautiful and mysterious woman hidden beneath the sand on a beach. This manifestation of the 17th century bride, comes into their home, and begins a sexual and dominating relationship with the young Susan. Whilst this is not over explicit, the two almost become one singular body, as many of the idiosyncrasies of the "ghostly" manifestation are transposed onto Susan.The Blood Spattered Bride is an interesting film. It offers nothing particularly revelatory or new to this story, but it holds back where many would have been over-explicit, particularly with female nudity. The sensational aspects are kept subdued and this creates a more atmospheric experience (something that Jess Franco would certainly not have done). The languid pace of the film is in no way a hindrance, and offers time for contemplation. Whilst the climax of the film is very conspicuous early on, the short moments of gory violence do tend to come as a little shock amongst the usual beauty of the leading ladies. But this juxtaposition is pretty much all the shock you will get - the violence isn't as surprising if considered separately, and therefore has the same effect as seeing a shot of a crying baby, after seeing a shot of a knife wielding maniac.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Perception_de_Ambiguity In the form of a story about a newly wed woman who we witness losing her virginity the exploitation-y titled 'The Blood Spattered Bride' thematically covers a lot of the same and similar grounds to 'Valerie and Her Week of Wonders' albeit very much focusing on all the psychosexual aspects. Where "Valerie", summed up, is a film about a girl's sexual awakening after her menarche (=first menstrual bleeding) and all the other realizations that can result from that awakening, for example about religion and the government, "Bride" is about a young woman's sexual awakening (her age is never specified, the actress was about 18 years old at that point) which makes the woman fall into a psychotic state that makes her feel fear and disgust of men so this character's psychology isn't dissimilar to Catherine Deneuve's in 'Repulsion', it also roughly covers the events of one week although just like in "Valerie" it seems like development in a compressed form, showing a psychological evolution that usually would have to take considerably longer.Despite the supernatural elements in the story other than in "Valerie" one is prone to take the ongoings in the film literally because of its mundane visual style and the relatively coherent plot that wouldn't obviously suggest a symbolic reading although if one takes things on face value here it would be a rather ridiculous and unintelligently written film, but if taken metaphorically, always with the theme in mind, it's just the opposite. There certainly are quite a few surreal touches, though, both movies also include a good share of vampirism as well as lesbianism although neither of them really is a vampire, a horror nor an erotic movie, at least they aren't predominantly any one of those things.Another prevalent theme (especially as "Bride" reaches its conclusion) is that of the inspirational power of history as well as having a certain responsibility to act upon sacrifices other people made in the past, in this specific case especially in regards to feminism. Carmilla, the vampire with lesbian tendencies who becomes increasingly more real, is like a figure conjured up by the bride's fears and desires and that figure is a resurrection of a person that really existed within the fiction of the film, most likely materialized in idealized form to fit the bride's purposes.Although I think the film is feminist in its intent it interestingly has no qualms to come off as misogynist at times (especially in the first half) when showing the often violent male oppression and sexual dominance since, unlike "Valerie" or 'Repulsion', it doesn't choose a point of view, it's (almost) as much the husband's film as it is hers. I think the sympathies are clearly with the bride (which makes the ending all the more refreshing) but thematically the husband's male psychology is almost as fleshed out as hers and his psychological torture can at times also be felt.While I obviously think that thematically it's a great and intelligent movie it's certainly a minus that if taken literally the movie doesn't hold up well. Visually it's largely unremarkable although it does have its moment, especially one gory fantasy sequence in the middle section and the much talked about surreal beach sequence offer some notable visuals. The characterizations are coherent and believable but I wouldn't go as far as to call any of them well-developed. In one scene the movie's themes are actually blatantly spelled out with the characters reading out of psychology books that quote Plato and Jung. This being my first contact with Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla novel possibly helped my appreciation of the film, had I read the book or seen other films that were based on it things might look differently, but I haven't.

The_Void It would seem that there are two types of lesbian vampire movie; there's trashy sort (e.g. Vampyros Lesbos) and the classy sort (e.g. Daughters of Darkness). Both have their own set of merits, but in my opinion, the classier ones are the best; and this is firmly one of the latter variety. It has to be said that The Blood Splattered Bride isn't exactly a thrill a minute roller-coaster ride; but even when the plot isn't doing much, the film oozes sexy undertones, which was enough to keep me entertained, and the luscious Gothic atmosphere is a treat to behold also. The plot focuses on a newly wed couple who go to live at the husband's expansive mansion. While there, the wife becomes afraid of her husband's insatiable desire for sex and this coupled with the fact that she begins to see a supposed 'ghost' dressed in a wedding gown in the woods - who may or may not be a descendant of one of the previous family members' wives. As she becomes more alienated from her husband, she drifts further into the arms of this ghostly stranger...Unlike most lesbian vampire films, this one actually has a point beyond the obvious lesbian vampire theme. The theme is a battle between the sexes; with the husband and seductive lesbian vampire battling it out for control over his wife. This theme is laden with various images and symbols that help to portray it. Compared to other genre entries - both classy and trashy ones - this one doesn't have a great deal of blood or naked women, which is a shame - although director Vicente Aranda does give us a couple of excellent death scenes - both of which involve the sexy Maribel Martín wielding a knife. The Blood Splattered Bride seems to be a film of two halves - with most of the exciting stuff coming in the second half. This is not a problem, however, as the two sides of the film join together well and while this is not quite a classic; I'm sure that most people who bother to track it down won't be disappointed. The final fifteen minutes are excellently executed and bring good closure to a lovely slice of lesbian vampire cinema. Recommended viewing!