A young husband's sexual fantasies frighten his new wife and cause her
to seek advice from Carmilla, a descendent of Mircalla de Karnstein.
Carmilla seduces the young bride and forces her to commit gory acts of
mutilation.
The Blood Spattered Bride is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and
directed by Vicente Aranda, based on the vampire story, "Carmilla" by
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.
It stars Simón Andreu, Maribel Martín, and Alexandra Bastedo. The film
has attained cult film status for its mix of horror, vampirism and
seduction with lesbian overtones.
I was surprised with how much I enjoyed this film. It has some weird
shit going on. It begins with a couple that has just been married and
when the bride does not like the honeymoon suite at the hotel, they go
instead to the groom's family mansion. The bride has issues dealing
with her husbands insatiable rough sex. She sees a strange ghostly
figure roaming the woods in a wedding dress. Could this be the woman
from the portrait who murdered her husband years ago on their wedding
night? When a nude woman is found on the beach and brought home, the
bride becomes alienated from her
husband and drifts into the arms of this erotic stranger.
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| Kill your husband.... |
When I say weird shit....I mean incredibly weird shit. The woman found
on the beach nude is buried in the sand with only a snorkel to breathe
and a dive mask on. What the fuck? Turns out she's a lesbian vampire
with a deep hatred for men. She enters the dreams of the bride where
they cut out the husband's heart....then joyfully squeeze it and blood
flows freely over their nice white wedding dresses. But in spite of all
the craziness it has the gorgeous
cinematography and beautiful locations. It moves slow at times and
certainly isn't a rocket ride but it does keeps your attention with the
imagery.
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| Cut out his heart |
The movie also is a battle of the sexes....the husband versus the
lesbian vampire for control of the bride. There is also a blurring of
the lines between reality and fantasy. We are never really sure what
the bride is dreaming and what's real. It makes for some very visual
sequences. The performances are all wonderful and the cast is crucial
in pulling this crazy film off. (Especially Maribel
Martín) If you enjoy Euro-horror than you will really love this film. I
do recommend it. Just don't watch with the kids.
Trivia
The Anchor Bay release of the film is in English, also dubbed in English
to clean up the Spanish accents of the actors attempting English
throughout. It is not likely that a Spanish language version of this
film exists.
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| The title of the movie says it all. |
