La mariée sanglante

"The Blood-spattered Bride" is a remarkable film filled with haunting imagery gorgeously photographed by veteran cinematographer Fernando Aribas.Wonderful Alexandra Bastedo stars as a lesbian vampire who woos frigid newlywed Maribel Martin from her husband Simon Andreu on their honeymoon.After the film is over,you'll feel like you're waking from a dream,and all the inconsistencies and leaps of logic will surely infuriate many.There is also a nice amount of nudity and gore,so fans of Euro-horror will not be disappointed.

By turns mysoginistic and feminist, this one has some spooky metaphorical comments on marriage, virginity and lesbianism. It also has the gorgeous cinematography, splendidly dreary autumnal locations and beautiful women going absolutely demented that we've come to expect from European horror movies of the time. Nudity is kept to the minimum, unusually, but the classically beautiful Alexandra Bastedo of cult TV series The Champions is the vampire this time, and the scene where she's discovered buried in the sand is totally surreal and inspired, almost Bunuelian. The movie flags a little in the middle, as most of them do, but the ending is suitably hysterical and subversive. It also seems to be almost a prequel for Vampyres, another stylish and sexy Spanish vampire flick.

There have been no less than FIVE classic European horror films based on the Sheridan LeFanu classic story "Carmilla". There was the creepy, expressionistic Carl Theodore Dryer film "Vampyr" back in the 30's. There was the famous Hammer period horror film "The Vampire Lovers" (which itself inspired two sequels). There was Roger Vadim's very French New Wave "Blood and Roses". There was Harry Kumel's superior, if somewhat overrated, "Daughters of Darkness". And there was this one, a Spanish film, which is perhaps the most exploitative and also the most bizarrely surrealistic of all of them.

The plot involves a man (Simon Andreu) and his young bride (Maribel Martin), who are on a seaside honeymoon. The woman suffers from a kind of sexual hysteria where she hallucinates strange men coming out of the closet and raping her. Interestingly though, it is the man who first discovers the lesbian vampire (Alexandra Bastedo). In what is undoubtedly the most arresting image in the film he digs her up from the beach sand where she is buried (for some reason) wearing nothing but a snorkel mask! (And demonstrating the film's exploitative pedigree, he first uncovers her sizable breasts). Of course, it isn't long before the lesbianism starts in earnest. The film is marred somewhat by a very ham-handed ending, but one that is also quite a statement (perhaps unintentionally so) on the reactionary machismo of Spain in the late Franco era.

This movie has an interesting if somewhat obscure cast. Simon Andreu was in a number of Italian giallo thrillers with fellow Spaniard Nieves Navarro (aka Susan Scott) and her Italian director husband Luciano Ercoli. He would stage a kind of comeback years later with a supporting role in Roman Polanski's "The Ninth Gate". The young and beautiful Maribel Martin was in three classic Spanish horror films in the late 60's/early 70's--"The House that Screamed", "A Bell from Hell", and this one--so it's both strange and regrettable that she completely disappeared soon after. British actress Alexandra Bastedo had a much longer career, going back at least to William Castle's "13 Frightened Girls" in 1963 and as far forward as Freddie Francis' "The Ghoul" in 1975. But she was almost always relegated to supporting roles, so it's good to see a lot more of her here (both in terms of the size of her role and the sparseness of her wardrobe).

The ending of the available prints seems rather truncated, perhaps suggesting censorship (although it's doubtful even this print ever played in Franco's Spain). It would be nice if someday another print would turn up with a smoother ending (and maybe a longer nude, lesbian clinch between Bastedo and Martin). Here's hoping anyway.

The 'Lesbian Vampire' sub-genre, which was quite popular in European Horror/Exploitation cinema of the 70s, has brought forth a variety of films that are worth watching including remarkably artistic gems like Harry Kümel's "Les Levres Rouges" ("Daughters of Darkness", 1971) and entertainingly trashy flicks such as those by Jess Franco and Jean Rollin. Vincente Aranda's "La Novia Ensagrentada" aka. "The Blood Spattered Bride" of 1972 is one of the artistic ones, and it certainly also ranks among the highly recommendable contributions to the 'Lesbian Vampire' sub-genre.

As the British Hammer Studios' great "The Vampire Lovers", which is the first part of Hammer's 'Karnstein' trilogy and one of the films that started the Lesbian Vampire trend, "The Blood Spattered Bride" is based on Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's brilliant Gothic novel "Carmilla". This film transfers the plot to the present day (1972); when a newlywed couple move into the huge mansion belonging to the husband (Simón Andreu), the young wife (Maribel Martín), who is somewhat frightened by her husband's sexual fantasies, soon becomes disturbed. When looking through family portraits in the cellars, the wife stumbles across a mysterious portrait of a woman, the face of whom was cut out of the painting. The painting says "Mircalla Karnstein"...

While "La Novia Ensangrentada" isn't the best adaptation of Sheridan LeFanu's novel ("The Vampire Lovers" is, no doubt), it is yet another very good film based on this classic of Gothic literature. Plot-wise, the film has some small holes; the narration is sometimes slow and then seems rushed again. These minor faults are easily made up for by the hauntingly beautiful imagery and wonderfully creepy atmosphere. The family mansion, which is set in a forest estate, makes a magnificent horror setting and the beauty and variety and of the colors of darkness in this film is amazing. "The Blood Spattered Bride" has a nice cast, with actors that should be known to Eurohorror fans. The husband is played by cult-actor Simón Andreu, who was the leading man in many Spanish and Italian Horror productions (including Luciano Ercoli's Gialli). The very beautiful but very young Maribel Martin (she was 17 at the time the film was shot) is great in the role of the wife and ravishing Alexandra Bastedo is wonderful in her mysterious and seductive role. Great praise also has to go to Maria-Rosa Rodriguez, another child actress who proves that children actually can be good actors. Rodriguez, who I estimate was about 13 when this film was made delivers a great performance and some genuine eeriness. Overall, "La Novia Ensangrentada" is a very good addition to the Lesbian Vampire sub-genre that should be seen by any Eurohorror fan who has seen the genre-masterpieces like "Les Lèvres Rouges" and "The Vampire Lovers". My rating of "La Novia Ensangrentada": 7.5/10

Just one of many adaptations of J. Sheridan Le Fanu over the decades, "The Blood Spattered Bride" adheres to many of the traditions of Eurotrash horror: blood (and lots of it), sex appeal, atmosphere, and artiness, with some provocative themes underlying the plot. It's not for all horror fans; indeed, it's rather light on conventional "horror" for much of the running time. Instead, we get an interesting psychological approach to such subjects as virginity and marriage. The pace is unhurried, so people with shorter attention spans may start to fidget around a little.

The sultry Maribel Martin stars as Susan, a virginal newlywed rather uncomfortable about her new married life. The hunky Simon Andreu plays her unnamed husband, who becomes worried when he thinks that Susan is imagining the presence of a mystery woman (the intoxicatingly sexy Alexandra Bastedo). Well, "Carmila" (Bastedo) does exist, and with a subtle intensity, she worms her way into Susans' life and encourages her to think beyond being "trapped" by this male presence.

In general, the performances are decent, with Martin making for a reasonably sympathetic figure. Andreu offers a stolid screen presence, never changing his facial expression very much. Dean Selmier is superb as a well-meaning doctor who naturally does not put much stock in superstition. Bastedo is very easy to watch, and Rosa M. Rodriguez does a respectable job as a precocious youngster.

There's a mild dose of delectable female nudity, as a viewer would come to expect from the genre, and the violence is extremely effective whenever it takes place. (The film is not wall-to-wall gore, but still manages to live up to its title.) And the music score composed by Antonio Perez Olea is appropriately haunting. Director / writer Vicente Aranda also adds an appreciable amount of surrealism when Carmila is discovered under the sand at a beach - this is quite a memorable scene.

Recommended for lovers of the genre, who should also enjoy similar entries such as "Vampyres" and "Daughters of Darkness".

Seven out of 10.