The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)
"La novia ensangrentada" (original title)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Vicente Aranda

Writers:

Vicente Aranda, Sheridan Le Fanu (novel),

Stars:

Simón Andreu, Maribel Martín, Alexandra Bastedo

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Simón Andreu	...	Husband
Maribel Martín	...	Susan
Alexandra Bastedo	...	Mircalla Karstein
Dean Selmier	...	Doctor
Ángel Lombarte	...	Carol's father
Montserrat Julió	...	Carol's mother
Maria-Rosa Rodriguez	...	Carol (as Rosa Rodriguez)

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

honeymoon | vampire | lesbian | spanish horror | supernatural power | 

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Taglines:

The revenge of a young bride on her wedding night!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

April 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Blood Spattered Bride

Filming Locations:

Isla de La Toja, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

Box Office

Gross:

ESP 23,693,019 (Spain)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgana Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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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Goofs

Susan draws a portrait of Mircalla Karstein, on which Susan's husband doodles in the upper right-hand corner. Later, when Susan looks at the drawing, her husband's doodling is missing.

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Connections

Featured in 42nd Street Forever: Blu-ray Edition (2012)

User Reviews

Vampires and feminism

"The Blood Spattered Bride" is another adaptation of Sheridan LaFanu's classic tale of lesbian vampires, and it's quite good. While it's certainly not on pair with Roger Vadim's beautiful "Blood and Roses" or Carl Theodore Dreyer's "Vampyr" for that matter, mainly because it hasn't aged too well in comparison to the previous two, but it's a very bizarre and unique vampire movie in it's own right. The film is skillfully directed by Vicente Aranda, who, aside from creating a brooding Gothic atmosphere from the opening to the gory ending, also crafts a surprisingly intelligent script, that takes the basic old premise under a totally different perspective. The story here is basically set up as metaphor for women striking against men, and at times, it actually feels like "I Spit on Your Grave" with vampires. It also explores the themes of repressed sexuality, and how the supernatural aspects are merely hallucinations caused by the protagonist's sexual frustration, a theme which was also explored in "Blood and Roses". Fernando Arriba's gorgeous cinematography gives the film a touch of class, as well as creating a dreamlike, otherworldly tone. Overall, a very interesting and often disturbing piece of the 'lesbian vampire' sub-genre. I highly recommend this to fans of Jean Rollin, as it has a similar style to that of the director, and is about just as good as anything he has ever done. 7/10