The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)

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

1 win.

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
Rosa M. 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:

vampire | lesbian | honeymoon | breasts | murder of a nude woman | 

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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

Referenced in Fear, Panic & Censorship (2000)

User Reviews

Blood spattered sexual politics

"The Blood Spattered Bride" follows a newlywed bride who moves into her husband's remote ancestral castle; all would be fine if she didn't harbor feelings of resentment and hatred for him. It also turns out that his family lineage has a history of women killing their husbands, and when she finds herself haunted by a mysterious woman named Mircalla (ahem, Carmilla), she finds herself seduced into a world of bloodshed and madness.

This dynamic vampire sleeper is inarguably the cream of the crop as far as the European horror of this era goes. Despite the film's oft-label of "Eurotrash", "The Blood Spattered Bride" is anything but—aesthetically, it does retain a grainy grindhouse edge to it, but the film's photography is overall lush and atmospheric, and the production values are high. Apt cinematography and a series of haunting visuals provide additional support to the film's ghoulish tone.

As many of have said, it's a film whose horror relies heavily on atmosphere, and it does a remarkable job doing it. The castle and its outlying surroundings are well-realized and legitimately eerie, lending the film a downbeat Gothic tone. A series of noteworthy sequences of bloodshed are present, and while the gore effects are elaborate and impressive, this is by no means an exploitation film. The plot hinges on unusually complex thematics and dances circles around lesbianism and misogyny, shaping itself into a double-edged dagger of early '70s feminist commentary. Considerable liberties are taken with the film's source material ("Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu), but it really is a masterful take on the story with appropriate tinges of the period.

I went into this film with the gaudy expectations I have of a Jess Franco picture, but was rewarded with something much darker and considerably more serious. "The Blood Spattered Bride" manages to take a hearty stab at classicism while juggling the postmodern social politics of marriage, virginity, and female sexuality. It's a lush and gorgeous film, and also a very dreamlike and complex one. Scraping the layer of social commentary off the top, what we have here beyond that is a surprisingly elegant vampire film that is rich in atmosphere and Gothic goings-on. Subtle but masterful performances bring the characters to life and provide another layer of legitimate interest. This is a wonderful, underrated film, and is a visual and intellectually stimulating piece of '70s Euro-horror. 9/10.