Bloody Moon (1981) Die Säge des Todes (original title)

Director:

Jesus Franco

Writer:

Erich Tomek (screenplay)

Release Date:

27 March 1981 (West Germany)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Girls are killed at a language-school in Spain.

Plot Keywords:

School | Boarding School | Snake | Brunette | Party

Cast

Olivia Pascal	...	Angela
Christoph Moosbrugger	...	Alvaro (as Christopher Brugger)
Nadja Gerganoff	...	Manuela
Alexander Waechter	...	Miguel
Jasmin Losensky	...	Inga
Corinna Drews	...	Laura (as Corinna Gillwald)
Ann-Beate Engelke	...	Eva
Peter Exacoustos	...	Antonio
Antonia García	...	Elvira
Beatriz Sancho Nieto	...	Rita
María Rubio	...	Countess Maria Gonzales
Otto Retzer	...	Bueno (as Otto W. Retzer)
Jesus Franco	...	Doctor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Christina von Blanc	...	Woman in disco (uncredited)

Directed by
Jesus Franco

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Erich Tomek		screenplay (as Rayo Casablanca)

Produced by
Wolf C. Hartwig	....	producer
Otto Retzer	....	executive producer (as Otto W. Retzer)

Original Music by
Gerhard Heinz

Cinematography by
Juan Soler

Film Editing by
Karl Aulitzky
Christine Jank

Art Direction by
Klaus Haase

Costume Design by
Rolf Albrecht

Production Management
Otto Retzer	....	production supervisor (as Otto W. Retzer)
Erich Tomek	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lina Romay	....	assistant director (as Rosa Almirail)

Special Effects by
Juan Ramón Molina	....	special effects (as Juan Ramon Molina)

Camera and Electrical Department
Fátima Ochando	....	assistant director of photography (as Fatima Ochanda)
Juan Soler	....	still photographer (as Hannes Furbringer)

Music Department
Frank Duval	....	composer: song "Love in the Shadow"

Production Companies

• Lisa-Film
• Metro Film
• Rapid Film

Distributors

• Residenz Film (1981) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Inter-Light Video (1981) (UK) (video)
• Trans World Entertainment (TWE) (1985) (USA) (VHS)
• Video Instant Picture Company (VIPCO) (1993) (UK) (VHS)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Succéfilm AB (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Severin Films (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Gold Internacional Films
• Video Classics (????) (Australia) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Die Säge des Todes" - West Germany (original title)
"The Saw of Death" - International (English title) (informal literal title)
"The Bloody Moon Murders" - Belgium (English title) (video title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18 (theatrical release) (1981) (uncut) | West Germany:18 (cut) (video rating) (1986) | Netherlands:16 | Argentina:18 | UK:18 | West Germany:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Company:

Lisa-Film

Goofs:

Continuity: Angela is wearing a gray nightshirt when she finds Eva dead on her bed and immediately runs screaming out of the bungalow at which point Angela is suddenly wearing a sweater with a colorful forest pattern instead of the nightshirt.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape (2010) (V)

Learning a second tongue can be a dangerous thing.

What can you say about yet another crazy horror movie from Jesus 'Jess' Franco that managed to get banned in the UK and features a woman being stabbed from behind through one of her breasts? Well, I guess I have to say that it's a bloody enjoyable film and manages to remain consistently entertaining even if it isn't all that good when judged by standards that you'd apply to more mainstream outings.

There's a killer on the loose and he's targeting pretty young things at an English language school in Spain. This means, of course, that many of the women trying to master a second language also spend a lot of their time taking their clothes off, walking around with their clothes off and trying to have sex or drink or drunken sex with the one man they consider worth throwing themselves at.

Written by Erich Tomek, this is part outright slasher flick and part whodunnit with very little else to make it worth a viewing for non-horror fans. The violence is brutal and uses some decent special effects, for the most part, but the scenes in between the kills are either inane or entertaining only thanks to the amount of attractive young women on screen.

Olivia Pascal is just fine as the lead, Angela, although her erratic swaying from calm to terrified back to calm is pretty unbelievable. Nadja Gerganoff is very easy on the eye and plays a great character who is potentially all innocence and just as potentially a femme fatale. I wouldn't say that anyone does all that well but they do what is required off them - kill time until the kill time.

Fans of Franco's exploitation fare may be displeased by the fact that this movie doesn't feature enough sex and madness but they should take solace in the fact that it does have the semblance of a decent plot and is watchable from start to finish, making it one of his better movies in my book.