Weird, perverse, backwards and bloody as hell, Vicente Aranda's sleazy vampire tale The Blood Spattered Bride may not be for all taste but it's a rather enticing Euro horror fest that is probably best seen more than once in order to get to grips with just what is really happening on screen.
Based on the vampire novel "Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan la Fanu, our story kicks off with newly wed Susan (Maribel Martin)and her husband (Simon Andreu)being stalked outside their honeymoon hotel by a mysterious veiled woman (the truly creepy Alexandra Bastedo). Upon being left alone in their room for a few moments, Susan has a violent fantasy in which she is raped by a strange unidentified man and insists they leave immediately. The story of Carmilla unfolds further when they move into the childhood home of her husband.
A lot of the film from this point is made up of sinister set pieces and very bizarre scenes, though highlights of course being the discovery of Carmilla on the beach and the incredibly erotic murders that are carried out by the two female leads. (Susan is soon falling under Carmilla's spell and joins her in a blood drinking, lesbian vampire rampage and lets the terror level ride high). Susans husband, however, isn't so easy to snuff out and the film climaxes in him awakening them from their coffined slumbers and killing the pair of them. Rumors abound that the end killing is far more graphic and bloody than Anchor Bays DVD shows but I think these are just rumors as it ends in such a bizarre fashion I don't think even the BBFC could edit something so abruptly. As good as it looks, Blood Spattered Bride is no classic. It doesn't work on all levels and the camerawork can at times feel claustrophobic. However, it feels effortlessly put together and at times rather beautifully dreamlike. A suitably eerie organ score by Antonio Pérez Olea's subtly compliments the film and leaves it a recommended atmospheric romp for fans of old school horror and sleaze, though perhaps too arty and grim in tone for everyone.
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