SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Coventry Sometimes you start watching a movie with low and or absolutely no expectations whatsoever and it turns out to be a very pleasant surprise. Those are the best film-watching experiences you can have. Unfortunately, the opposite scenario exists as well. It's such a tremendous letdown in case a film of which you expected so much turns out to be a big disappointment! I think "The Blood-Spattered Bride" had been standing on my wish list for more than a decade already, and each year that passed my expectations towards it grew larger. I regret to admit now that it's a boring and overlong movie, completely unworthy of the cult status it enjoys. The plot is only mildly interesting, while the lead characters are dull and antipathetic, and the only noteworthy atmospheric and horrific sequences are all – too little too late – saved up for the climax. A newlywed couple (of which the girl looks extremely young) is on its way to the husband's large family estate in the remote countryside. The girl – Susan – is terribly nervous for their first night because she's a virgin, and he doesn't exactly behave comforting or gentle as he rips her wedding dress to pieces. While at the estate, Susan becomes obsessed with the legend of a female ancestor, Mircalla Karnstein, who allegedly killed her husband with a dagger because she grew to hate him. Susan has dreams and hallucinations in which Mircalla shows her where to find the same dagger and she begins to believe that she is also destined to kill her own husband. Later, the man meets a perfect lookalike of Mircalla at the beach (he literally digs her up from the sand in a really bizarre and implausible sequence) and invites her back to the estate. Susan is now convinced that Mircalla has reincarnated (into Carmilla) to guide and assist her on her mission to kill the husband. The middle section of "The Blood-Spattered Bride" is intolerable tedious and absolutely nothing happens, except for the husband trying to have sex with his wife and she inventing various excuses to refuse. Maybe he should just try to be kind and tender instead of pulling her up a rock by her hair or chasing her into a giant bird cage? It's just an idea… The filming locations are stunning, the music is nice and the lead actresses (Maribel Martín and Alexandra Bastedo) are genuine beauties, but that's hardly enough to label this as a euro-exploitation classic. The last 10-15 minutes are downright terrific, with suddenly half a dozen of gruesome massacres and sleazy plot twists, but by this time my feelings of disappointment unfortunately couldn't be reversed anymore.

trashgang Heard a lot of this flick, not easy to find over here but by looking overseas I caught me my copy. Immediately from the start I found out for me that it was a Giallo. It is a slow starter, it takes exactly 40 minutes before the real stuff is happening. The storyline is okay and acting is okay, but there is some suspense missing for me, I'm not that Giallofreak as others so it has really be good for me to find it a good flick. I have seen the uncut version so the nudity, typical for those area of giallo's, is intact. At the end you have a bit of that Giallotwist. Maybe it's a bit too old, 1972, to survive his age up to the standards of today. The blood runs now and then but it isn't flowing frequently enough to make it creepy. Anyway, it's watchable so if you can grab yourself an uncut version, don't hesitate.

Scarecrow-88 A vulnerable, virginal young bride, Susan(Maribel Martin)slowly unravels upon moving to her husband's(Simón Andreu)ancestral castle estate due in part to nightmares involving a vampiress names Mircalla(Alexandra Bastedo, without make-up)who motivates a growing hatred for men and heterosexual sex. A dagger turns up and seems to always return to Susan's hands and the film shows possible danger looming for the husband's life after we witness a horrifying dream sequence where Mircalla convinces her to stab him viciously. A local doc(Dean Selmier)seems to be the only one the Susan's husband can confide in regarding her declining mental state. Soon, a human Mircalla(..identifying herself as Carmilla)is found by the husband buried under sand(?!)and given a guest room for the night. Soon Susan and Carmilla are holding hands as they stroll at midnight to the ruins of a castle, emerged a bit in water, which holds the crypt of Marcalla..Carmilla begins to take the blood of Susan turning her into a vampire and violent slave securing a wrath which many men amongst the husband's inner circle find out unfortunately first-hand. Whether it be the doc or groundskeeper, Susan obeys Carmilla's command, burying the dagger into torsos or slashing and hacking wildly like a madwoman(..one even receives blasts to the face with his shot-gun). The quiet, delicate Susan has become an unstable, destructive cold-blooded vessel for Carmilla to exact her rage towards the opposite sex. Susan's husband will have to take matters into his own hands or else the blood-shed will continue without end. Young 12-year old Carol(Maria-Rosa Rodriguez)is also being used by Carmilla as a tool to capture Susan.I know this opinion might not be popular, but I was rather disappointed with this particular tale based on Carmilla. I didn't find it particularly erotic, although there is some nudity(Martin's gown and bra are ripped away by Andreu in both a rape fantasy, with him wearing a stocking over his head molesting her, and the real sexual confrontation which occurs with a much closer view of the event). The height of this film should be the budding sexual relationship between Carmilla and Susan, but this seems rather abandoned with director Vincente Aranda instead focusing more on bloodshed. The dagger stabbings are rather bloody and intense with Susan plunging the blade in multiple times with red going all over the place. The setting is of course atmospheric(..what is it about these European locales that adds so much to horror films?)and the particular season seems to be Autumn with Winter on the horizon. I have no problems with the "slow burn" approach and consider myself a patient movie viewer, but I have to admit to looking at my watch a few times..the film often crawls. I felt that the husband waits a bit too long to move into action, and why he allows Susan to fall under Carmilla's spell instead of leaving the estate or seeking proper guidance(..he obviously is wealthy and could probably get his wife the best psychiatry money could afford)bothered me. He sits idly by and lets Susan slowly sink deeper into the abyss, Carmilla's hypnotic grip tightening. I do believe others will rate this film much higher than me based on how nice it looks visually, but I found the story a bit padded and this should've been more erotic than it turns out to be. Most of Carmilla and Susan's love-making is hinted at through the dialogue of the doc than elaborated on screen. Aranda instead opts to show Carmilla biting her on the neck pulling away before they embrace in lesbian passion.

The_Void It would seem that there are two types of lesbian vampire movie; there's trashy sort (e.g. Vampyros Lesbos) and the classy sort (e.g. Daughters of Darkness). Both have their own set of merits, but in my opinion, the classier ones are the best; and this is firmly one of the latter variety. It has to be said that The Blood Splattered Bride isn't exactly a thrill a minute roller-coaster ride; but even when the plot isn't doing much, the film oozes sexy undertones, which was enough to keep me entertained, and the luscious Gothic atmosphere is a treat to behold also. The plot focuses on a newly wed couple who go to live at the husband's expansive mansion. While there, the wife becomes afraid of her husband's insatiable desire for sex and this coupled with the fact that she begins to see a supposed 'ghost' dressed in a wedding gown in the woods - who may or may not be a descendant of one of the previous family members' wives. As she becomes more alienated from her husband, she drifts further into the arms of this ghostly stranger...Unlike most lesbian vampire films, this one actually has a point beyond the obvious lesbian vampire theme. The theme is a battle between the sexes; with the husband and seductive lesbian vampire battling it out for control over his wife. This theme is laden with various images and symbols that help to portray it. Compared to other genre entries - both classy and trashy ones - this one doesn't have a great deal of blood or naked women, which is a shame - although director Vicente Aranda does give us a couple of excellent death scenes - both of which involve the sexy Maribel Martín wielding a knife. The Blood Splattered Bride seems to be a film of two halves - with most of the exciting stuff coming in the second half. This is not a problem, however, as the two sides of the film join together well and while this is not quite a classic; I'm sure that most people who bother to track it down won't be disappointed. The final fifteen minutes are excellently executed and bring good closure to a lovely slice of lesbian vampire cinema. Recommended viewing!