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.
Review of The Blood Spattered Bride
