User reviews

Mary is a vampire, but her reflection shows in the mirror completely normal. She also carelessly walks around during the daylight, and although it's not explicitly mentioned, I'm pretty sure that she can resist the effects of garlic and crucifixes as well. This all just to say that "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary" (got to love title!) is a very unconventional vampire movie, but also one that is strangely absorbing and intriguing in spite of the ultra-thin story lines and the obvious budgetary restrictions. The film was directed by the Mexican born Juan López Moctezuma, who also made the '70s cult/exploitation highlights "Alucarda" and "The Mansion of Madness". Those who have seen these brilliant – in my humble opinion, at least – flicks know they can expect anything from Moctezuma. "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary" is less flamboyant and bizarre than the other two, but still a uniquely compelling tale about a reluctant condition, hunger for love and the search for roots (bloody roots!). Mary is a successful painter, traveling around in Mexico with a handsome drifter that she met in an abandoned mansion where she was forced to spend the night. She desperately tries to hide it from Ben, but Mary needs to drink human blood in order to survive. So she occasionally drugs an unsuspecting victim and slits his (or her) throat with a hairpin. A duo of police inspectors follows the trail of beastly murders, but there's another mysterious figure pursuing Mary. Someone who also kills and drains all the blood from the bodies. "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary" is full of odd little details that makes me cheerful, like the fact that the opening credits appear very late and totally randomly into the film, or the brief but very recognizable supportive role for cult-monument John Carradine. What makes me slightly less cheerful is the totally redundant and gratuitous animal cruelty (I sincerely doubt that the shark and turtles were fake). Lead actress Cristina Ferrare is a natural beauty and she gives away a powerfully integer performance, but the film mostly benefices from that typically mid-70s ominous atmosphere and the non-stop sexual tension. Recommended to cult fanatics!

I rather liked this small budgeted movie from the 70's about a woman who acts like a vampire in terms of feeding on blood but in no other way. Mary is an artist who kills men - and a woman - for the blood in their bodies. The sunshine doesn't bother her, apparently Crucifixes hold no spell over her, or garlic or any other vampiric safeguard we have seen in movies before. But that really is not what the film is about. It is about Mary finding herself and something/someone she loves - maybe. If I do not sound too convincing, it is because it is not too direct in what it is trying to do. Mary has other problems. It seems her father holds some sway over her, even though they have not seen each other in many, many years. He is the one that gave her this insatiable thirst to feed on the living. Character actor legend John Carradine plays the role with gusto, and at least several stunt doubles as he drives cars maniacally, runs up hills, and fights like a street kid. I do have to say that watching the cloaked and masked figure of Carradine do all these things was quite amusing, especially later when he pulls the mask down and we see this somewhat feeble old man that was John Carradine. That leap of credibility aside and several other leaps as well, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary has some interesting things going for it. It is a precursor to Martin, perhaps Romero borrowed from here. Christine Ferrare looks lovely, and I thought she did an OK job with the role. She was quite good at looking bewildered. Maybe that was not intentional but worked for me. The settings in Mexico and Southern California have that cheap 70's feel that always injects some nostalgia into me. That was a decade for films like this that I grew up watching late at night(on the weekends) and all summer long. The murders too are for the most part pretty unsettling. The opening flashback scene and the one with the fisherman were particularly well-shot. I loved the eerie paintings too. But before you get the impression I thought this was a great film, Ferrare is very limited in her acting range, the rest of the actors often more so, Carradine's character is ridiculous, and the second half of the film plunges into total unreality - I shook my head again and again. Notwithstanding these very real problems, because of the atmosphere, the weird, interesting story, and the nostalgic feelings it gives off - I give this film a qualified thumbs up!

Ben Ryder (David Young) is hitchhiking across Mexico when he meets Mary (Cristina Ferrare) at an abandoned house on a dark 'n stormy night. The two hit it off and begin travelling together. But Ben doesn't know about Mary's insatiable need to drink blood, which leaves a path of corpses in its wake. Grabbed this one randomly to watch and it was pretty good. It can never live up to its amazing theatrical artwork, but what film could live up to that poster? One of the most interesting aspects of it is that it shot in Mexico. That doesn't really matter for the first hour or so, but toward the end director Juan Lopez Moctezuma starts to use the Mexico setting better. Especially good is a section in a Mexican parade where Mary is attacked by a stranger. The stranger is played by John Carradine and his face is cover 90% of the time, allowing the filmmakers to do lots of Lugosi/Plan 9 moments with the character. Also good is a chase in the finale the ends in a barren area that is perfect for the downbeat ending.

Actually I am surprised at the lack of comments on this one. I rented this late one night after eyeing the video box for months. I hesitated because I had never heard of the director/cast w/ the exception of the late John Carradine. I was more than happy with this picture. Mary has more than her share of nudity violence and gore. The paintings are weird. Some of the editing is ahead of it's time. I highly recommend this picture to anyone looking for cool low budget horror.

First off, I loved the casting in this and the look and feel of it. I even thought the premise was interesting. That's why I kept watching. But when the killers so consistently get away when they could have been dealt with so easily over and over and over again, it really annoys me. Several victims drop their knives and/or guns or just ridiculously fall down instead of fighting back against their attacker. There was just no way for me to suspend disbelief in this movie and that really hurt it for me.

Honestly, the only real reason I kept watching was Cristina Ferrare. Her performance actually felt sincere and plausible almost no matter how ridiculous the situation was. It was a complex role to pull off, too. She's sort of bad and good at the same time. And she's gorgeous, to boot.

I'm seeing a lot of high reviews here with people who liked it a lot more than I did, so maybe you will too. I just couldn't handle how ridiculously often and easily the killer dispatched prey and evaded death. It reminded me of comedy bits where someone gets killed by a slow moving steamroller simply because they don't step out of the way of its path. The movie isn't quite that egregious, but it's up there.

Watch it for Cristina Ferrare's performance. As far as a thriller goes, it's only satisfying if you don't mind that it's mostly just people getting chased down and killed. It really did feel like a TV movie except for the nudity and light fake blood gore.

My two cents. Good luck.

MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY is an OK time killer. It has a uniformly attractive cast, the action is rarely dull. There are a lot of killings. And the production values are not bad. But in the end, it plays like a standard TV episode from the 1970s with some nudity thrown in. The film is the end product of an "author" trying to make a purely commercial film. There's very little depth here and the film spends too much time with chases and action scenes. Except for the scene on the beach with the old man, MMBM is almost devoid of any scares or suspense or dread. The director has very little understanding of the horror genre.

It's watchable even though it doesn't leave a lasting impression.

It was OK. The lead actress is beautiful. The story was a little hard to follow but at the end it all makes sense. Is she a vampire? what the heck is she? Are there more like her? What is the background? These questions were never answered. To me because the story just didn't have enough substance, I have to rate it low. I was asking questions the entire time and never got answers. The last 10 minutes pretty much sums up the entire movie, the rest of the movie is a lot of drama with some bloody scenes. Its really funny how the 70's treated bisexuality, there was one scene that kind of explained the bisexual summary but in today's time, its just laughable. The actors were OK, the direction was good, there was some nudity which added to the score. The story was short and lacked any substance. Just overall an OK movie in my book.

Mary, Mary is a female vampire who happens to enjoy the company of both sexes. Unlike the highly superior Female Vampire, this movie fails on both levels. Cheap budget and bad costuming seemingly fits with this forgettable film. What angers me the most about this movie was that it had a great premise, but the film-makers either chickened out or didn't know how to handle the material. The producers should have given this project to a person who knows how to handle such material (i.e. Jesus Franco or Jean Rollin). However, there was one nice scene that I really enjoyed that occurred between Mary and her "friend". Hey, I got my money's worth from the rental. My only complaint is that it could have been a great film if the producers hired someone who knows how to flesh out this type of material. Weak Female Vampire clone is a failure, but its..

Worth a look.

I recently watched the Mexican giallo 🇲🇽 Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) on Shudder. The story follows a woman traveling across Mexico, leaving death in her wake wherever she goes. Men and women alike disappear after encountering her, and a new lover who hopes for a future with her may be the only threat to her deadly lifestyle.

Directed by Juan López Moctezuma (Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon) and starring Cristina Ferrare (The Weather Man), John Carradine (Stagecoach), David Young (Hellraiser III), and Helena Rojo (Foxtrot).

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary offers a unique and skillfully crafted blend of vampire and giallo genres. The circumstances, characters, and their motivations are well-established, contributing to a methodically delivered plot. While the kills are relatively average and gore is limited, the film compensates with several noteworthy twists and turns in the conclusion, providing a satisfying resolution.

In conclusion, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary is a fun and distinctive addition to the giallo genre, deserving of attention from fans. I would rate it 6.5/10 and recommend seeing it at least once.

From Juan Lopez Moctezuma, the Mexican director who made "Alucarda" and not much else, came "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary", a confusing mess of a film that is by turns boring and inexplicable.

The movie SEEMS to be about a young artist living in Mexico who is generally seen either killing peope, providing gushing throat wounds, getting naked with men and women, and fleeing from another killer. In some scenes she is clearly the villain because she's, um, killing people. In other scenes - most of them, in fact - she is the a typical horror movie heroine, young, pretty, white, fleeing from the bad guy and appearing vulnerable, hiding in the arms of men and women.

How are we supposed to reconcile these two aspects of her character? They don't mix. The movie could have easily established a clear-cut distinction between the villain and heroine sides of the protagonist. We've all seen movies about characters with multiple personalities, and if the actress couldn't pull off a radically different portrayal, they could have made her up differently so we know she has changed, but they don't.

It is not that they didn't have the budget for makeup, or decent actors. The movie actually has quite good special effects, including some pyrotechnics that don't really fit. The handling of the movie is so amateurish that, when it began, I assumed it must have been a really low-budget offering, but considering some of that stuff, it obviously isn't.

The movie isn't low budget, just the handling of it. No wonder Moctezuma hardly ever made anything else.

Oh, and I guess I should mention that John Carradine makes a long awaited "special guest appearance" in the flick. You know who he's going to play almost immediately, so I don't know why the movie handles it like a revelation. I also don't know what he's doing in the movie. He must have fell on really hard times.

Was George Romero inspired by Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary when writing his unconventional 1977 vampire film Martin? The plots of the two films are alike and they share a similar grim and downbeat tone.

Directed by Juan López Moctezuma, the man responsible for cult classics The House of Madness and Alucarda, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary stars the beautiful Cristina Ferrare as artist Mary, who is afflicted with a craving for human blood, the young woman drugging her victims and then stabbing them with her dagger-like hair pin.

After a chance encounter on a stormy night, drifter Ben Ryder (David Young) falls for Mary, unaware of her vampiric tendencies; as Mary continues her grisly murders, Ben finds himself targeted by the police who suspect him of being the killer. Meanwhile, a mysterious switchblade wielding figure dressed in black (clearly a fan of giallos) stalks Mary, his intentions unknown.

Mary is a long way from the traditional idea of a vampire: she isn't affected by sunlight, and one assumes that a crucifix, garlic and holy water would be no good against her either. She doesn't have supernatural strength, hence the need to drug her victims, and she doesn't possess fangs or wear a black cape. In fact, she is very much a tragic figure, cursed to kill, unable to resist her urges, even if it means destroying those she loves.

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary is a refreshingly innovative take on the vampire genre for those tired with the standard gothic approach.

The director Juan López Moctezuma is best known for Alucarda which is easy to find. it's a bloody flick with a lot of nudity. But just before Alucarda he made Mary Mary Bloody Mary. In fact 3 years before and this is something completely different. First of all, it has until this review never had a proper release, not on DVD or on VHS. It exists on VHS but it shows itself once or twice a year on ebay and it goes for a lot of money. I found it on a NTSC VHS on the Continental Video label. I saw that it was released in 1987 so still in the VHS era. I said it, it is really something different, there is no gore and a bit of blood, just once you see a wound but what a rare movie this is. When they make love for example, not even soft core they used porn music, you know, that cheap kind of saxophone stuff. But there is even some animal cruelty. When Mary walks on the beach you see some Mexican's killing a shark with knifes and some turtles lying on their back dying. It's so weird that the particular scene with the shark, and I see in other reviews, it reminded a lot of other viewers of the cruelty used. You can't find if it is a real shark or a dead one. Even the story is a bit weird, Mary's dad with the scarf and head, it's so funny. It's a good example of exploitation, some car chasing, suddenly they speak Mexican without subtitles. Weird weird, bloody weird.

Of all the films that my buddy and i rented (back in our high school days) for our late night horror movie marathons, this one stands out as the most memorable.

To this day we still discuss the bath scene, the chase-scene set to bongo music where the characters run in entirely opposite directions yet meet each other, and the classic (and i mean CLASSIC) scene where the two main characters are walking along the beach, and a bunch of mexicans can be seen kicking the hell out of a SHARK in the background..

Was it a fake shark? Was it real? What the heck was it doing there?

Who knows...But it WAS there.. My friend and i rewound and watched it about 27 times.

Mysteriously, after we rented this film, it disappeared from our videostore.. I had been worried that we had dreamt the whole thing.. Nice to know there are others who have seen it!

1974's "Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary" is remembered as a rare starring role for Cristina Ferrare, who first came to prominence as a fashion model for Max Factor, appearing opposite venerable John Carradine for director Juan Lopez-Moctezuma. A curious investment for some folks in St. Louis, coproduced by a Mexican company to shoot south of the border from April 8, 1974, its beautiful star presented as a predatory modern vampire, unafraid of sunlight or the crucifix and susceptible to bullets, who simply stabs her male victims in the neck to drain their blood. There's something of a romance between her and drifter Ben (David Young), and a perfunctory investigation between an American FBI agent and a local police inspector, who believe it's to their advantage to pin the crimes on poor innocent Ben, when a black clad stranger mysteriously turns up to add his share of bloodless corpses to the killing spree. Cristina uses drugs to knock out her targets, while the stranger has no qualms about direct stalking, whether it's a comely female hitchhiker or a morgue attendant who winds up a permanent guest on the slab. By the time the climax rolls around we learn that her long dead father (Carradine) is the one trailing behind with the intent to murder her, showing off his scarred visage that he is convinced will also be her fate. At no time do we learn the origins of this blood drinking malady, whether it's necessary to survive or simply a compulsion, but it is nice to see on her wall a decent facsimile of Carradine's Baron Latos from the 1945 "House of Dracula." Cristina looks the part and does a couple of topless bits, her rather distant performance most fitting for the character during those moments when she is reluctant to take the life of those she cares about. Carradine, sadly, is required to engage in a feature length chase without any real payoff, wasted in a throwaway role (his first in Mexico since 1967) that doesn't even take advantage of his booming voice (perhaps 2 minutes screen time without the mask).

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary - 1975 (This Films Rates a C ) Sadly the reliability of that old Volkswagen bus has run its course and Mary Gilmore (an artist) breaks down on the back roads during a thunderstorm. Luckily she runs into another stuck motorist named Ben who is also staying at this abandoned home. Then it flashes back to when Mary seduces and kills a man from the American Embassy by stabbing him in the neck and drinking his blood. It does not take long for the police and FBI to get involved. They find other victims who were drugged and drained of their blood. Meanwhile Ben quickly fixes Mary's Volkswagen and offers him a ride and breakfast but never leaves. Mary continues to drug men and women leaving their bodies lifeless and bloodless. She apparently is not the only one hunting, killing and drinking blood. A man dressed in black with a black mask is also partaking in the bloodlust, except his kills are more violent. Mary soon learns that it is her father but this is no friendly relationship. The acting is really poor. The whole dramatic 'almost getting run over by a car' scene at the 1 hour mark. Or how quick that car burst into flames at the 1 hour 22 minute mark. The gore effects are tame, limited and mostly suggestive. What's with that shark killing on the beach? There is 70's T&A, a porn music soundtrack and an element of lesbianism. Oddly enough it takes over 14 minutes before the opening credits start. Nothing about this is terrible, there just isn't enough film meat. This includes the ending that just kind of ends. To its credit the beach scenes just before the 20 minute mark are truly beautiful.

Mary(Cristina Ferrare)is an American painter living and working in Mexico.When she's not painting her surreal paintings or dodging the advances of her lesbian gallerist Greta(Helena Rojo),she sneaks around,drugs strangers and drinks their blood."Mary,Mary,Bloody Mary" is an interesting horror film about bloodthirsty woman,which predates George A.Romero's "Martin".The main performance of Cristina Ferrare is pretty good as cold-blooded,albeit vulnerable killer.She certainly is really beautiful and appears naked several times.John Carradine has only a small cameo on screen and there isn't any supernatural component of vampirism on display.There are some stylish touches especially in the transitions from one scene to another.Although I enjoyed "Alucarda" more I'd recommend "Mary,Mary,Bloody Mary" for fans of vampire genre.8 out of 10.

This one was surprisingly good. A night, a woman's VW van breaks down near an apparently deserted house. She's grabbed by someone and runs, but then ends up staying the night. There's a flashback to her having seduced and killed a computer operator who worked at the American embassy in Mexico who bought one of her strange paintings. She kills by removing a hairpin from her ponytail, then drinking all the blood.

She meets a young guy she likes, while continuing to kill other people. Meanwhile, a man in giallo garb (black trenchcoat, black gloves, black broad-brimmed hat, plus a black handkerchief over the face kills a morgue attendant to get a look at one of her victims, killing him in the same way.

Regrettably, the videotape I rented blacked out during a couple of the seductions scenes! What the heck!

Carradine has a small role, but a good one.

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975)

** (out of 4)

Forgotten Mexican horror film about an American painter named Mary (Cristina Ferrare) who is living in Mexico where she sells her works and also kills people for their blood. It turns out Mary is a vampire but not the traditional one with fangs. Since she has no fangs she must stab or slash the throats of her victims but soon she has a new man (David Young) in her life as well as a mysterious man (John Carradine) in black who appears to be doing the same type of murders. The term "less would have been more" certainly applied to this film because somewhere in this mess there's a good movie but sadly the direction is so poor and the film goes off in so many directions that you can't help but loose focus on the majority of everything going on. If you read the film details you're going to be reminded of George Romero's MARTIN, which would follow a few years later and it's pretty fair to say that the Romero film is a remake of this, although it's certainly much better done with many of the weak points left out. The film's screenplay never really makes anything clear including what's going on with Mary. We never really learn why she has no fangs or why she needs the blood at all. We never figure out why she keeps this guy in her life when he could have made another victim. There's a lesbian art seller who comes in then out of the movie without too much explanation. Even worse is that the film runs an incredibly overlong 91-minutes and while so much plot is left missing we get other scenes that just drag out for no reason. There's one sequence where a woman is hitchhiking yet it takes nearly two-minutes worth of screen time before she finally gets in the car where the action then starts. Why on Earth did they drag this out so much? The entire time of her waiting to get in the car adds nothing to the film other than the extended running time. Those wanting gory violence will probably have a smile on their face after the first murder, which is quite graphic as Mary is having sex with a man only to then cut his throat and out comes the red stuff. This first murder has a ton of gore in it but from this point on the murders become less gruesome and there are a few where no blood is shown. Those wanting nudity will find some here but it's mostly un-erotic stuff including the bit where the lesbian finally gets Mary in the bathtub. Ferrare isn't too bad in the role of Mary but she certainly can't compare with previous female vampires from the 70s. Carradine only appears in a few scenes as he apparently left the film before shooting was complete, which means we get a much younger stunt double running around with a cape over his face. MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY has some very interesting ideas but sadly none of them ever come together. There's way too many dry spots but I'm sure with a little editing this thing could have been a little better. Romero's MARTIN certainly got the job done much better.

MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY stars Cristina Ferrare as the serial exsanguinator of the title. All is well with her thirst-quenching endeavor, until she happens upon Ben (David Young), who sets her heart aflutter. Thankfully, romance doesn't slow her down one bit. The police are on the case, but there might also be a copycat on the prowl.

Director Juan Lopez Moctezuma presents us with a unique twist on the modern vampire tale. Instead of the usual trappings and tropes, he gives us a bizarre story of true bloodlust. This was a perfect Drive-In movie in its day, and still holds up well for Late-Night viewing. The grisly finale is a real grabber!

Watch for John Carradine in a small, but important role...