‘They’ll come back. They cannot die...’
European horror cinema in the ’70s was a pretty wild place. Taking in decadence, eroticism and surrealism, as championed by the Italian giallo movement, the horror films of this era were often cheaply produced and narratively derivative, but they also offer some of the most starkly deranged visuals in horror history. The Blood Spattered Bride is no exception…
Susan (Maribel Martin) and her new unnamed husband (Simon Andreu) arrive at the latter’s childhood home following their wedding only to find things are not quite as they seem at the old house. The walls are adorned with paintings of the men of the house whilst the portraits of the various wives are hidden away in the cellar. A mysterious dagger keeps reappearing no matter how many times it is hidden. Something is afoot.
Written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Vicente Aranda, The Blood Spattered Bride has moments where it feels like it’s going to devolve into full-blown pornography, while also taking in elements of folk horror, vampirism and the enduring trope of the Mad Woman. It’s no coincidence that the film features prominently in Kier-La Janisse’s key horror text House of Psychotic Women. While the film has some incredible visual moments, and plenty of surprisingly ingenious cinematography, it also struggles with narrative consistency. The characters seem to undergo whole personality shifts with no explanation and the ethereal surrealism and frantic pace make the whole thing feel like an underdeveloped fever dream at times.
The Blood Spattered Bride is certainly a unique experience and it’s a film that has echoed throughout cinematic history (Quentin Tarantino is a fan) but it’s also tonally uneven and too idiosyncratic for its own good – a blood soaked curio.
