The Blood Spattered Bride [DVD] [1972]

Vicente Aranda directed this erotic horror film, continuing themes which he had explored in the previous year's Exquisite Cadaver. Alexandra Bastedo stars as a lesbian vampire who woos frigid newlywed Maribel Martin away from her husband Simon Andreu on their honeymoon. Aranda fills the film with haunting imagery, gorgeously photographed by veteran cinematographer Fernando Arribas, and the story's sometimes illogical twists are compensated for with heavy, skillfully-crafted atmosphere. The American video print of this stylish vampire film is missing almost 20 minutes, so viewers are advised to seek out an uncut version.~Robert Firsching