Line #18 Film/TheBloodSpatteredBride


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blood_splattered_bride.jpg]]
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3	''The Blood Spattered Bride'' is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and directed by Vicente Aranda and ''very'' loosely based on Sheridan [=LeFanu=]'s ''Literature/{{Carmilla}}''.
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5	Young newlywed Susan (Maribel Martin) is having a pretty bad honeymoon, because her husband (Simon Andreu) has revealed himself to be physically and emotionally abusive. She's also being haunted by visions of a beautiful, mysterious blond woman (Alexandra Bastedo). When the couple arrives at the husband's coastal estate, Susan learns the woman from her visions is Mircalla Karnstein, an ancestor of her husband's who murdered her own husband during their honeymoon after he asked her to do "unspeakable acts".
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7	Later, the husband finds a naked woman on the beach; she turns out to be the blond Susan has seen before. The woman calls herself Carmilla, and yes, she's ''that'' Carmilla -- but she's also the ghost and/or reincarnation of Mircalla. Susan finds herself increasingly attracted to the alluring, charismatic Carmilla, despite (or because of) her violent hatred of men. Soon, Susan and Carmilla not only become lesbian lovers, but begin killing all the men on the estate, with Susan's husband their ultimate target. The husband and his friends respond in kind, leading to a literal battle of the sexes.
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9	The movie also stars Dean Selmier, Angel Lombarte and Rosa Maria Rodriguez.
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11	!!The Blood Spattered Tropes:
12	* AgonyOfTheFeet: Carmilla steps barefoot into a bear trap.
13	* AnimalMotifs: Recurrent throughout the movie.
14	** When the husband pursues an unwilling Susan for sex, she locks herself inside a structure that looks like a human-sized bird cage and compares him to "a little puppy waiting to be given his food".
15	** The BearTrap scene, with its implicit comparison between Carmilla and the female fox who had been caught by a similar trap. The DVD chapter for this scene is titled "Trapped Animals".
16	* AssholeVictim: All the men in the film. The doctor is a pompous KnowNothingKnowItAll, the hunter is a thick-headed [[TheBrute brute]], and Susan's husband is viciously {{sadist}}ic. This makes it easier to [[SympatheticMurderer sympathize]] with Susan and Carmilla when they seek vengeance.
17	* BearTrap: Early in the movie, a hunter uses a leghold trap to capture and kill a female fox. Later, during the climatic chase, Carmilla steps barefoot into a similar trap set by the same hunter as an IronicEcho.
18	* ComingOutStory: A dark and violent take on the subject of LGBTAwakening, with Carmilla as Susan's ClosetKey.
19	* DoesNotLikeMen: Carmilla regards men with contempt, and Susan quickly comes to agree with her. Considering that both women were married to evil sadists, this is totally understandable.
20	* DownerEnding: No matter which side you're rooting for, in the best-known ending everyone winds up badly. [[spoiler:The husband shoots Susan, Carmilla and Carol, then cuts out all their hearts. Then a newspaper headline informs us that he's been convicted for murdering them.]]
21	* DysfunctionJunction: The three main characters are all psychologically scarred and capable of brutal violence.
22	* EyeScream: The doctor sees Susan and Carmilla making love and tells Susan's husband. The two women eventually express their displeasure by gouging his eyes out before killing him.
23	* FauxAffablyEvil: Carmilla is perfectly nice to both Susan and her husband at first. However, as she reveals her true agenda, she becomes much nicer to Susan... and much less nice to her husband.
24	* TheFilmOfTheBook: It's technically based on ''Carmilla'', but the adaptation is InNameOnly. The film takes a few ideas and a little dialogue from the book and goes in its own direction.
25	* GirlsVsBoysPlot: A ''very'' dark variation on the trope.
26	* HoistWithHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Susan finishes off the hunter with his own shotgun.]]
27	* HotTeacher: At one point we see Carmilla working at a girls' school, teaching a lesson about the primacy of blood.
28	* TheImmodestOrgasm: Susan and Carmilla are offscreen during their sex scene, but make up for it with the sheer loudness and intensity of their erotic moans and orgasmic outcries.
29	* LesbianVampire: Carmilla, naturally, but she's not a traditional example of the trope. At one point we're shown that she has normal teeth with no fangs, but we also see her biting Susan's shoulder and drawing blood just before they make love. She also has no problem walking around during the day.
30	* LipstickLesbian: Both Carmilla and Susan have traditionally feminine appearances. [[spoiler:As does Carol, who joins them at the end of the film.]]
31	* MindScrew: There are several scenes that are [[AmbiguousSituation deliberately ambiguous]] as to whether they're happening in reality or Susan's imagination.
32	* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]]. Carmilla is trying to eliminate Susan's husband, but atypically for the trope, Susan enthusiastically joins her. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when the doctor tries to warn the husband what's going on.
33	-->'''Doctor:''' Three is a [[LoveTriangle triangle]], and ''you'' are the intruder.
34	* NakedOnArrival: When Susan and her husband are on the beach, the husband sees a snorkel sticking out of the sand. It turns out Carmilla is buried beneath the sand, wearing the snorkel... and nothing else.
35	* NoNameGiven: None of the male characters are named. Susan's husband is called "He" in the opening credits.
36	* NotUsingTheZWord: AvertedTrope. This is one of the few LesbianVampire films of the era in which the characters are actually referred to as lesbians.
37	* OutlawCouple: Susan and Carmilla are a variation, because they never actually deal with the law. [[spoiler:Susan's husband gets to them first.]]
38	* PsychoKnifeNut: Carmilla's favored weapon is a dagger which she shares with Susan. Susan's husband tries to get rid of it, but it keeps reappearing mysteriously.
39	* PsychoLesbian: Susan, a young bride who's uneasy about sex with her husband, encounters LesbianVampire Carmilla and is seduced, and together they unleash murderous enmity toward men.
40	* RevengeAgainstMen: When young newlywed Susan is physically and emotionally abused by her husband, the ghost of Carmilla (who was similarly victimized when she was alive) comes to the rescue. The two women become lovers and begin a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the husband and his friends.
41	* RevisedEnding: The UsefulNotes/BluRay release includes a previously unseen alternate ending. [[spoiler:The husband still shoots Carmilla and Susan. However, in this version Carol survives and [[TakeUpMySword takes Carmilla's dagger]], implying that she'll continue the crusade against men, which is probably [[OffscreenKarma bad news for the husband]].]]
42	* RuleOfSymbolism: Besides the AnimalMotifs, the film has several scenes of phallic imagery, from Susan's wedding dress getting caught on the barrel of a toy cannon to a close-up of a shotgun barrel oozing white smoke. Carmilla's signature dagger might also qualify.
43	* ShoutOut: One of the chapters in Creator/QuentinTarantino's ''Film/KillBill'' is named after this film, which is appropriate considering that Tarantino's movie is also about a bride who seeks violent revenge on a man who has victimized her.
44	* SoProudOfYou: In a twisted variation, Carmilla smiles with pride as she watches [[spoiler:Susan killing the hunter]].
45	* TilMurderDoUsPart: The film ends with Susan and her husband trying to do this to each other.
46	* UndeadBarefooter: Carmilla walks around barefoot, which does her no good when she steps into a bear trap.
47	* TheUnreveal: The film never specifies what kind of "unspeakable acts" Carmilla's husband tried to commit.
48	* WorldLimitedToThePlot: Most of the story takes place at or near a seaside estate owned by the husband's family.

Context Film / TheBloodSpatteredBride