The Blood Spattered Bride is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and directed by Vicente Aranda and very loosely based on Sheridan LeFanu's Carmilla.
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".
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.
The movie also stars Dean Selmier, Angel Lombarte and Rosa Maria Rodriguez.
The Blood Spattered Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: Carmilla steps barefoot into a bear trap.
- Animal Motifs: Recurrent throughout the movie.
- 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".
- The Bear Trap 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".
- Asshole Victim: All the men in the film. The doctor is a pompous Know-Nothing Know-It-All, the hunter is a thick-headed brute, and Susan's husband is viciously sadistic. This makes it easier to sympathize with Susan and Carmilla when they seek vengeance.
- Bear Trap: 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 Ironic Echo.
- Coming-Out Story: A dark and violent take on the subject of LGBT Awakening, with Carmilla as Susan's Closet Key.
- Does Not Like Men: 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.
- Downer Ending: No matter which side you're rooting for, in the best-known ending everyone winds up badly. 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.
- Dysfunction Junction: The three main characters are all psychologically scarred and capable of brutal violence.
- Eye Scream: 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.
- Faux Affably Evil: 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.
- The Film of the Book: It's technically based on Carmilla, but the adaptation is In Name Only. The film takes a few ideas and a little dialogue from the book and goes in its own direction.
- Girls vs. Boys Plot: A very dark variation on the trope.
- Hoist With His Own Petard: Susan finishes off the hunter with his own shotgun.
- Hot Teacher: At one point we see Carmilla working at a girls' school, teaching a lesson about the primacy of blood.
- The Immodest Orgasm: 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.
- Lesbian Vampire: 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.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Both Carmilla and Susan have traditionally feminine appearances. As does Carol, who joins them at the end of the film.
- Mind Screw: There are several scenes that are deliberately ambiguous as to whether they're happening in reality or Susan's imagination.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Played with. Carmilla is trying to eliminate Susan's husband, but atypically for the trope, Susan enthusiastically joins her. Lampshaded when the doctor tries to warn the husband what's going on.Doctor: Three is a triangle, and you are the intruder.
- Naked on Arrival: 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.
- No Name Given: None of the male characters are named. Susan's husband is called "He" in the opening credits.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Averted Trope. This is one of the few Lesbian Vampire films of the era in which the characters are actually referred to as lesbians.
- Outlaw Couple: Susan and Carmilla are a variation, because they never actually deal with the law. Susan's husband gets to them first.
- Psycho Knife Nut: 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.
- Psycho Lesbian: Susan, a young bride who's uneasy about sex with her husband, encounters Lesbian Vampire Carmilla and is seduced, and together they unleash murderous enmity toward men.
- Revenge Against Men: 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 Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the husband and his friends.
- Revised Ending: The Blu-ray release includes a previously unseen alternate ending. The husband still shoots Carmilla and Susan. However, in this version Carol survives and takes Carmilla's dagger, implying that she'll continue the crusade against men, which is probably bad news for the husband.
- Rule of Symbolism: Besides the Animal Motifs, 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.
- Shout-Out: One of the chapters in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill 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.
- So Proud of You: In a twisted variation, Carmilla smiles with pride as she watches Susan killing the hunter.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: The film ends with Susan and her husband trying to do this to each other.
- Undead Barefooter: Carmilla walks around barefoot, which does her no good when she steps into a bear trap.
- The Unreveal: The film never specifies what kind of "unspeakable acts" Carmilla's husband tried to commit.
- World Limited to the Plot: Most of the story takes place at or near a seaside estate owned by the husband's family.
