The Blood Spattered Bride, 1972

Carmilla the predatory lesbian vampire returns in Spanish filmmaker Vicente Aranda’s 1972 film La Novia Ensangrentada, otherwise known as The Blood Spattered Bride. Just like The Vampire Lovers, Aranda’s film pulls its inspiration from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella, Carmilla. Bride is the story of Susan and her husband, newlyweds, who spend their honeymoon at her husband’s family home where Susan meets a strange woman. Susan and the woman (Carmilla), well, “participate in some activities” together. There is also some playing hide and seek with a misshapen dagger and for Carmilla, burying herself in the sand? It’s a weird one. The film has been described by some as progressive in its themes of sexuality and gender. Kate Hagen of Medium says this about the film:

“THE BLOOD-SPATTERED BRIDE is all about how men minimize the voices of women — whether that means ignoring their protests about not wanting to have sex, accusing them of being “hysterical” and drugging them, or hiding the entirety of a family’s history of women in a cellar. Carmilla’s power has been derived from fighting back against a man who forced rough sex upon her 200 years earlier, and she’s only gotten stronger in the intervening centuries — hell truly hath no fury, especially when she’s been trapped in a crypt with nothing but time to think. The lesbian relationship that develops between a meek Susan and a sexually magnetic Carmilla becomes a sacred femme exchange: they’ve both been totally failed by the men in their family, but together, can find love, affection, and most of all, pleasure.”

Even though many viewers and critics have called The Blood Spattered Bride a feminist film, its gender politics seem pretty murky throughout and its depiction of a predatory queer character seems more regressive and of its time. Like I said after the last film in this queer marathon, I’m really sick of this subgenre. SOMEBODY HELP ME. Vampires have always been used to explore sexuality on screen, but as so many horror fans know, the line between exploration and exploitation is thin. It’s getting hard for me to believe there can be a lesbian vampire film made by a man that doesn’t cross that line. Let me know if you know of any good ones!

Instead of trashing this film, let me throw out a few recommendations for all the vampire lovers out there. First, everyone knows that Let the Right One In is probably the best vampire film out there. COME AT ME. During my women-directed horror marathon, I came across this smaller film from Xan Cassavetes called Kiss of the Damned. If you like erotic vampire horror films, that’ll be the film for you. Park Chan-wook’s Thirst is a good one too. Coming back to queer stuff, not a vampire film, but does involve the eating of people is Antonia Bird’s Ravenous from 1999. That. movie. is. so. gay. YOU’RE WELCOME!