film returns to attract a husband, while Aranda’s Mircala is called forth by feminine rage to literally “terminate” a marriage. The narcissistic callous- ness displayed by Leopoldo in BLOOD AND ROSES is here amplified to outright cruelty and contempt. While Vadim’s film is set in a pristine and elegantly appointed estate amidst the excitement of an im- minent wedding, Aranda’s takes place in a thread- bare atmosphere of decay (symbolic of the Husband’s abdication of domestic responsibility) after the myth of “happily ever after” has been vio- lently shattered. Both films feature a fox hunt, but in Vadim’s film two women pursue a male fox in an attempt to domesticate it, while in Aranda’s, two males snare a female fox and, after remarking on its beauty, shoot it twice. Both films also fea- ture physicians who condescendingly pathologize the women they come into contact with, but only in Aranda’s film is this myopia punished with lit- eral blindness. Thus, while Vadim’s film wallows in a stereotypical male fantasy scenario involving three beautiful and powerful women vying for posses- sion of a rather dull, callous, and narcissistic man, Aranda’s film punctures male hubris by focusing on the feminine rage and loathing that would in- evitably ensue once this particular “prize” were attained.


Although primarily a response to Vadim’s film, THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE is also a valid exploration and amplification of various aspects of Le Fanu’s CARMILLA. Choosing to focus on the novella’s depiction of lonely young women living under the dictates of patriarchal authority, and amplifying the “despicable affectation of superior- ity” displayed by their male guardians, Aranda reimagines Carmilla as a manifestation of sup- pressed female rage who, far from the predatory intruder of the novella, is unconsciously summoned by the oppressed woman as a means of protec- tion and retaliation. This is not to say that the film presents Carmila/Mircala in an entirely sympathetic light, as the murder and shotgun castration of Carol’s father—a largely sympathetic character— appears both unnecessary and unjustified. How- ever, the fact that this scene is an almost exact recreation of the slaughter of the female fox sug- gests that Mircala and Susan are acting in accor- dance with a terrible justice that is every bit as cruel as the violence that provokes it.


Le Fanu’s apparent discomfort with sex—largely absent from BLOOD AND ROSES—appears to be a prominent feature of Aranda’s film, which fre- quently compares sexual penetration to various acts of physical violence. The film’s numerous symbolic depictions of the tearing of the hymen (which


include not only the title itself, but also Susan’s veil being caught on a toy cannon, her husband kicking open the door of a dove cage, and the vio- lation of Mircala’s tomb) are visually linked to the stabbings, shootings, and gougings later enacted by both genders. But what many viewers forget— especially those who characterize Susan as “frigid”—is that the film does contain one sex scene in which her husband’s sexual tenderness is met by Susan with enthusiastic reciprocation. Thus, while Le Fanu evidenced discomfort with sex in general and female sexuality in particular, Aranda uses the lesbian content of the novella to condemn “machismo” and its accompanying justification of violence and male sexual entitlement. It is impor- tant to note that, throughout the film, the Hus- band is not especially alarmed by Susan’s attempts to kill him—as if he cannot view a woman as a credible threat to his life. Only when she cuckolds him with Carmila, thus threatening his masculin- ity, is his rage aroused. But it is not simply lesbi- anism, or even sexual infidelity, that evokes panic here, but rather the female independence they rep- resent. This independence is symbolized by the rings worn by Mircala, Susan, and even Carol with the jewels facing inward—in other words, worn not to attract others, but concealed purely for one’s own private pleasure. Importantly, in stark contrast to the male-gaze centered lesbianism of THE VAM- PIRE LOVERS (1969), the viewer is never permit- ted to see Susan and Mircala engaging in sex, and the only character who does is subsequently blinded.


Surprisingly, THE BLOOD SPATTERED BRIDE (a film in which, notably, only the female charac- ters have names) is most often characterized, even by its admirers, as a misogynistic work that justi- fies male panic in the face of lesbianism, infidelity, and sexual rejection. This charge might be cred- ible were the Husband a sympathetic character in any way. Instead, he is a rapist and sadist when aroused (his acts of sexual aggression are never eroticized in the film) and a narcissistic bore in his quieter moments. Even when he is not abusing Susan physically (at one point lifting her by the hair before forcing her to the ground to fellate him), his rambling monologue on his absence of voca- tion reveals that he views her as simply a hobby he may someday tire of, and considers their future children merely objects he might someday con- sider collecting. Susan is not the only target of his contempt, however, as his brutal slaying of the fe- male fox and violation of both Mircala’s tomb and corpse make it clear that he despises the feminine in general. Through the beach scene, Aranda


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