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Bloody Moon
[Severin]
1981; color
Directed by Jesus Franco
Starring: Olivia Pascal, Christopher Moosbrugger, Nadja Gerganhoff & Alexander Waechter
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Bloody Moon is an interesting entry in Jess Franco's filmography for a number of reasons. Not only does it defy some of the typical horror conventions of the modern slasher era (while at the same time being clearly inspired by some of the genre's key films), Franco seems to have thrown his own book of tricks out the window for this one as it's almost devoid of trademarks like the unnecessary zoom, pointless gratuitous nudity, and incidental lesbianism. With obvious nods to giallo-style kills, as well as Friday The 13th, Bloody Moon creates it's own little niche as it tells the story of Angela, a student at an all-girl foreign language school / country club. Our poor heroine has the dumb luck of being stalked by an unseen party who keeps killing off her fellow students. She keeps telling people girls are missing (and presumably dead) but everyone just thinks she's crazy and ignores her. To make matters worse, by the time we start rolling headlong into the final scenes, all of the dead bodies turn up in her bungalow. Even with a list of suspects ranging from the facially disfigured Miguel, his sister Manuela (the two not only have an incestuous past but stand to inherit the vast estate the school / country club calls home), the oversexed gardener Antonio, the head instructor Alvaro, and the creepy bald retarded guy who reminds me of a more sinister version of Sid Haig's Ralph character in Spider Baby, it's still not too hard to peg the killer by the time the third reel starts which doesn't detract from the overall experience. In the very informative interview bonus feature accompanying the film, the director relates how he chose to use brief shots of horror, each lasting generally only a few frames, to achieve a much more effective shock effect than a lingering shot - and he's completely right on in his assessment. The almost-too-brief blasts of actual gore (save for the sawmill scene, which looks hopelessly fake in an almost HG Lewis way), may not be genuinely horrific, but they do an excellent job of ratcheting up the tension and pace, and probably made theater audiences jump a bit when this was released in 1981. While it's far from being one of the best slasher flicks, it's still a must-see for Franco-philes and pretty worthwhile for fans of late '70s / early '80s horror in general.
—the Kommandant
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