‘Till death do they part’
Blood Bride – aka Death of a Nun – is a 1980 American horror thriller film written and directed by Robert J. Avrech (screenwriter of Brian De Palma‘s Body Double and an executive producer of Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The ‘Plan 9’ Companion). The movie stars Ellen Barber, Philip English, Sam Gray and Jocelyn Javits .
A pious Catholic girl hopes her new boyfriend will be ‘Mr Right’. But as their relationship develops, she finds out that he has some unholy secrets…
Review:
Writer/director Robert J. Avrech’s Blood Bride carries over all of the eerie visual qualities from ‘70s horror films – underexposed colours shifting toward sepia, the probable use of anamorphic zoom lenses for softness, minimal lighting, slow motion, and high angles and tilts.
Unfortunately, Robert Baldwin’s diligent cinematography can’t save the film from Avrech’s ludicrous script or listless direction. The story itself is a tedious excursion into lethargic befuddlement, a boggy mix of pseudo-nunsploitation and slasher film with little of either.
Filled mostly with slow walks, sombre stares, and insipidly uninspired dialogue backed-up with strenuous music desperately trying but failing to keep the viewer awake, Blood Bride begins as a film about a not too frightening nun-obsessed killer, then shifts after fifty minutes into a woman-in-peril Lifetime movie. It’s supposed to be kinky and smouldering but feels more miasmic than anything else, making an hour-and-a-half film feel like suffering an unwelcome weekend-long ‘surprise’ visit by your partner’s relatives.
Ben Spurling, MOVIES & MANIA
Buy Vipco VHS: Amazon.co.uk
Cast and characters:
Ellen Barber … Marie – The Premonition
Philip English … John McPherson
Sam Gray … Papa
Bobo Lewis … Mama
Jocelyn Javits …Sister Mary/Mrs McPherson
Rita Fliegel … Prostitute
Noah Parks … Young McPherson
Rufus Smith … Father Thomas
Joseph Sullivan … Henry Stern
Trude Stone … Nun at Wedding
Filming locations: New York, New York
Release:
In the USA, Blood Bride was released on VHS by Magnum Entertainment.
In the UK, Vipco released the movie on a pre-cert VHS and re-issued it as Death of a Nun.
Film Facts:
The film’s working title was apparently Marie.
Technical specs:
1 hour 30 minutes
Audio: Mono
