Brides of Blood is a 1968 Filipino horror film directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, based on a screenplay by Cesar Amigo. It stars John Ashley (Frankenstein’s Daughter, The Eye Creatures), Kent Taylor (The Crawling Hand, The Mighty Gorga, Blood of Ghastly Horror), Beverly Powers [as Beverly Hills] (The Comedy of Terrors, Invasion of the Bee Girls, Jaws), Eva Darren (Vampira, 1994), Mario Montenegro, Oscar Kesse.
It was the first movie actor John Ashley made in the Philippines, he soon returned for Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Beast of the Yellow Night, Blood Devils, The Twilight People and others.
Plot:
Dr. Paul Henderson is a scientist who travels to a tropical island (known to locals as “Blood Island”) to investigate the possibility of radiation due to the testing of atomic bombs in the area. Accompanying him is his beautiful wife, Carla, who seems to suffer from an extreme case of sexual frustration. Jim Farrell, a Peace Corps representative is also traveling to the island to help the natives build facilities to better their lives.
The trio come upon a native funeral procession. They realize in horror that the two bodies being carried for burial at sea are completely dismembered; an arm falls out, causing Carla to scream in terror. After the ceremony, the Americans are greeted by Arcadio, the tribe’s elder, and his granddaughter Alma. Arcadio welcomes them to the island, but both he and Alma seem terrified of something, and he openly admits that he wishes he would have warned them to stay away before the boat left.
Paul goes looking for specimens and is joined by Carla. Both of them notice a bizarre manifestation when the sun appears to set hours before it should do so. The darkening island becomes ominous, a feeling furthered when Paul discovers the carcass of an oversized crab. Then Jim notices a strange plant near the village…
Reviews:
“The whole film is very colorfully shot, with lots of bold lighting choices, such as blue and pink smoke for the sacrifice scenes. It also features some very good sets and props, as well as more gore and nudity than most horrors of its day. In short; it’s an awful movie that looks pretty good and thanks to the busy plot, exploitation elements and overall air of silliness, I can almost guarantee schlock fans are gonna enjoy this one.” The Bloody Pit of Horror
“Brides of Blood does have the occasional gripping and effective moment, including a couple of chase scenes through the man-eating jungle which combine surprisingly good day-for-night cinematography with some really ingenious matte effects, but mostly it’s just extremely silly. Some of the blame belongs to John Ashley. His boyish, matinee-idol looks seem woefully out of place, his acting is as miserable as it was when he was working for Larry Buchanan, and in general, the movie would have been much better off without him. A lot more of it has to do with the utterly ludicrous pseudo-science that threatens to gobble up every line of dialogue…” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
“With an outrageous silly/scary creature running around and making unearthly noises, Brides of Blood is a fun monster romp that’s reminiscent of a 50s B picture. There’s a lot of eerie nighttime photography, and some pre-ratings systems blood and nudity. Giant fleshy tree vines grabbing small children and clutch various extremities is pretty effective, as is the appeal of the feisty Hills, who aside from her luscious looks is not a bad actress either.“ George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
” … it does offer mild amusement for those who like their horrors cheesy and silly; everyone else may find it a test of the patience.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image
Wikipedia | IMDb | We are indebted to Wrong Side of the Art! for poster images
