Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Bloody Moon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 8, 2014

We may be still be waiting for the Blu-ray debuts of films by such masters as Orson Welles, William Wyler, Max Ophuls, Michelangelo Antonioni (to just pick a random handful or so) on Blu-ray, but we can rest assured that slowly but surely the oeuvre of Jess Franco is seeing the high definition light of day. This very definition of a cult director, a guy who nonchalantly talks about doing everything from “hard porno” (in his words) to exploitation flicks of all flavors, Franco is not known for his subtlety, and Bloody Moon, Franco's entry in the slasher idiom, an idiom not exactly known for its subtlety, fits rather snugly in the broad but limited confines of films that are all about the kills. Bloody Moon may be almost too obvious to believe at times, but it is filled to the brim with nubile young naked women just aching to have sex, several rather spectacularly gory death scenes, and just barely enough plot to keep things ambling along from set piece to set piece. The film is also perhaps more of a giallo than has been traditionally thought, with several tropes lifted out of that Italian accented slasher genre. In fact one of giallo's most defining ideas, the masked killer, plays out right from the beginning of Bloody Moon, but in a rather interesting way. In many gialli the mask of course hides the face of the mysterious killer, at least until the ostensibly shocking reveal. Here, in Bloody Moon, the exact opposite tack is taken, with the mask being purloined from someone wearing it at a costume party. The newly masked man takes off with another female and begins to make love to her, at which point the mask is removed, and we're introduced to the putative "hero" (or at least main character) of the film, a hideously disfigured man named Miguel (Alexander Waechler). Once Miguel is revealed, he quickly dispatches the frightened woman in the film's first scene of bloody carnage. If we already know who the killer is, what possibly could be left?

It turns out that the first murder is merely a set up which allows the story to focus on a post-mental institution Miguel while unspooling a series of incredibly gruesome murders. Miguel is shown to be in a precarious mental state even after his release from the institution, and it’s on that ambiguity that Bloody Moon builds most of its suspense. Only, the catch is—there isn’t much. The film is not hard to ferret out from almost the first moment, at least with regard to the overall plot machinations. In some of its telling details, notably the rather shocking revelation that Miguel has had a longstanding incestuous relationship with his sister Manuela (Nadja Gerganoff), the film is considerably more unsettling than even its most graphic slasher scenes.

In what might initially seem like a sudden detour of sorts, when Manuela picks up Miguel from the institution and they take a train ride home, Miguel is intrigued by a beautiful young blonde named Angela (Olivia Pascal) whom he sees in one of the cars. In the first of several probably unintentionally funny moments, Miguel has a flashback to his murderous spree which opened the film, at which point Manuela shows up, horrified to see the blonde’s scarf hanging from an open train window. “Did you kill her?”, Manuela asks incredulously, at which point Angela simply pops up in the frame (was she hiding in some unseen corner of the car?), just as incredulous herself, informing the two that it’s just her scarf that’s gotten stuck in the window. The awkwardness of this scene becomes something of a trademark throughout the rest of Bloody Moon, one that is unfortunately only exacerbated by some laugh inducing translations from the original Spanish dialogue (despite the film being a German production) and some equally ludicrous English dubbing where the voice actors might be charitably described as sounding somewhat developmentally disabled.

The film then veers off toward Angela as the ostensible main character, though Miguel, evidently obsessed, starts stalking her. At the same time, the body count begins rising, with the victims all having some connection to Angela as well as a language school run by Miguel and Manuela’s elderly aunt. Despite some passing attempts to introduce a bit of ambiguity into what’s going on, there’s never much doubt about who the culprit is, though once the film gets to its revelatory last act, things have become so hyperbolic that even Grand Guignol is probably not a grand enough adjective to adequately describe the tone, let alone the blood, gore and screaming content.

Bloody Moon is remembered today for at least a couple of unabashedly graphic death scenes, including a decapitation courtesy of a lumber mill circular saw and (in one of the film’s more memorably gruesome scenes) a skewer which goes through a female’s back and exits through one of her nipples. There’s also a frankly incredibly shocking scene which according to several sources shows a real life beheading of a snake with a pair of garden shears.

Despite its puerile aspects (or maybe even because of them), Bloody Moon is often deliriously entertaining, at least for those who like their slasher films to just shut up and cut to the bone (so to speak). There’s both the requisite gross out factor as well as a cartoonish ambience that carries Bloody Moon through an increasingly bizarre set of improbabilities. With a near Hamlet level of dead bodies populating the film by the time it careens toward a somewhat abbreviated feeling ending, many viewers will simply be thankful that they made it out alive.

Bloody Moon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bloody Moon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is probably overall the best looking transfer of the three horror outings released simultaneously by Severin (the other two being Bloody Birthday and The Baby). Bloody Moon offers what is arguably the best color reproduction of the trio, with little of the brown or yellow tints the other two sometimes have. In fact, the palette in this film is surprisingly vivid and varied, with some especially bright primaries on display in a couple of group scenes like the opening dance party. Grain is natural looking if at times slightly clumped looking (something that also was apparent in the other Severin releases). Fine detail is not exceptional, but certainly above average, and while the film is certainly soft by contemporary standards, it appears naturally filmic almost all of the time. Aside from the spliced in footage (sourced from some old video or at best 16mm source elements) of the goriest scenes (which are understandably much more raggedy looking than the bulk of the film), the only real qualm here is some inconsistent contrast which tends to affect the darker scenes at times.

Bloody Moon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From a fidelity standpoint, Bloody Moon's LPCM 2.0 mono track is serviceable if not outstanding, but those baseline aspects may be at least slightly buried by the often inartful dubbing job that has been done here, as well as the often insanely stilted dialogue. Everything is clearly and cleanly presented, with both dialogue and the kind of cheesy synth laden score sounding fine.

Bloody Moon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Franco's Moon: Featurette with Director Jess Franco (480i; 18:51) finds the curmudgeonly Franco in a typically cantankerous (albeit occasionally jolly) mood, decrying what he sees as the mishandling of the film. Fun to watch in a kind of "train wreck" sort of way.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1:39)

Bloody Moon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bloody Moon doesn't have quite the same deliberate shock value of The Baby (aside from its inherent slasher elements and the incest angle) or even the passing suspense of Bloody Birthday (which truth be told ends up not being all that suspenseful to begin with), but against all odds, I actually enjoyed this film more than the other two Severin has released simultaneously with this one. Bloody Moon makes no bones about being completely ridiculous and over the top, and lovers of cornball slasher fare should eat this one up in droves. The technical presentation here is surprisingly strong, and the Franco interview is often quite amusing.