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Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) - Blu-ray Review

4 beersThere is a disturbing loneliness that is central to this low budget horror flick from 1975.  Its subject matter is disturbing.  Its sexuality is raw.  It is a movie about a vampire with no fear of crosses or garlic.  And in Mexico, there is no escaping the sun.  An American Vampire in Mexico?  Yes.  And she is so very lonely. 

Hitting the scene three years before writer/director George A. Romero’s revered Martin, in which Vampirism is a disease, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary is a prime example of low budget cinematic genuineness.  Director Juan López Moctezuma’s film is a true original in the horror genre.  It might be unusually edited but, when it comes to vampirism, this film provides a unique spin on the undying subject of bloodlust and immortality.

"While a bit clumsy and full of forgettable performances, Mary, Mary Bloody Mary is pretty unforgettable."


Mary is a surrealist artist.  Her work is bizarre and seems to reflect the confusion she displays consistently through this low budget horror film.  She sells her art, gets to know her buyer, and then kills them, feeding off their blood.  Maybe she has sex with them first.  Whatever.  The point is, in between the nudity, someone is going to die.

Portrayed by a super gorgeous Cristina Ferrare, Mary doesn’t use her teeth to draw blood from her victims.  What she does use to break the surface of her victim’s skin is a dagger no bigger than her finger.  And she is relentless when feeding.  Thing is, you never know who she will feed on.  I don’t believe she knows either because, and the evidence is certainly there, she doesn’t know what or who she is either. {googleads}

But she is being followed and it isn’t by the police, although they are beginning to figure some things out as the bodies start piling up.  Co-starring David Young and Helena Rojo, this horror film is a cultist’s wet dream come true.

Turns out, there is a mysterious man in black (John Carradine) who is hot on her trail and he looks a lot like Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 from Outer Space.  I’m not kidding.  He might be trying to get Mary’s attention as he does wave his hands a lot and knows her name.  He also might be trying to kill her.  We don’t know, but, with all the layers of black he’s wearing in the hot sun, we are certainly suspect of him.  And so is Mary.    

The first thing you will notice about Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary is its lack of anything supernatural.  There are no magical transformations into killer creatures.  No bats either.  There are no super powers.  There’s not even a fear of sunlight.  And, without any sense of Gothicism involved, you might even begin to doubt that this horror film is about a vampire at all.  That is the point of this flick. 

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) - Blu-ray Review

And it makes for perfectly interesting horror.

The is not a film about an urban legend.  No, the Bloody Mary figure in this movie is a bisexual artist with a lust for blood that she really knows nothing about.  Imagine if you were in her shoes.  You kill.  You feed.  You don’t know why.  You just do it.  This is where this film gets its strength from.  It’s a disturbing premise that, even at its conclusion, remains haunting.  While a bit clumsy and full of forgettable performances, Mary, Mary Bloody Mary is pretty unforgettable.  It is now on blu-ray thanks to Code Red.

There’s something about Mary indeed.

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Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime:
101 mins
Director
: Juan López Moctezuma
Writer:
Malcolm Marmorstein
Cast:
Cristina Ferrare, David Young, John Carradine
Genre
: Horror | Drama
Tagline:
She's a beauty. She's a beast. She's Bloody Mary.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Theatrical Distributor:

Official Site:
Release Date:

DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
April 26, 2014
Synopsis: A beautiful artist moonlights as a vampire while in Mexico, killing lovers of both sexes. It seems that the only person who has any chance of stopping her reign of terror is her father, who's also a vampire.

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Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Home Video Distributor: Code Red DVD
Available on Blu-ray
- April 26, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
: None
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Region-free playback

Code Red presents this 2015 HD upgrade with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The results in this bloody feast are full of crisp details and solid black levels. There is the occasional print damage of dirt and debris, but overall, this is a solid release of a seriously great flick. There is, in some certain location shoots, a heavy layer of grain. Now, this doesn’t bother me. I like grain. Grain works, but if you are expecting a low budget knockoff to look better some number of years AFTER its release date, then you will be disappointed. This isn’t a restoration. It simply is what it is. Interiors are good, but details aren’t as graphic as they could be. Black levels are good, but never impressive. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 is adequate for the release.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

The film’s producer speaks in the lone supplemental item.

  • Interview with Henri Bollinger (14 min)

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Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) - Blu-ray Review

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