Synopsis:

Bloody Moon is Jess Franco’s take on the slasher film genre that gained prominence throughout the 1980’s. Due to the success of the Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween films series. On the surface Bloody Moon looks like a murder by numbers horror film and nothing more. All the horror film cliches and red herrings are present. One interesting twist exploited in the plot for Bloody Moon is Miguel’s incestuous relationship with his sister Manuela. Visually Bloody Moon is far from Franco’s most stylish or memorable still it is very effective especially in the way his sets ups each kill. Franco’s most memorable moment visually is a scene wear a young woman is decapitated by a large circular saw. The rest of the killings are bloody and at times brutal. The only killing that comes off half ass is when a young child is run over by a car. In the film the killer uses a wide variety of weapons succors, a knife, cutting shears, a circular saw and their hands.

Alexander Waechter is cast in the role of Miguel a disfigured and misunderstood young man that at times is reminiscent to Gaston Leroux’s the Phantom. Alexander Waechter is nothing more than a prop in Franco hands. His wooden performance lacks emotion and menace. Cast in the role of Angela is a German actress named Olivia Pascal (Vanessa, Behind Convent Walls). Angela is your typical hysterical girl being menaced that no one believes when she cries out for help. Even though her character is one dimensional Olivia Pascal is convincing enough in the role. The most memorable role in the film is Nadja Gerganoff as Manuela. Her performance is equally seductive and devious. The dialog in the film is laughable and the majority of the cast sleepwalk their way through their perspective roles. One thing which most Franco films feature is a solid score and the score for Bloody Moon is another winner. The score for Bloody Moon was composed by Gerhard Heinz who also composed the score for Jess Franco’s Linda. Ultimately Bloody Moon is delirious film that pushes all the horror genres cliches to their limits and then some.

The DVD:

Severin Film’s presents Bloody Moon in an anamorphic widescreen that preserves the film’s original aspect ratio. This progressive flagged transfer looks stunning with vivid colors and razor sharp detail throughout. Overall Severin Film’s transfer blows away all previous releases of this film.

This release comes with one audio option a Dolby Digital mono mix in English. The audio is in good shape with no background noise or audio defects. Dialog is crystal clear and the music sounds robust throughout. Overall this is a very satisfying audio mix that keeps everything evenly balanced.

Extras for this release include a English language trailer for Bloody Moon and a nineteen minute interview with Jess Franco titled “Franco Moon” which is in English and it comes with English subtitles. Jess Franco covers a lot of topics including his difficulties working with the producers of the film, how he was promised Pink Floyd for the film’s score, working in the horror film genre and the interview ends with some comments about his film Linda. Overall Bloody Moon gets a definitive DVD release from Severin Films, highly recommended.