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Bloody Moon – Severin Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: West Germany, 1981
Director: Jesus Franco
Writer: Rayo Casablanca
Cast: Olivia Pascal, Christoph Moosbrugger, Nadja Gerganoff, Alexander Waechter, Jasmin Losensky, Corinna Drews, Ann-Beate Engelke, Peter Exacoustos, Antonia García, Beatriz Sancho Nieto, María Rubio, Otto Retzer, Jesus Franco

Release Date: July 8th, 2014
Approximate Running Time: 85 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: N/A
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.98

"As the ‘body-count’ genre stabbed its way into audiences’ hearts in the early ’80s, EuroTrash auteur Jess Franco (Sadomania, Mansion Of The Living Dead) was asked to create his own saga of slaughtered schoolgirls complete with gratuitous nudity, graphic violence, and gory set pieces. But just when you thought you’d seen it all, Franco shocked the world by delivering surprising style, genuine suspense and a cavalcade of depravity that includes incest, voyeurism and roller disco." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.75/5

Bloody Moon comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 18.1 GB

Feature: 16 GB

Colors look vibrant, details look crisp throughout, and outside of the opening sequence, black levels look very good and grain looks natural. In order to present this film completely uncut, there are a few very minor instances where the image does not look as crisp, and this is most likely due to the fact that some of the footage was taken from a lesser source. This same footage is also present on Severin’s DVD release for this film.

Audio: 3.75/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM Mono mix in English. There are no issues with background noise or distortion. Dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced. Range-wise, though things are rather limited, the more ambient aspects of the soundtrack fare well, and the film's score sounds appropriately robust.

Extras:

Extras for this release include English language trailer (1 minute 38 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles) and an interview with Jess Franco titled Franco Moon (18 minutes 50 seconds, LPCM stereo English with non-removable English subtitles).

Summary:

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 film 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 of Bloody Moon is Miguel’s incestuous relationship with his sister Manuela.

Visually, Bloody Moon is far from Jess Franco’s most stylish or memorable work, but it is still very effective, especially in the way he sets up each kill. The most memorable moment visually is a scene in which a young woman is decapitated by a large circular saw. The rest of the killings are bloody and brutal at times. 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, including 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 who at times is reminiscent of Gaston Leroux’s Phantom. In Franco's hands, Alexander Waechter is nothing more than a prop. 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 by having no one believe her 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's as Manuela. Her performance is equally seductive and devious.

The dialogue is laughable, and the majority of the cast sleepwalk their way through their perspective roles. One thing which most Jess 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 a delirious film that pushes all the horror genre cliches to their limits and then some.

Bloody Moon gets a Hi-Def makeover that is a marked improvement over Severin Films' previous DVD release.