Fata/Morgana – Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain, 1965
Director: Vicente Aranda
Writers: Vicente Aranda, Gonzalo Suárez
Cast: Teresa Gimpera, Marianne Benet, Marcos Martí, Antonio Ferrandis, Alberto Dalbés, Antonio Casas, Glòria Roig

Release Date: July 9th, 2024
Approximate running time: 87 Minutes 6 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Spanish
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"A man rehearses a lecture he is planning to give, analyzing serial killers. He claims that a woman is soon to be murdered in the city. It is inevitable, he explains, as some people are born victims while others are born to kill. He plans to identify the future victim through a series of photographs of violent acts.

Fashion model Gim, played by iconic Spanish actress Teresa Gimpera, finds herself alone in a Barcelona that seems almost deserted. She seeks out her lover, Alvaro, for help. On her way to meet him she is harassed by a series of men and followed by a huge and menacing silver truck with blacked out windows. Through a loud speaker on the truck a mechanical voice orders all persons to leave the city immediately.

Gim finds that Alvaro’s former girlfriend, Miriam, is staying in his house having just returned from London where a terrible but unexplained event occurred. In Alvaro’s “art chamber”, an obviously disturbed Miriam finds a large knife disguised as a metallic silver fish. Meanwhile, a group of teenage boys cut out a picture of Gim from a huge advertising billboard. They carry it through the empty city streets in a silent procession." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Brand new 2K restoration from the original negative".

Fata/Morgana comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.9 GB

Feature: 23.5 GB

The source looks excellent; colors are nicely saturated, black levels are strong, image clarity, contrast, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4.5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Spanish with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced. Range-wise, this track sounds very good.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a Mondo Macabro preview reel, alternative opening sequence (59 seconds, Spanish text with non-removable English subtitles), an interview with actress Teresa Gimpera titled The Muse of Pop Cinema (24 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), an interview with Angel Sala, director of the Sitges Film Festival (19 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), and an audio commentary with Eurocult expert Rachael Nisbet.

Summary:

Directed by Vicente Aranda, whose other notable films are The Exquisite Cadaver, The Blood Spattered Bride, Change of Sex, and Mad Love.

Serial killers besiege Barcelona, causing the inhabitants to flee in a panic. Of the few inhabitants remaining, one is a model who refuses to flee despite repeated warnings that she’s the next victim.

Content-wise, Fata/Morgana is a mix of 1960s pop art cinema and elements that are synonymous with the Giallo genre. It features a sparse narrative that offers little in the way of backstory or character motivations. And though it has a premise ripe with possibilities and the ability to foresee murders before they happen, unfortunately, the execution of the premise is not without its shortcomings. That said, the premise does bear some similarities to Phillip K. Dick’s Minority Report.

The setting is a blend of modern and futuristic elements, leaning more towards the former. And though Barcelona is the main location, the emptiness of the streets and locations adds a tremendous amount of foreboding atmosphere. Visually, Fata/Morgana has an abundance of striking moments, notably the use of black-and-white photos of the murders.

The cast is not much more than pieces on a chess board moved around for maximum effectiveness. Teresa Gimpera (Night of the Devil's) is cast in the role of the protagonist, a model named Gim. In her acting debut, she more than fulfills what is required of her character. The most memorable performance is Marianne Benet’s portrayal of Miriam, a woman who holds the key to the murders.

From a production standpoint, Fata/Morgana is a film that does not maximize the sum of its parts. It is a melting pot of influences and themes, some of which are more effective than others. Ultimately, though the narrative feels like a series of random moments, the payoff finale does a solid job of bringing everything together.

Mondo Macabro gives Fata/Morgana an excellent release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer

The Blood Spattered Bride – Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Spain, 1972
Director: Vicente Aranda
Writers: Vicente Aranda, Matthew Lewis
Cast: Simón Andreu, Maribel Martín, Alexandra Bastedo, Dean Selmier, Ángel Lombarte, Montserrat Julió, Rosa M. Rodriguez

Release Date: February 13th, 2018
Approximate running time: 102 Minutes 14 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Spanish, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

"Susan, a young bride, travels with her husband to his family's ancient manor house in the far north of Spain. Susan is a virgin and is very hesitant about her husband's sexual demands. She is also disturbed about her unfamiliar surroundings and wonders if she will ever come to terms with her new married life. She is stocked to discover that all the old portraits of female members of her husband's family have been locked away in the basement. When she finds them, she discovers that one of the portraits shows a woman holding a strange dagger. The woman's face has been cut out of the painting. Her name is Mircala Karstien ..." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Brand new 4K restoration from the original negative."

The Blood Spattered Bride comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 40.8 GB

Feature: 27.7 GB

Outside of some very minor debris, most of the source looks excellent. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, black levels are strong, image clarity and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look. This release gives you the option to watch the opening quote, opening credits, and closing credits in English or Spanish.

Audio: 4.5/5 (LPCM Mono Spanish, LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Spanish and a LPCM mono mix in English. Both audio tracks are in great shape; dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. Included with this release are removable English subtitles for the Spanish-language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a Mondo Macabro’s Promo Reel, a Spanish language theatrical trailer (3 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Spanish, no subtitles), a English language theatrical trailer (3 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a U.S. double feature release theatrical trailer under the title Frenzy of Blood (3 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), 3 radio spots (4 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), four deleted and alternate scenes (7 minutes 35 seconds), an interview with Euro Gothic author Jonathan Rigby (28 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with cinematographer Fernando Arribas (32 minutes 26 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a two part interview with actor Simón Andreu, part one (32 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles) and part two (28 minutes 36 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Samm Deighan and Kat Ellinger, Daughters of Darkness podcast.

Summary:

Directed by Vicente Aranda, whose other notable films are Fata/Morgana, The Exquisite Cadaver, Change of Sex, and Mad Love. The Blood Spattered Bride is an adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's novella Carmila. Other notable adaptations are Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr, Blood and Roses, The Vampire Lovers, and Let's Scare Jessica to Death.

A virgin bride’s inability to meet her husband’s sexual demands puts a stain on her marriage. Her situation takes a turn for the worse when she digs deeper into her husband's family’s past. A woman who bears a striking resemblance to Mircalla Karstein, a descendant of her husband, who died 200 years before, seduces and causes her to lose grip on reality.

Without a doubt, the visuals are the one area where The Blood Spattered Bride does excel. That said, there are a handful of visual moments that horror film enthusiasts are sure to thoroughly enjoy. Most notably, there is a dream sequence where the wife violently stabs her husband in the abdomen, and at the end of the bloodletting, she severs his penis. Another striking moment is a scene on the beach where the husband discovers a nude Mircalla Karstein submerged in sand.

The cast is very good in their roles, especially Simón Andreu’s (Death Walks at Midnight) portrayal of Susan’s overbearing husband and Maribel Martín’s (Bell from Hell) portrayal of Susan, the sexually repressed bride. That said, the standout performance is Alexandra Bastedo’s (Stigma) mesmerizing portrayal of the otherworldly Mircalla Karstein.

Though the premise is ripe with possibilities, The end result is a slow-moving melodrama. That ultimately redeems itself with a very satisfying final act. Another drawback is The Blood Spattered Bride’s inability to decide whether it is an all-out exploitation film or an art-house film with a message. Ultimately, the positives outweigh the negatives, and fans of 1970s lesbian vampire cinema should thoroughly enjoy The Blood Spattered Bride.

Mondo Macabro gives The Blood Spattered Bride an excellent release that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer