Woodyanders Beautiful bisexual artist Mary (a fine and touching performance by the fetching Cristina Ferrare) suffers from a strange disease that compels her to murder people for their blood. Beach bum Ben Ryder (a likeable portrayal by David Young) and sultry art dealer Greta (slender brunette Helena Rosa) both fall under Mary's deadly seductive spell. Director Juan Lopez Moctezuma relates the absorbing story at a deliberate pace, ably crafts a haunting melancholy atmosphere, delivers a handy helping of bloody violence, and makes nice use of the breathtaking Mexican countryside. Malcolm Marmorstein's compact script offers a nifty spin on the vampire concept as well as presents the main character as a lonely and tormented tragic figure that the viewer feels sorry for. The lovely Ferrare not only brings a soulful sadness to her role, but also bares her sumptuous body a few times. John Carradine has a small, but memorable role as Mary's deranged estranged father. Both Miguel Garzon's pretty cinematography and Tom Bahler's harmonic score are up to par. Recommended viewing for fans of more thoughtful and unusual fright fare.

trashgang The director Juan López Moctezuma is best known for Alucarda which is easy to find. it's a bloody flick with a lot of nudity. But just before Alucarda he made Mary Mary Bloody Mary. In fact 3 years before and this is something completely different. First of all, it has until this review never had a proper release, not on DVD or on VHS. It exists on VHS but it shows itself once or twice a year on ebay and it goes for a lot of money. I found it on a NTSC VHS on the Continental Video label. I saw that it was released in 1987 so still in the VHS era. I said it, it is really something different, there is no gore and a bit of blood, just once you see a wound but what a rare movie this is. When they make love for example, not even soft core they used porn music, you know, that cheap kind of saxophone stuff. But there is even some animal cruelty. When Mary walks on the beach you see some Mexican's killing a shark with knifes and some turtles lying on their back dying. It's so weird that the particular scene with the shark, and I see in other reviews, it reminded a lot of other viewers of the cruelty used. You can't find if it is a real shark or a dead one. Even the story is a bit weird, Mary's dad with the scarf and head, it's so funny. It's a good example of exploitation, some car chasing, suddenly they speak Mexican without subtitles. Weird weird, bloody weird.

BaronBl00d I rather liked this small budgeted movie from the 70's about a woman who acts like a vampire in terms of feeding on blood but in no other way. Mary is an artist who kills men - and a woman - for the blood in their bodies. The sunshine doesn't bother her, apparently Crucifixes hold no spell over her, or garlic or any other vampiric safeguard we have seen in movies before. But that really is not what the film is about. It is about Mary finding herself and something/someone she loves - maybe. If I do not sound too convincing, it is because it is not too direct in what it is trying to do. Mary has other problems. It seems her father holds some sway over her, even though they have not seen each other in many, many years. He is the one that gave her this insatiable thirst to feed on the living. Character actor legend John Carradine plays the role with gusto, and at least several stunt doubles as he drives cars maniacally, runs up hills, and fights like a street kid. I do have to say that watching the cloaked and masked figure of Carradine do all these things was quite amusing, especially later when he pulls the mask down and we see this somewhat feeble old man that was John Carradine. That leap of credibility aside and several other leaps as well, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary has some interesting things going for it. It is a precursor to Martin, perhaps Romero borrowed from here. Christine Ferrare looks lovely, and I thought she did an OK job with the role. She was quite good at looking bewildered. Maybe that was not intentional but worked for me. The settings in Mexico and Southern California have that cheap 70's feel that always injects some nostalgia into me. That was a decade for films like this that I grew up watching late at night(on the weekends) and all summer long. The murders too are for the most part pretty unsettling. The opening flashback scene and the one with the fisherman were particularly well-shot. I loved the eerie paintings too. But before you get the impression I thought this was a great film, Ferrare is very limited in her acting range, the rest of the actors often more so, Carradine's character is ridiculous, and the second half of the film plunges into total unreality - I shook my head again and again. Notwithstanding these very real problems, because of the atmosphere, the weird, interesting story, and the nostalgic feelings it gives off - I give this film a qualified thumbs up!

drew_atreides Of all the films that my buddy and i rented (back in our high school days) for our late night horror movie marathons, this one stands out as the most memorable.To this day we still discuss the bath scene, the chase-scene set to bongo music where the characters run in entirely opposite directions yet meet each other, and the classic (and i mean CLASSIC) scene where the two main characters are walking along the beach, and a bunch of mexicans can be seen kicking the hell out of a SHARK in the background..Was it a fake shark? Was it real? What the heck was it doing there?Who knows...But it WAS there.. My friend and i rewound and watched it about 27 times.Mysteriously, after we rented this film, it disappeared from our videostore.. I had been worried that we had dreamt the whole thing.. Nice to know there are others who have seen it!