Not to be confused with the Vicente Aranda 1972 horror fave The Blood Spattered Bride, Tri-Toad Film's The Blood Stained Bride is the indie follow up to their clever anthology film from a few years back, The Van (review here). The 'bride' the title speaks of would be Madeline (Renee Madison Cole) a young woman who is scorned (through prologue) by her over zealous newlywed husband on their wedding night. Some time passes, and it's fairly evident to the viewer that Madeline 'just ain't right' no more. She soon sets her sights on a young man she sneakily overhears breaking up with his girlfriend at an outdoor cafe.

The young man in question is Tracy (Dane Moreton) and while it would appear his lustful interests with Madeline stem from the fact that his friends were originally pushing him to go after her 'to get some,' feelings do eventualy begin to develop. Madeline's hold on Tracey is strong, but even stronger after she moves in with him because she is 'evicted' from her apt. and as to be expected - they soon start to plan the wedding. As if Tracey didn't have enough problems (pushy friends and co workers for starters) Madeline takes hold of his life, telling him where he can and can't go or who he can and can't hang out with (pretty much anybody at this point). She also manages to withhold ANY kind of sexual contact until their wedding night. And then, the bodies begin to pile up...

Bride is an unusual animal in the sense that it doesn't quite know where it wants to be. Perhaps it bites off more than it can chew, I chalk it up more to an over ambitiousness than lack of cinematic know how. It's not straight horror and there are elements of black comedy thrown in as well. But then again, at some points it plays off more as a character study than anything else. Point being, there's a lot going on here. Good thing for us, as with Tri-Toad's previous feature, The Van, Bride is extremely well-executed for such a low budget indie flick. And while certain elements may come across as a bit amateurish, it's never cheap or ineffective.

There's a lot to like in Bride, best of all is how simply entertaining the whole thing is. And while the film is not super gory by any means, be on the lookout for multiple stabbings (including one by dildo!), a slit throat and a young womn who is forced to choke to death on her own vomit, yum! Characters and their interactions are always interesting, even if I didn't buy some of the hackneyed dialogue. As to be expected, some of the performances are a bit hammy, but even still, a few of them grew on me by the time the film ended. This includes Tracy's posse of cartoon like friends, including Dirk played by Joe Sperandeo. He may grate on your nerves early on, but by the end, you'll have a much better understanding of where he is coming from, and yeah, I s'pose there really are people out there like this.

Both The Van and Bloodstained Bride are easily reccomendible and worth a look for afficionados of indie horror. For more info, be sure to visit Tri-Toad Films