Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975)

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.

More exploitation than horror, MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY is a visual treat. Not only because the leading lady, Cristina Ferrare, is downright gorgeous but the Mexico location offers an abundance of locales providing eclectic situations to keep the viewer interested and entertained, and the characters always have something to do, and somewhere to go.From beaches to highways, villas and art galleries, here's a low-budget flick that, despite an abundance of wooden acting, will keep you in entranced during every single frame.Mary is a surreal artist about to enjoy a show displaying her strange artwork. When not painting, she hangs around with a handsome drifter, who becomes the only person she doesn't sink her teeth into… Actually, that's the one thing that separates this from all other vampire flicks. Mary doesn't use her teeth (and her teeth aren't fangs): Instead she stealthily carries a finger-sized dagger that she stabs her victims with and devouring them of blood.After a few kills, including a fisherman and in one delectable scene, a bisexual female art collector, the police begin to catch on – each corpse is not only bled from the neck and sucked dry but were drugged beforehand, using the same chemical.But Mary's not the only killer on the road… John Carradine plays a mysterious masked man that travels around leaving his own bodies behind, including a sexy hitchhiker. He's also after Mary, who becomes more of a heroine after this new darker menace is introduced. She's now more vulnerable as she falls deeper in love with her boyfriend, who doesn't know her dark secret.After a car chase replete with a 1970's slick soundtrack (think STARSKY AND HUTCH meets a game show theme), there's a showdown along a rolling hillside where John Carradine reveals his true identity and battles our heroine in a prolonged wrestling match… he has a knife and she her own wits… resulting in a fitfully bloody finale that includes her one true love being put to the test.The direction is creative, relying on a stockpile of the usual close-ups and zooms from this era, and the pacing is suspenseful. Although the love scenes with Mary and her pretty boy boyfriend drag; you'll wish she'd either take off to find more victims or turn him into lunch.Not scary in the conventional sense, MARY is more creepy and sadistic. And fans of vampire flicks will have to put some rules aside. Other than the non-biting technique, this particular sexy vamp roams the daylight hours. In fact that's where most of the bloodletting takes place, so you can see Cristina Ferrare even better! For More Reviews: www.cultfilmfreaks.com

MARY, MARY, BLOODY MARY is an OK time killer. It has a uniformly attractive cast, the action is rarely dull. There are a lot of killings. And the production values are not bad. But in the end, it plays like a standard TV episode from the 1970s with some nudity thrown in. The film is the end product of an "author" trying to make a purely commercial film. There's very little depth here and the film spends too much time with chases and action scenes. Except for the scene on the beach with the old man, MMBM is almost devoid of any scares or suspense or dread. The director has very little understanding of the horror genre.It's watchable even though it doesn't leave a lasting impression.

This one was surprisingly good. A night, a woman's VW van breaks down near an apparently deserted house. She's grabbed by someone and runs, but then ends up staying the night. There's a flashback to her having seduced and killed a computer operator who worked at the American embassy in Mexico who bought one of her strange paintings. She kills by removing a hairpin from her ponytail, then drinking all the blood.She meets a young guy she likes, while continuing to kill other people. Meanwhile, a man in giallo garb (black trenchcoat, black gloves, black broad-brimmed hat, plus a black handkerchief over the face kills a morgue attendant to get a look at one of her victims, killing him in the same way.Regrettably, the videotape I rented blacked out during a couple of the seductions scenes! What the heck!Carradine has a small role, but a good one.