ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Scott LeBrun Legendary European exploitation master Jess Franco makes his own contribution to the slasher film boom of the early 1980s with "Bloody Moon", a silly and trashy affair. Nadja Gerganoff plays Manuela, a young woman with a scar faced, mentally unbalanced brother named Miguel (Alexander Waechter). Manuela and her associate Alvaro (Christoph Moosbrugger) run a language school, and one of the students is Angela (Olivia Pascal), a hottie with a taste for sordid murder mystery novels. Angela becomes paranoid when she finds the dead body of a friend, and then the body disappears. She becomes convinced that at some point the killer will target her."Bloody Moon" is alright, and worth seeing if only by devoted followers of this genre. The thing is, they have to be patient for about 75% of the film. Despite being handsomely shot and full of gorgeous women, the film has a body count that never kicks into overdrive. The faithful are rewarded with a fair amount of breast shots, as well as a little bit of gore. Fortunately, everything gets kicked up a notch with the final quarter, which can boast one very memorable decapitation. The scar face makeup on Miguel is pretty unconvincing, and always *looks* like makeup.In the tradition of cheesy and sleazy European genre fare, the on screen actors are hilariously dubbed by people giving excruciating vocal performances. The music score by Gerhard Heinz is nice but sometimes hilariously inappropriate. The use of disco on the soundtrack helps to firmly date things as well as add to the level of viewer amusement. It's also a gas to see characters wearing Mickey Mouse masks during the obligatory "first murder set piece" sequence. And the scenery is quite pleasant throughout.Not a great slasher but a reasonably entertaining one.Franco has an uncredited cameo as a doctor.Six out of 10.

chrichtonsworld Bloody Moon is a rare combination of American style slasher and giallo a la Jess Franco.The director most famous for his exploitation films.As far as I can recall the only other film I have seen from him is Venus in Furs.It could very well be that I have seen more titles from him without realizing.He seems to have made quite a few.But one thing I know for sure he is without doubt one of the worst directors I have come across that surprisingly is still very active in the industry.And that can be explained because he has made some films that are in a league of their own .Mostly because he mixes up the genres in a way that is rarely done.What does that mean for Bloody Moon?A slow pace and severe lack of tension and thrills that make it a real task to stay interested.The excessive gory deaths and some clever twists and turns oddly aren't enough to make you overlook that.It doesn't help also that the characters aren't really interesting apart from two key players looking very similar to James Caan and Brad Dourif in their younger years.Now there is one scene that was unexpectedly thrilling involving a little boy.You will find yourself rooting for this boy.It's a mystery in itself that this boy suddenly was so curious that he decided to investigate in the first place.But it shows that Jess Franco is able to create tense scenes.Too bad it is the only one in the whole film that is filled with real tension.With some tighter plotting and direction Bloody Moon could have become a real classic.Now it is an unremarkable hybrid of slasher and giallo that will bore you to death.

Michael_Elliott Bloody Moon (1981) ** (out of 4) Original title: Die Sage des TodesSpanish director Jess Franco wasn't shy from jumping into a genre, which was proving popular at the time he did his jumping. This time out the director jumps into the slasher genre after films like Halloween and Friday the 13th had proved to be money-making gold. As the film starts a deformed man kills a woman after she turns down his sexual advances. He's sent to a mental hospital but five years later he is released and soon afterwards more bodies begin to pile up. This film doesn't really work and it's certainly not on the level of the best slashers out there. While it would fall somewhere down by the middle-ground American movies, I'd rank this a little higher since it doesn't limit itself to the certain rules that were in American slashers. As with a lot of Franco's work from this period, it's budget allowed for some nice stuff including the cinematography, which manages to be pretty good here. Another bonus are the special effects, which while some are obviously fake, they still come off looking good. We have a wide range of murders here ranging from simple stabbings to the most famous one where a woman has her head chopped off by a industrial saw. The saw effect is somewhat hit and miss but the gore that pumps out makes for an interesting moment to say the least. It's also interesting at how Franco plays with not only the victim but even the viewer during the scene. The performances are about average for what you'd see in a movie like this but the main reason to view this is simply for Franco's eyes on the genre. The director also doesn't shy away from lifting stuff from other films and that includes the opening sequence of Halloween and Mario Bava's structure to Twitch of the Death Nerve also seems to have been an influence here. Those expecting an American slasher are going to be disappointed but if you're a fan of Spanish cinema or Franco then you'll certainly want to check this out just to see how Uncle Jess handled it differently than what we'd normally see.

paulgeaf I have watched some pretty awful movies but this one... Hmm where to start? When you sit down to a movie like this you know it isn't going to be the best or most professional you've seen, you expect B-movie slasher European horror. You expect bad dubbing. You expect poor dialogue and cheap effects. That's all fine. Usually the expectations fit the movie. I didn't expect to become so mind numbingly bored within the first half hour as to start wishing I would just fall asleep and be done with it instead of hanging on(most likely, in the hope of seeing one more breast on one of the young students). This film is a horror alright. Not scary or thrilling(apart from the odd breast), just absolutely horrible to watch. I am actually looking forward to re-runs of 'Neighbours' after this. AVOID.