Original title: Die Säge des Todes
The early 80s weren’t particularly good times for Jesus Franco. Having proved that he had no affinity whatsoever for the briefly popular cannibal genre (see Devil Hunter (1980) and Cannibals (1980)) he went on to prove that he was equally disinterested in the slasher with this flavourless West German/Spanish co-production. Slavishly modelled on the Halloween (1978)/Friday the 13th (1980) formulas, it begins with the facially disfigured Miguel (Alexander Waechter) murdering a young woman at a party (an admittedly very disturbing scene) before jumping forward five years at which point Miguel is released from psychiatric hospital into the care of his incestuous sister Manuela (Nadja Gerganoff) and his disabled aunt, the Countess Maria Gonzales (María Rubio). He joins them at their language boarding school (standing in for the summer camp already becoming something of a staple of the American slasher film) where a series of murders soon begin and Miguel, who has become obsessed with student Angela (Olivia Pascal) is naturally the prime suspect.
Franco has his supporters but all of the perceived failings those of us still sceptical about his abilities willingly use to beat up on him – the overuse of the zoom lens, taken to ludicrous extremes here, the inane dialogue, indifferent plotting, lousy performances – are all present and correct in Bloody Moon. Franco clearly doesn’t give two hoots for the slasher genre and at least he has the sense to not take it terribly seriously (at least one assumes he doesn’t – it’s the only explanation for some of the film’s more idiotic developments) and just joins the required dots in the most over-the-top way his budget would allow. It’s not at all clear but one suspects that Franco was actually sending up the genre, which may account for the terrible dialogue and the need to have characters behave in the most ridiculous manner imaginable. A lengthy scene in which a woman sees her friend’s body in a bath, flees, returns to be persuaded that there never was a body then finds the tub stained with blood that she just happened not to notice the day before is hilarious.
That doesn’t really account for the score though which is one of the weirdest ever assembled for a horror film. Composer Gerhard Heinz bounces back and forth between thumping disco, abstract synth bleeps and bloops guaranteed to set your teeth on edge, what sounds like faux spaghetti western cues and even a Jaws (1975)-like bass riff. It’s a horrible mess that seems to have been written for at least four entirely different films.
As well as the American slashers, there are faint traces of Dario Argento here, particularly in a few interesting camera angles and lighting choices but for the most part Franco just seems content to ape the American model and throw in a few silly gore effects here and there. There’s little in it to distinguish it from any of the bottom rung American slashers and one suspects that had it been directed by anyone other than Franco (and not found its way onto the UK “video nasties” list) it wouldn’t be thought of as highly as it is in some quarters. It’s a very long way from Franco’s worst work and there are moments that are really rather well done but the typical impoverished budget, Franco’s patent lack of interest in the film and the fatuous script, credited to Rayo Casablanca but actually by Erich Tomek, do it no favours whatsoever.
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