The Brides Wore Blood (1972)

"This vacation is boring, boring, boring." - Vicki

A group of ladies get caught up in vampire rituals.
Starring: Dolores Friedline, Chuck Faulkner, Jan Sherman, Rita Ballard, Paul Everett,

Link to IMDB

A young man finds a hidden journal in his great uncle's mansion, and as he reads it an extended flashback tells the tale of the De Lorca family history...

Uncle Carlos is concerned for his family, especially his nephew Juan and the adopted hunchback Perro, because ever since grandfather De Lorca messed around with occult rituals the men of the family have been cursed with vampirism! Carlos seeks help from a psychic woman who shows him how the family curse all began... So we get a flash back within the flashback? Yeah, it's already confusing.
The psychic explains that Uncle Carlos needs to perform another ritual that will lift the curse from his family, but first he'll need to acquire some participants.

Yvonne and the girls

We meet Yvonne and three other young ladies as they each receive an invitation to visit the De Lorca mansion for a free tour. The ladies all gather there, intrigued by the mystery and hoping for a chance to meet rich men. Uncle Carlos is the perfect host and charms the girls into staying for dinner so they can meet the handsome bachelor Juan, and finally the plot actually gets going.

Juan                                              Uncle Carlos

The women have been lured into a trap, of course, because the De Lorcas need human sacrifices for their ritual and Yvonne will be Juan's "bride" in order to break the curse. At first, things seem to be going as planned, but when the De Lorca's rituals are interrupted all Hell threatens to break lose and destroy them!

"I'm about to perform a conjuration... Unfortunately, you are needed as an altar." - Carlos

This movie has a lot of slow sections with confusing plot holes and muddled continuity, but it flaunts its trashy low budget gothic vibes and that kept me interested. The overall eeriness of what happens is rather amusing and an attempt was made at being atmospheric, but the sheer lack of a sensible presentation almost has me wondering if this might actually be a work of clandestine genius if examined closer... Nah! This is obviously just an amateur grindhouse flick made with a handful of dollars and a mess of ideas thrown together to be acceptable enough for drive-in fodder.

There's not much gore except for a nice supply of blood splashes, but the grinding organ music and shadowy mansion are what really build the creepiness. Overall, it's a trashy thriller that hardly makes any sense and barely even scores on the vampire aspect.
It filled my craving for some obscure horror nonsense, but I'd never watch it again.

Be sure not to miss:
- Who naps with snakes!? Perro is one weird guy.
- A rather intense fall down the stairs.
- A ghoul-man shows up, so there's that to look forward to.

Internet review:
"An authentically grimy piece of 70's drive-in horror junk." - Woody

Should I watch it?
If you're in the mood for some old trashy horror that might put you to sleep.

Where can I find it?
There's one link here.

Brides Wore Blood gets...