As secrets come out and the body count grows, a character in Bloodmoon says to another: “This is nightmare night, the end-of-the-fuckin’-world night… all the bugs and the bats and the goblins are coming out tonight and no one can stop them.” Based on that rather dramatic statement, one delivered by actor Christine Amor without her even batting an eyelid, this underseen 1990 Australian film sounds a bit deranged. Rest assured, that assumption isn’t off the mark. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise; audacity and nuttiness tend to go hand in hand in classic Ozploitation. Nevertheless, director Alec Mills and screenwriter Robert Brennan’s collaboration was not quite like anything to come out of Aussie Horror at the time. Even today, parts of Bloodmoon feel singular when compared to films from that first slasher cycle.
Warning: Major spoilers below.
Based on one of its several striking posters — the viewer’s eye immediately goes to the blue-toned illustration’s chiseled and butt-naked subject, who looks on at his potential female victims all while holding a circular garrote made of barbed wire — Bloodmoon looks to be a sex-themed slasher. Indeed, this film is about carnal pleasure as much as it is about carnage. Although, the proposed villain’s reason for targeting horny young folks isn’t puritanical in nature. Something else is motivating the killing spree in this psychosexual slasher.
In true fashion, a boarding school is the site of unspeakable horror for credulous young women and their equally unfortunate beaus. Bloodmoon is no retread of Picnic at Hanging Rock, though; the real danger resides on campus rather than out in nature, and there is no hint of the supernatural. All the ensuing and tangible bloodletting here is the outcome of one man’s prolonged frustration. Yet before any of that is revealed, the film begins like others before and after it: visitors to the make-out point in the nearby woods are slaughtered by an unseen assailant. The killer’s identity is, as it should be, concealed for the time being with only menacing shadows and that compulsory POV shot to establish their existence. However, the barbed garrote splashed across the film’s promotional materials is in clear view as well as in explicit use. The choice of close-range weapon gives these murders a greater sense of intimacy.
Pictured: One of the eyeless victims in Bloodmoon.
Bloodmoon sets up stray subplots that come across as superfluous, yet they eventually fall into place. For starters, an elderly nun at the all-girls’ academy Saint Elizabeth — the only nun, in fact — is spotlighted at the beginning; she remains staffed despite her advanced age and supposed uselessness. After being called a good influence on the students, Sister Mary-Ellen (Hazel Howson) takes a backseat as her co-stars launch their own underplots. Meanwhile, ostensible main character and likely final girl Mary (Helen Thomson) discerns no threat to herself or others because the police refuse to rule the missing teens so far (both Mary’s classmate and her sweetheart from the neighboring all-boys’ school) as anything but hormonal runaways. Mary is more concerned with her mother, a famous actor and inattentive parent, and the townie boy Kevin (Ian Williams) with whom she has become smitten. That innocent romance is routinely juxtaposed with the killer’s grisly crimes targeting other teenage couples. A hint of what’s in store for Mary and Kevin, really.
On top of Mary’s innocent storyline is a minor yet ultimately precarious thread featuring two other Saint Elizabeth students, Michelle and Jennifer (Suzie MacKenzie, Anya Molina). These would-be cheaters get more than they bargained for when snooping around for test answers; they uncover the killer’s presence and seal their own fates. In the same breath, the film makes the misstep of identifying the culprit much too soon. The beloved mystery ingredient of whodunit slashers sadly expires here, however, the script compensates with an unusual new direction: how will the killer get away with his many crimes? All of a sudden, this Down Under take on the popular “dead teenager” film transforms into a villain-as-the-protagonist thriller. Those potentially worried about being bait-and-switched should feel better knowing the film’s slasher aspect is not completely abandoned. And if nothing, Bloodmoon is even madder now that it has unmasked the antagonist.
There is a cruel irony here about overprotective parents sending away their children to remote places on the map, in an effort to keep them safe from the real world. As it turns out, Saint Elizabeth’s headmistress, Virginia Sheffield (Amor), and her husband Myles (Leon Lissek), also the science teacher, are not who they claim to be. Horror history would suggest Myles is the one being too hands-on with his female pupils, but it is actually his wife who can’t keep her manicured paws off the male student body. This scenario of creepy cuckolding and sexual misconduct has its inevitable consequences, though, once Myles decides he will no longer tolerate Virginia’s mockery and his own sexless existence. And all the teenagers who are now discovering love and sex are the first to feel the sting of this chronically blue-balled wimp-turned-madman.
Pictured: The garrote-wielding killer spots more potential victims in Bloodmoon.
On the surface, Bloodmoon is all about sex, but in hindsight, the film also shadows characters who are figuring out their sense of worth. Be it to themselves or others. Sister Mary-Ellen is originally thought of as old and irrelevant by her coworkers and the students, only to then be the one who winds up saving the day (using a handy beaker of acid!). Mary’s neglectful mother is more bothered by an early-morning appointment than the fact that she hasn’t contacted her daughter in a month, and Kevin has predicted his unexceptional lot in life before even graduating. Most of all, Myles has been of no use to his wife for years; she obviously prefers her men underaged, fresh-faced and disposable. Add envy and resentment to Myles’ constant feeling of worthlessness, and this film has cooked up a considerable recipe for murder.
By the time Bloodmoon was first released, slashers had pretty much fallen out of favor overseas. That didn’t stop anyone from making them, although at that point, not everyone was willing to tweak the formula like Alec Mills and Robert Brennan did. Their own spin retains the essential fixings while also adding persuasive deviations to ensure a less typical product. And because Severin Films has issued a restored and high-def edition of the film — which includes that abrupt “fright break” intermission — John Stoke’s cinematography is now more appreciable.
Bloodmoon had the misfortune of following better received and, without much argument, less uneven slashers. Similar but different enough to warrant a glance, however, this Ozzie variation still offers an oddball killer, technical merit and, above all, some sleazy entertainment value.
Bloodmoon is now available on Blu-ray from Severin Films.
Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
Pictured: Severin Films’ Bloodmoon Blu-ray release.
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