The Bride, 'Til Death Do Us Part

This 1973, you know is going to be a good one. Sure, I'll post this review of "The Bride" under that title. However, it is also known as "The House That Cried Murder," and "Last House on Massacre Street." Perfect drive-in titles. Unsettling, to say the least, this one will make you squirm and perhaps offer a stern warning to screen your potential spouse carefully. One never knows when homicidal mania or masochism will rear their ugly heads...especially in marriage.

Okay, Barbara (Robin Strasser) is so in love with David (Arthur Roberts). When we meet them they are frolicking through the fields as corny love music plays. She brings him to the house she is having built for them. They intend to get married. Uh oh...we sense he isn't as in love with her as she is with him. Barbara's dad (John Beal) doesn't like David, he says "He stinks!" They get married anyway and at the wedding ceremony she catches him about to have extra-marital sex with his old flame, Helen (Iva Jean Saraceni).Barbara flips out, grabs some big shears and tries to carve up David. He's bloodied and her dress is stained blood...but no one dies. She shrieks like a banshee and drives off, only to go missing for the next two weeks.

In those two weeks, Helen and David move in together and live as husband and wife...though they aren't. Barbara's dad is also David's boss, who claims he doesn't know why Barbara drove off. No one saw this display except Barbara. Dad appears to know more than he is letting on and hints at Barbara's criminal insanity. Weird phone calls then unsettle David and Helen then some bloody reminders appear signaling Barbara is close by and not happy at what she is watching. As Barbara, or someone (or something) goes after Helen, both cheaters are now horrified. Barbara is unmerciful and lures David to her unfinished house and...well...it is pretty icky what happens next.

Blood will spatter, axes will be swung, corpses will...well, you'll see. Just where did Barbara go for two weeks and what is her plan for revenge? Will the happy-homewrecker Helen escape Barbara's wrath? Just what does Barbara's dad know and why hasn't he fired David from his firm? The ending is shocking and perhaps for adulterers and breakers of marital vows, the fate that awaits is worse than death. Directed by Jean-Marie Pelissie, "The Bride" will cause you to squirm and maybe hold your spouse a little tighter for fear that...well, you'll see.