Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary - No Mirrors but There Were Vampires and There Was Blood
My apologies to the readers. At the time of writing this blog, it has been many months since I watched Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary and not much stood out. This tells me a couple of things and it should you too. First, and the most obvious, is that I was not too overly impressed with this film. Second, the blog will be short. Finally, the things that did stand out will be few. Guess what the biggest two were. If you said VW buses and filming locations, you were spot on. Strap in, the time machine is going to 1975 and the place is Mexico.
Mary, Mary, Bloody, Mary Had Some Cool Sights To See
As I think and write more, I really do think that the 1970s are my favorite decade. That statement is out of order and irrelevant here but, we’re in this decade again and we’ll touch on the filming locations and things to see first. At one point in Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary, there is a party in the street complete with costumes. The Mexican flare to these really brighten this scene. There is a church complete with a graveyard too that stood out. One scene takes place in a mansion and a feature that stood out to me was the granite staircase (pictured above) inside of the mansion. It is an artistic piece of architecture. There were a decent amount of highway scenes including one at the US/Mexico border. With highways come vehicles of that day and that leads me to the next positive from Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary.
Daydreaming and VW Buses on a Beach
When I daydream, I’m not sitting in the Bahamas drinking a bloody Mary, pun intended, no, I’m camping on a beach in a VW bus complete with a driftwood fire. I got to see the fantasy of my daytime drift-offs come alive in Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary, as time was spent in such a situation. Even better – there are no people on this beach anywhere! Now that’s a vacation. The main vehicle used in this movie is a white VW bus. This one, according to the Internet Movie Car Database, is a 1974 VW Bus T2. You can reference this site’s list here and see all the cars used and there are plenty. There were bellbottoms, blouses, and furniture too, but this VW bus on the beach was probably my favorite part of watching this movie. VW buses and beaches fit so well together.
The Artworks of Rosa Rosenberg, A Surrealist Painter
Y’all know I’m an artist and if not, you can see my work here. Anyway, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary was unique in that the main vampire was an artist. I don’t know why but it seems like art would be a hobby that a vampire would have. Besides running pyramid schemes under the cover of the Blood Mobile of course. The actress who played the bloodsucking artist, Christina Ferrare, is not really an artist to my knowledge. So, they had artwork by an actual artist as props in the movie. According to the opening credits, Rosa Rosenberg was this artist. The work above, titled Rebelión egocéntrica from 1969 is a great example of Rosa’s work. The works in the film all have the same signature look and feel.
I hate to reference Wikipedia, but the easiest place to learn more about Rosenberg and her work is here. The photo above was taken from the Wikipedia article and captures her in her home studio. Rosa was a surrealist, and her work reminds me quite a bit of Salvador Dali. Rosenberg was born in 1921 and passed away in 1981. Wikipedia stated that Rosa was born in Poland and immigrated to Mexico City as a child 2 years of age. Her future husband was Jewish and owned a jewelry store. The article also said but did not elaborate, that Rosa studied painting privately.
The Artworks of Rosa Rosenberg, A Surrealist Painter
Y’all know I’m an artist and if not, you can see my work here. Anyway, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary was unique in that the main vampire was an artist. I don’t know why but it seems like art would be a hobby that a vampire would have. Besides running pyramid schemes under the cover of the Blood Mobile of course. The actress who played the bloodsucking artist, Christina Ferrare, is not really an artist to my knowledge. So, they had artwork by an actual artist as props in the movie. According to the opening credits, Rosa Rosenberg was this artist. The work above, titled Rebelión egocéntrica from 1969 is a great example of Rosa’s work. The works in the film all have the same signature look and feel.
I hate to reference Wikipedia, but the easiest place to learn more about Rosenberg and her work is here. The photo above was taken from the Wikipedia article and captures her in her home studio. Rosa was a surrealist, and her work reminds me quite a bit of Salvador Dali. Rosenberg was born in 1921 and passed away in 1981. Wikipedia stated that Rosa was born in Poland and immigrated to Mexico City as a child 2 years of age. Her future husband was Jewish and owned a jewelry store. The article also said but did not elaborate, that Rosa studied painting privately.
Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary Has a Carradine as a Vampire but No Kung Fu
To start wrapping this up, I would not watch Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary again even though the story was good. A few closing notes are as follows. John Carradine, the father of the late David Carradine, was featured in Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary as a vampire. The story was slow but consistent and unique. As I remember did not have powers, there was no ritual way to defeat them, and weren’t affected by sunlight in Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary. My notes have the ending as catching me off guard but, I don’t recall what happened – sorry. I might not say anyway. All I do remember is that when we get to the end, John Carradine’s character shows up a lot.
Blogging on Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary has been hanging over my head and I’m glad to have crossed it off. I really don’t know what questions to pose from this one. I’ll give it a shot though. Does anyone have recommendations on movies that better showcase John Carradine’s work? Anybody out there know more about the filming locations used? Any superfans want to get some comments in? If any of the above applies to you, let me know in the comments. Check out all my social media here and follow my work. I’m always up to something creative.