Sandcooler "Satan's Black Wedding" doesn't quite have that irresistible "what the hell am I watching?"-factor that Nick Millard's much more famous effort "Criminally Insane" had but hell, if Millard can't put a smile on my face anymore you can honestly pull the plug on me. Just check out his unique editing style, the guy can't splice in a shot realistically to save his life but that's why we love him. Who cares if two actors talking to "each other" don't even appear to be in the same ZIP code, it's all just part of the charm. Especially if one of those actors is the otherwise completely unknown Ray Myles, who gives a genuinely excellent performance as some sort of half-vampire, half-satanist (have your cake and eat it too). Lead Greg Braddock is somewhat less impressive, but his amazing underacting is a spectacle in its own right. He walks into a room covered with blood with a look on his face like he just found out the supermarket is all out of his favorite shampoo. My sister died a gruesome death, I am...mildly irritated? Nick Millard is a huge cinephile though, and occasionally this almost shows here. Some shots in this movie are actually quite stylish, there's some "Nosferatu" influence in there but it's tough to be classy if your vampires have plastic fangs. But still, I was sorta into this from time to time. The cinematography looks good, the music is repetitive but creepy nonetheless, this really is quite above Millard's standards. It's not quite as entertaining as some of his other work, but it's almost what you call accessible. If only it had an actual ending instead of just stopping at a random moment, that would have helped it even more.

InjunNose The acting is mostly terrible. The editing is worse. The entire production suffers from a rushed, haphazard look. But somehow, "Satan's Black Wedding" manages to do what a horror film is supposed to do: leave the viewer with a lingering sense of unease. Pointing out this movie's flaws is like shooting fish in a barrel, but figuring out what makes it work is considerably more tricky. More than anything else, I think it's the cinematography. The jittery camera-work and agonizing closeups give the film a gritty, authentic feel, so that you almost believe you're watching a documentary even when the female vampire is gnawing on the neck of a shrieking victim and bright red stage blood spurts everywhere. It should look ridiculous, but it doesn't--and that's what makes "Satan's Black Wedding" a frightening film. The little things help, too, of course (they always do). The Monterey location shots drip with an atmosphere of gloom and foreboding. Ray Myles is appropriately weird-looking as the vampire priest. Best of all is Lisa Milano, the actress who plays the sister of Greg Braddock, the male lead: the look on her dead, pale face after she has repeatedly slashed her wrists (the most unsettling scene in the film, for my money) is straight out of a nightmare. And the film's surreal climax, though it takes place a little too abruptly, is disturbing, too.

Michael_Elliott Satan's Black Wedding (1975) ** (out of 4) Mildly entertaining film has a brother investigating his sister's suicide. He eventually tracks down the killers to a church, which is being used by vampires for Satanic rituals. This is a very cheaply made film running just over an hour and while there's nothing too original going on here it does remain interesting throughout. If you don't expect The Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby then you should get a few minor grins out of this film. There's some nice, if cheaply done, gore scenes to keep things moving. Outside of that we get some really hammy performances, which lead to a couple laughs.

EyeAskance *minor spoilers*A man travels to California to unravel the mystery surrounding his sister's death. He learns that she had been writing a novel about Satanism, and spent much of her time at an old church outside of town. Soon, he begins seeing her in the company of a creepy-looking priest(and with a decidedly bigger and sharper set of chompers than he'd remembered), and eventually learns a horrifying truth...that he and his sister have been chosen by Satan to be wed in very unholy matrimony, and to become the proud vampire parents of the Antichrist.SATAN'S BLACK WEDDING is an under-the-radar obscurity still largely unnoted by the votary of horror fans...an unfortunate thing, because for all its technical shortcomings(production values are nearly nonexistent), this gritty grassroots flick actually delivers in a strange way. It's thick with eerie emanation, and serves up some surprisingly savage vampire attacks. The affrightment is beneficially italicized by the film's gloomy score(of mostly spare, crunching piano), and a cast of total nobodies perform acceptably for such a proletarian production.A strange little appurtenance from the muster of 70s drive-in horror, SATAN'S BLACK WEDDING is a film many will disregard as tossable schlock. That being stated, it may just as well prove a rewarding excavation for those drawn to remote film oddities.5/10