Bloody Hell: Is The Bloody Mary Myth Real?
There are many, many legends in the horror world that are unequivocal. The legend of Bloody Mary, apparently, is not like that. This term describes someone who is supposed to appear and do all sorts of things, some of them evil, if you stand in front of a mirror and say her name an unknown number of times. The tale of Bloody Mary is not the most famous myth out there, and the horror films dealing with it are also relatively remote. Still, you’ve likely come across the name Bloody Mary at some point, whether on the big screen, in a menu, or elsewhere.
So after learning everything there is to know about the Bloody Mary cocktail and its historical inspirations, it’s time to move into the world of fairy tales – or nightmares – and get to know the story of the Bloody Mary, how was is born and how many Bloody Mary horror movies are there.
What Is The Bloody Mary Myth?
Bloody Mary appears in several cultural texts, although it is essential to note that there is no absolute truth here. In most cases, the image mainly refers to the various myths of Bloody Mary, who may seem different, and sometimes only to her name.
Is Bloody Mary real? Well, some real people got this nickname, most familiar in Mary I in England, but in this case, we are talking about something else. The central legend of Bloody Mary is about a ghost who appears in a mirror when you call her name repeatedly (reminds you of someone named Candyman?), and may do some horrible things to you.
How To Play Bloody Mary?
The main rules of the fairy tale intended for young women, if we call it that, are to go up a flight of stairs backward in a dark house while holding a candle and a hand mirror. After the girl looks in the mirror, she is supposed to see the face of her future husband. If a skull, demon, or other evil creature appears, there is terrible news: that girl will die before getting married. It’s a great reason to stop fooling around with one-night stands and start looking for true love.
To this day, the legend of the Bloody Mary is part of group rituals or, rather, scary party games. The principle here is similar and is based on reading the name of Bloody Mary in front of a mirror, in a dark or dimly lit room, several times. If all goes as hoped (or not), Bloody Mary will appear in some terrifying form, sometimes covered in blood, and may perform various actions, from screaming to killing to drinking blood or cutting off organs. In some other versions, the mirror may be bleeding, or the people in front of the mirror may realise his hair has become… White.
Fortunately, it’s probably a scary story told to scare kids or as part of alcohol- and hormone-fueled parties. In some rituals, the Bloody Mary game combines chants like “Bloody Mary”, “I Believe In Bloody Mary”, or “I Killed Your Baby, Bloody Mary”.
Here’s a short video that shows some strange, so-called things related to the Bloody Mary story. Most of these Bloody Mary hooror images like complete and staged nonsense to me, but you are welcome to watch a few minutes and try to decide: Is the narrator’s voice more annoying or scary?
When Did The Bloody Mary Myth Start?
We don’t know exactly when the Bloody Mary myth began, or what exactly it expresses. Some researchers believe that the game, or if you like the ritual, is a metaphor for the sexual maturation of women. There is a theory, which Freud might have been proud of if he were alive today, which says that the legend of Bloody Mary is a kind of “initiation ceremony for women”. It deals with the blood that appears suddenly, when the ritual usually takes place in a bathroom, in teenage girls. In short, according to this concept, Bloody Mary symbolizes the menstrual cycle.
If we stick to history, then the accepted claim is that the legend expresses one of the characters associated with the name “Bloody Mary” – such as Queen Mary of England or the Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory – who simply want to come back from the dead for a certain reason.
I See Dead Marry: Is The Bloody Mary Myth Real?
Do you believe that a person in a particular state can imagine seeing the image of a Bloody Mary in a mirror after he has (hopefully) called her name? I’m not sure he’s crazy, nor is he trying to work on you. Even if he hasn’t met Bloody Mary yet, his brain may be trying to prove he has. These phenomena have a psychological, or even biological, explanation.
The belief is that a person who stays in a dark room for a relatively long period and looks at an item like a mirror may suffer from hallucinations that we have seen in many horror movies, such as distorted or rotating faces, the disappearance of faces, the appearance of various creatures and other jump scare attempts. This phenomenon has been called by some experts the “strange face illusion,” it stems from the fact that the primary face recognition system in the brain works incorrectly in such challenging conditions, filling in missing details distortedly.
Various phenomena may enter the picture and explain this behavior, such as Apophenia (a condition in which we see connections or patterns in information that are random and without meaning) or self-hypnosis.
And yes, it could be that that person had too much to drink when they decided to turn Bloody Mary into a drinking game. So, children, please don’t drink and stand in the mirror, talking to yourself.
Blood, Sex And A Low Budget: The Legend Of Bloody Mary Horror Movies
Bloody Mary has been mentioned in several horror films, sometimes directly and sometimes as a curiosity or a small mention. It is important to note that these are not very successful films and are usually not very well known either. In addition, as you will immediately see, the reference here to the story of Bloody Mary may vary and subject, so to speak, to interpretation.
Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (2005)
Probably the best known Bloody Mary horror movie is “Urban Legends: Bloody Mary” from 2005. The relatively unsuccessful third movie in the “Urban Legend” franchise was already destined for video after two films that did quite well in the cinema.
“Urban Legends: Bloody Mary” was directed by Mary Lambert, who was quite a promising name in the horror genre but has lost her way over the years. Who started as a director in music videos for singers such as Madonna and Sting, became a success after directing “Pet Cemetery” in 1989 (and its sequel) and then moved on to more insignificant films, such as “The Attic” (one of the first roles of the Alexandra Daddario, one of our favorites) or “Mega Python vs. Gatoroid” from 2011, about a fight between giant pythons and alligators in Florida due to some weird script.
In “Urban Legends: Bloody Mary”, a group of high school footballers drug and kidnap their prom dates (!) to have sex with them (!!). It worked out, except for one girl, Mary, who tries to escape. It ends when her “date” kills her and stores the body in a box, but it’s just the beginning.
A few decades later, during a pajama party, the film’s heroine (Kate Mara) decides to summon a Bloody Mary jokingly. Soon after, unexplained events and murders begin to occur, some of which look like they came out of a Final Destination movie. Ultimately, you understand the connection between the past and the present and who is behind it. There is no doubt that the third film is the least successful of the trilogy, but it still has some fun moments.
Bloody Mary (2006)
“Bloody Mary” is a low-budget film that tells its version of a fairy tale. The film takes place in a psychiatric hospital, where the nurses assign one of them (Jessica Vaughan) a task: to go to the hospital’s basement and play Bloody Mary there. Unsurprisingly, she encounters a ghost there and disappears. Her sister (Kim Tyler) investigates the case and encounters many bodies. She discovers what happened to her sister and who is that Mary Bitch, who turns out to be related to her.
Not surprisingly, professional critics and viewers slaughtered the film. Do not expect a fine production here in almost any aspect. But for those who enjoy watching low-budget movies with a lot of gore and nudity, it can be suitable for non-obligatory viewing.
Dead Mary (2007)
“Dead Mary” starring Dominique Swain (who is best known for her scandalous role at the age of 15 in Stanley Kubrick’s “Lolita”) is based on a script called “Bloody Mary.” Since the term “Bloody Mary” was forbidden in Japan due to a copyright issue, the plan was to change the name to “Dead Mary” only in Japan.
The problem is that around the same time, the producers found out another movie of the same name was coming out—yes, the film from the previous paragraph—which prompted them to make the cosmetic change to the movie’s name to avoid confusion.
So the movie “Dead Mary” was born, and maybe it’s a shame. The film presents the most basic way to turn the legend of Bloody Mary into a horror film. Friends gather at a cabin by the lake for a wild weekend, including the Bloody Mary game. After they say her name three times, they summon an evil witch who starts murdering them one by one. We are still waiting to see this movie, but it sounds all right.
The Legend of Bloody Mary (2008)
Like other films on this list, “The Legend of Bloody Mary” begins with a mysterious disappearance. The plot concerns a guy whose sister disappeared after playing in Bloody Mary eight years earlier. He suffers from nightmares, feels guilty, and decides to investigate the case with his partner and a former professor.
“The Legend of Bloody Mary” indeed looks like a mediocre film (a score of 2.7 out of 10 on IMDB, as of the current point in time), which some critics call “bloody boredom.” Most of the problems that characterize films of this type come up in the reviews, such as a plot full of holes and lacking logic, bad acting (even by the standards of low-budget films), effects far from impressive, and so on.
Bloody Mary 3D (2011)
Let’s continue with a film that should be hot, at least as long as it is described in words and not seen. “Bloody Mary 3D” begins with a lesbian sex scene, which is probably one of the most boring lesbian sex scenes in film history (but maybe you should watch in on 3D!). The plot tells about a girl named Mary (pornstar Veronica Ritchie, who also made a lot of cheap horror movies that most horror fans probably haven’t seen), who is caught by her husband almost falling asleep in the middle of what is supposed to be a sex act with a blonde girl. Instead of joining in or going to sleep like Mary, the husband decides to murder the mistress and Mary.
A few decades later, filmmakers shoot a music video and accidentally awaken Bloody Mary. The same red-haired girl decides to take revenge on the crew due to the husband’s family connection with the star of the music clip. She murders them one by one while she is naked or wearing minimal clothes.
In one of the film’s descriptions, the villain was described as a “seductive version of Bloody Mary,” but I’m mostly going for bored, who looks like she murders in her sleep. Fortunately for you, I couldn’t find a reasonable-quality trailer for this movie.
Ghost Killers Vs. Bloody Mary (2018)
A horror comedy that comes to us from Brazil deals with four ghost-chasing YouTubers arriving at a school to investigate the students’ claims of a malevolent spirit haunting their bathroom (“Bathroom Blonde Case”). The film stars Danilo Gentili, an immense talent in Brazil, and the result, according to critics, is entertaining.
More Bloody Mary References
Although Bloody Mary starred in various forms in quite a few horror films, you can see that they are far from being mainstream films and, in most cases, far from being decent.
Bloody Mary On TV
On television, the situation is better. Although we have yet to find a television series that deals explicitly with Bloody Mary, several well-known series that focus on the supernatural or horror have devoted at least one episode to her. We’ve seen references to “Bloody Mary” in series like “Charmed” (in which the gang fights a demon that resurrects villains from horror movies, including Bloody Mary”), “The Ghost Whisperer” with Jennifer Love Hewitt; “Supernatural” in which an entire investigation takes place around a case of attacking people in front of mirrors because their only sin is to say “Bloody Mary” several times; “The X Files” in which she took a relatively minor part in an episode in the third season (“Syzygy”); An episode of “South Park” in which the gang summons a way that shows the spirit of the rapper (“The Notorious B.I.G.”) and more.
Lady Gaga Bloody Mary
It is impossible not to mention the music as well, especially the single “Bloody Mary” by Lady Gaga from the second album, “Born This Way.” Although the song generally refers to Christianity and the figure of Mary Magdalene, it relates to the world of horror in several ways. First, like many other Lady Gaga songs, it is creepy, with a gothic and quite stressful atmosphere.
The song had a very successful clip on YouTube, with at least 45 million views, but it’s not the original clip because it doesn’t have an official clip. Quite amazingly, this is a final project in film studies by a very talented guy named Ruben Samuel Cortez, who managed to confuse many people.
Speaking of views on YouTube, it is impossible not to mention the sped-up version of Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” to the video of Jenna Ortega’s iconic dance scene on Wednesday (which we already wrote about on the website). If the unofficial music video for the original song was successful on YouTube, then the speed-up version of the dance, to the tune of a fast “Bloody Mary” song, became a viral hit with about 430 million views.
The Legend Of Bloody Mary Is Indeed A Game
The legend of Bloody Mary has also reached theme parks. In 2008, the company created its version of the story as part of the “Halloween Horror Nights” event at Universal Studios in Florida. “Mary Agana” is a doctor who tried to learn about fear through studies that would confront her patients with all kinds of worries. In what could have been the plot of a low-budget film like what we saw above, at some point, it starts to lose reality and becomes the ghost of Bloody Mary or something like that.
If you add to that horror games (like “The Wolf Among Us,” “Identity V,” and “Dishonored”), you can understand even more why the myth can continue to play in our lives.
So the next time you stand in front of the dark mirror, try saying “Bloody Mary” a few times and see if anything happens. In my case, there were loud knocks on the door and screams from my wife (“Who is this Bloody Mary? Are you cheating on me with some redhead bitch?”), But you may get more luck.
