the Paris exteriors, which were shot at a distance to hide his physical differences from Forsyth; virtually none of the Paris sequences were used in the completed film. With the budget spent, filming was halted and Bava accepted an invitation from Dick Randall to direct Four Times That Night. As that film neared completion, he showed the Hatchet for the Honeymoon script to Four Times That Night'''s executive producer, Alfredo Leone, in the hope that he would rescue the film, but he was unimpressed with the script. However, in the interim Caño secured the funds needed to finally complete the film. Filming for Hatchet for the Honeymoon ended in October 1969. ReleaseHatchet for the Honeymoon was released in Italy as Il rosso segno della follia on 2 June 1970 and in Spain as Un hacha para la luna del miel on 14 September 1970, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer handling its distribution in these regions. The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title Blood Brides by Tigon British Film Productions in 1973. In the United States, the film was released through GG Productions on 9 February 1974. In all of these countries, excepting Spain, it received a limited release with little marketing support. Critical reaction In a contemporary review, Robin Wood reviewed a dubbed 88 minute version of the film titled Blood Brides. Wood noted that the film contained several examples of what Wood described as "Bava's claim to attention [...] he usually photographs as well as directs his films, they are very consciously conceived in terms of potentialities of the camera and as a result are, in a somewhat crude sense, 'cinematic'." Wood went on to state that "the creation of elaborate effects through camera movement, stylized color, focus distortion and the use of varied lenses is, however, no guarantee of quality; and the effects in Blood Brides appear merely self-conscious and self-indulgent." In a retrospective review, AllMovie called it "not the best of Mario Bava's work", but "a must see for those who love the genre and admire stylish horror films." Tim Lucas, author of the critical biography Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, calls Hatchet For the Honeymoon "Mario Bava's most personal horror movie" and states "Time has shown the film, initially misunderstood and considered one of Bava's lesser works, to be startlingly prescient, pointing the way for Mary Harron's film of Bret Easton Ellis'