Thursday, March 09, 2006
I Drink Your Blood (1970)
Stars: Bhaskar, Jardine Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson
Director: David E Durston
Back in the 1960s, with horror movies it was all about the title. Studios would give filmmakers funds on the strength of a name that sounded marketable, before a single word of script had been written. In the case of I Drink Your Blood, writer and director David E Durston had given it the much more sensible moniker of Phobia – but then how could that run on a double bill with the rather more tame I Eat Your Skin (1964)?
Whatever you call it, I Drink Your Blood was pretty extreme for a 1970 American production. Taking its cues from several elements worrying (and fascinating) middle-class America at the time – Charles Manson, drug use, the occult – the movie opens on a group of young people performing a satanic ritual. One of them, Andy, has invited his new girlfriend Sylvia to come and watch secretly. Naturally she is found out and two of the cult members chase her through the forest before raping her.
Sylvia’s grandfather (a veterinarian) finds out about this, and with shotgun in hand, heads over to the abandoned house where the cult is squatting. They rough him up as well (even dropping a tab of acid into his open mouth) then send him packing along with his young grandson, who has followed him.
In an act of retribution, the grandson shoots a rabid dog, syringes out its infected blood, injects the blood into some pies, and gives the pies to the devil-hippies, who chow down. Soon they’re frothing at the mouth and carving up anyone in the immediate vicinity, including each other. But things escalate further when some randy dam workers pick up a buxom hippy (not yet showing symptoms) who proceeds to spread her “love” around. The cops expend lots of ammo trying to prevent the infection from spreading.
You couldn’t call I Drink Your Blood intelligent, believable or even coherent, but the lead actors have a certain charisma that prevents it from being dull as well as silly. Plus, you just can’t help but love such an over-the-top storyline – nothing like this would ever get the green light in Hollywood today.
The score is composed of sharp, annoying noises (“which was the style at the time”) and the characters’ motivations tend towards the puerile (two days after being raped, Sylvia is ready for a roll in the hay with her boyfriend), but you can see why this is a cult fave among exploitation horror freaks.
VERDICT: 2.5/5 stars
ON THE DVD
DISC QUALITY Actually not a bad restoration considering. Some film damage has made it through the remastering process but the artefacts are fairly minimal and the colours are as vibrant as they ever were. Sound – crackly and muffled in parts – isn’t so good.
COMMENTARY The director and main actor Bhaskar cough up some pretty decent information, even if they appear delusional about how good the movie is. Durston does much of the talking, Bhaskar chipping in only when the director asks him a question.
OUTTAKES More like Clayton’s deleted scenes – not funny and not interesting to watch. Really quite pointless.
I DRINK YOUR BLOOD SHOW Durston invites several of the actors to his house and interviews them about their experiences with I Drink Your Blood. If you can stand the litres of smoke blown up their arses, there is also plenty to learn here.
DELETED SCENES Gramps having an unconvincing acid freak-out, a “downbeat” Pet Sematary sort of ending and some talky bits.
Director: David E Durston
Back in the 1960s, with horror movies it was all about the title. Studios would give filmmakers funds on the strength of a name that sounded marketable, before a single word of script had been written. In the case of I Drink Your Blood, writer and director David E Durston had given it the much more sensible moniker of Phobia – but then how could that run on a double bill with the rather more tame I Eat Your Skin (1964)?
Whatever you call it, I Drink Your Blood was pretty extreme for a 1970 American production. Taking its cues from several elements worrying (and fascinating) middle-class America at the time – Charles Manson, drug use, the occult – the movie opens on a group of young people performing a satanic ritual. One of them, Andy, has invited his new girlfriend Sylvia to come and watch secretly. Naturally she is found out and two of the cult members chase her through the forest before raping her.
Sylvia’s grandfather (a veterinarian) finds out about this, and with shotgun in hand, heads over to the abandoned house where the cult is squatting. They rough him up as well (even dropping a tab of acid into his open mouth) then send him packing along with his young grandson, who has followed him.
In an act of retribution, the grandson shoots a rabid dog, syringes out its infected blood, injects the blood into some pies, and gives the pies to the devil-hippies, who chow down. Soon they’re frothing at the mouth and carving up anyone in the immediate vicinity, including each other. But things escalate further when some randy dam workers pick up a buxom hippy (not yet showing symptoms) who proceeds to spread her “love” around. The cops expend lots of ammo trying to prevent the infection from spreading.
You couldn’t call I Drink Your Blood intelligent, believable or even coherent, but the lead actors have a certain charisma that prevents it from being dull as well as silly. Plus, you just can’t help but love such an over-the-top storyline – nothing like this would ever get the green light in Hollywood today.
The score is composed of sharp, annoying noises (“which was the style at the time”) and the characters’ motivations tend towards the puerile (two days after being raped, Sylvia is ready for a roll in the hay with her boyfriend), but you can see why this is a cult fave among exploitation horror freaks.
VERDICT: 2.5/5 stars
ON THE DVD
DISC QUALITY Actually not a bad restoration considering. Some film damage has made it through the remastering process but the artefacts are fairly minimal and the colours are as vibrant as they ever were. Sound – crackly and muffled in parts – isn’t so good.
COMMENTARY The director and main actor Bhaskar cough up some pretty decent information, even if they appear delusional about how good the movie is. Durston does much of the talking, Bhaskar chipping in only when the director asks him a question.
OUTTAKES More like Clayton’s deleted scenes – not funny and not interesting to watch. Really quite pointless.
I DRINK YOUR BLOOD SHOW Durston invites several of the actors to his house and interviews them about their experiences with I Drink Your Blood. If you can stand the litres of smoke blown up their arses, there is also plenty to learn here.
DELETED SCENES Gramps having an unconvincing acid freak-out, a “downbeat” Pet Sematary sort of ending and some talky bits.
# posted by The Fearless Writer @ 8:40 PM 
