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10
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Review
originally appeared in
ROGUE
CINEMA (Dec. 2004) |
A
cult of devil-worshiping hippies, infected with rabies, go on
a murderous rampage in I Drink Your Blood,
the low budget horror flick made infamous as the first movie
ever slapped with an X rating by the MPAA for gory violence.
The rating subsequently caused many theaters and drive-ins,
especially in the South, to cancel bookings of the film. Its
distributor, legendary exploitation impresario Jerry Gross,
was forced to compromise in order to salvage what he could of
the project. He gave permission for various theater chains and
venue owners to make whatever cuts they deemed necessary to
render the film acceptable to so-called "community standards".
Thus wildly different versions of I Drink
Your Blood played all across the country —
someone watching it in Memphis didn't see the same film as theater
patrons in Dallas, while an altogether different edit played
in Atlanta and a relatively uncut print could be seen in Los
Angeles or New York. Since cuts were made on an individual basis
rather than a state or regional one, this resulted in so many
different versions that after a time no one except writer-director
David E. Durston knew what the complete film was actually supposed
to look like. It wasn't until the recent DVD release of the
official director's cut that I Drink Your
Blood could be properly evaluated. I just had to see
for myself if this notorious exploitation flick lives up to
its sordid reputation.
Gross wanted
to cash in on the success of 1968's Night
of the Living Dead, so he tapped Durston to make something
that would surpass that groundbreaking zombie film in terms
of stark horror and gore —
with the proviso that it not contain any supernatural or sci-fi
elements. So instead of flesh-eating zombies we get psychotic
hippies driven to madness and murder by rabies. Not that they
were your typical flower children of the psychedelic '60s before
being exposed to the disease... Peace and love ain't their thing.
The members of S.A.D.O.S. —
the "Sons and Daughters of Satan" —
are the meanest, vilest bunch of hippies since the Manson Family
(whom they're clearly patterned on). When their van breaks down
in the countryside they wander into a small, nearly deserted
town; all but forty of its citizens have left due to the construction
of a big dam nearby. Taking up residence in an abandoned hotel,
the cult concerns itself with killing rats, dropping acid and
torturing one of their less enthusiastic members. A local teen
is assaulted after she witnesses one of their bizarre nude rituals,
but instead of calling the state troopers —
they're not that far out in the sticks! —
her grandfather, the town veterinarian, goes to angrily confront
them with a shotgun. He's easily disarmed by the cult's sadistic
leader (Indian dancer/actor Bhaskar), then roughed up and force-fed
a tab of LSD. Gramps stumbles home to ride out the acid trip.
His 10-year old grandson vows to get back at the hippies for
what they've done to his sister and the old man.
The boy —
definitely a kid with some imagination —
draws a syringe full of blood from the carcass of a dead dog
infected with rabies. Next morning, at the town's small bakery
(apparently the only business still open), he injects the tainted
blood into a tray of meat pies which the hungry hippies come
by to purchase. With the coming of night the S.A.D.O.S. gang
is feeling rather poorly. Rollo (God
Told Me To's George Patterson) is the first to go over the
edge, wild-eyed and frothing at the mouth. After stabbing to
death the backslidden cult member he'd earlier tormented, he
snatches up an axe and chops off one of the corpse's legs, maniacally
waving the severed limb in the face of one of the female hippies.
(This scene can be both shocking and hilarious in equal measure
depending on your sensibilities.) Eventually all hell breaks
loose as one by one they succumb to the disease and go psycho,
turning on each other in addition to anyone who crosses their
path. Soon the contagion spreads to a crew of construction workers
living at the dam site via their gang-banging one of the hippy
chicks. They, too, become infected and turn into a foaming-at-the-mouth
mob of murderous berserkers. Much bloody (and silly) mayhem
ensues before the film reaches its very Night
of the Living Dead-like ending. (By the way: despite
the title no one ever really drinks anybody's blood in the film.
Originally called Phobia, the title was changed to pair
it with I Eat Your Skin [aka Voodoo]
for a gimmicky double bill.)
While it may
contain a few moments of surprisingly effective horror, I
Drink Your Blood consists primarily of drive-in variety
cheese. The plot is absurd, of course, since rabies —
though highly virulent —
doesn't act that quickly on humans. Silly dialog and awkward,
amateur acting place the film firmly in the strata of z-grade
exploitation. But I can understand how 35 years ago the movie
could've been too much for some communities, at least in it's
complete form. The gore effects, while crude by today's hi-tech
standards, certainly surpasses the norm for their time, more
akin to Herschell Gordon Lewis than Night
Of The Living Dead. (Especially since they're in color.)
The bloodletting, including some unpleasant moments of real
animal violence (a chicken, some rats), lends the film a rather
grim, disturbing tone; ditto for a rape scene which, due to
the shoestring production values, has all the trappings of grimy
Seventies "roughie" porn. Given the unintentional humor of the
script, this means I Drink Your Blood
makes for a very uneven ride, but one which exploitation fans
will probably want to take — even if only for historical purposes.
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| I
Drink Your Blood
is available on DVD from MTI/Fangoria using an uncut print in
remarkably good condition. The disc is absolutely jam-packed with
groovy supplements, including an audio commentary with director
Durston and lead actor Bhaskar (who died shortly after recording
it), interviews with cast members, alternate scenes, trailers,
a still gallery and a couple of hidden Easter Eggs. Briefly issued
in 2003 with a limited run of 500 copies, the DVD was re-released
in November 2004 for the mass market.
4/18/05 |
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