Blood Bath
1976
Director:
Joel M.Reed
Starring:
Harve Pressnell, Jack Somack, Curt Dawson
Acclaimed
horror producer and actor Peter Brown is holding a dinner party in his “New
York horror film studio” for the cast of his latest movie. The table
conversation revolves around superstition, the occult and Satanism, and each
guest tells a “true” story of how someone they know has come to a bad end, with
no other explanation apart from
supernatural forces. The first is about a hitman getting a taste of his
own medicine via a series of uncanny coincidences; the second a meek husband
escaping his domineering wife via a magical talisman which transports him back
in time into one of Napoleon’s wars; the third a money-hungry loan shark being
trapped in a safe with the vengeful ghost of a man he’d ruthlessly stood over
for money years before; and the forth a hedonistic kung-fu student who betrays
the masters he studied under by selling secret martial arts techniques he
learned there for cash. However the student pays the ultimate price when the
masters seek revenge. And finally Peter
has his own tale involving a pact with Satan’s daughter and a murderous Devil’s
spawn but that won’t be told until after his guests have left...
Before directing
the notorious BLOODSUCKING FREAKS, Joel M.Reed helmed this comparatively tame
horror anthology (mild enough for the MPAA to rate it a PG). The segments move
along at a decent pace and the amateur cast doesn’t take itself too seriously,
which allows for a few funny and engaging moments. However, the postage
stamp-sized budget stifles any further potential BLOOD BATH could have had. Much
of the movie seems to have been filmed in dank, dark, cluttered New York
basements, the effects consist of stock footage and mannequin limbs, and the
music score sounds like it was cobbled together on a toy keyboard. A fitfully
entertaining curio, BLOOD BATH
is definitely not the worst no-budget film I’ve seen, but certainly not the
best.
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