Night of Bloody Horror (1969)

User Rating:

3.4/10   

Director:

Joy N. Houck Jr.

Writers:

Joy N. Houck Jr. (writer)
Robert A. Weaver (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Keep telling yourself, It's only a picture!

Plot:

Wesley goes out on a killing spree while experiencing the nightmares of his brother, who was murdered 13 years ago. |

Plot Keywords:

Axe | Doctor | Severed Hand | Axe Murder | Headache

Cast

Gerald McRaney	...	Wesley Stuart
Gaye Yellen	...	Angelle Miliot
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Anthony	...	Mario Spanelli
Gerald C. Arnato
John Barber
The Bored	...	Rock group in bar scene
Lisa Dameron	...	Susan Collins
Dalton Dedward
Jay Defelloe Sr.
Farley Dennis	...	Wesley as a Boy
Mark Fleming	...	Altar Boy
Phillip Fleming	...	Altar Boy
Steve Friedman
David Gelpi	...	Victim
Louis Grapes	...	Hood
Evelyn Hendricks	...	Agatha Stuart
Anthony Herrera	...	Man In Club
Denis Jeantreau
Rayford Johnson
Nicholous Krieger	...	Lt. James Cole
Burt Love	...	Hood
Herbert Nelson	...	Dr. Bennett Moss
Gordon Ogden	...	Tucker Fredricks
Scott Radosta
Susan Radosta
Bert Roberts	...	Mark Lewis
Herman Salzer
Denis Saucier
Russell Schonekas Jr.
Sheri Sherwood
Murray Solow	...	Bartender
George Spelvin	...	Prist
Nigel Strangeways	...	Hood
Russell Therleau
Emile Weaver III	...	Jonathan
Charlotte White	...	Kay Jensen

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:R

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Cinema IV

Trivia:

As a promotional gimmick, families of theater patrons were offered $1,000 if relatives died watching the film.

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever, Volume 1 (2005) (V)

Bloody Horror, my @$$!

I could think of approximately a dozen other and more appropriate titles to name this film, but "Night of the Bloody Horror" certainly isn't one of them. Okay, I realize the creators just picked out of bunch of appealing key words that are likely to raise an interest among horror fans, but any movie title should at least be a bit relevant, don't you think? None of the main events - not even the finale – happen during the night, the film honestly isn't that bloody and it definitely isn't horrific. But still I suppose you can't be overly harsh or negative-minded when watching "Night of the Bloody Horror". This is the third film directed by Joy N. Houck Jr. that I've seen (alongside "The Brain Machine" and "Creature from the Black Lake"), and I can already make some vast establishments & generalizations regarding his entire repertoire. First of all, the good man clearly never experienced the pleasure of working with a halfway decent budget! All three films that I've watched were obviously made on a shoestring budget and therefore lacked proper editing, adequate lighting & photography and convincing make-up effects. On the other hand I also have to admit that the films don't really suffer that much from their own cheapness. They're all spirited and enthusiastically made mini horror-productions that attempt to cash in on contemporary classic genre titles. "Psycho" heavily inspires this film and it nearly goes over the top in trying to equal the same sinister atmosphere as Alfred Hitchcock's classic milestone. The script introduces Wesley Stuart; a thirty-something bachelor who clearly has a whole lot of issues to deal with. He has an uncanny & dominating mother (don't they all?), he spent 13 years in an asylum for accidentally causing his younger brother's death and regularly suffers from excruciating headaches that are illustrated through cheap 'n cheesy blue spirals. When two of his girlfriends are found brutally murdered (after the strange headaches caused a temporary blackout), the police automatically assume that Wesley resumed his old murderous habits again. "Night of Bloody Horror" is an okay time-waster, but it naturally doesn't feature any surprise elements or genuine thrills. The finale is embarrassingly predictable and the murders are substandard. The biggest problem, to me, is that Wesley Stuart is such a boring and faceless protagonist! Half an hour into the movie, I was still thinking: "Wait…who's this guy again? Oh right, he's the main character!" Gerald McRaney apparently went on to have a very successful career in television, but he totally lacks the charisma to play the lead role here. Another dreadful thing to endure here is the overload of needless and annoying padding material. In order to lengthen the film a bit, Houck Jr. adds pointless collages of Wesley's relationships and – even more irritating – endless footage of a rock band playing in a local redneck bar. The band's name is The Bored, by the way. Well, they surely inflect their name on to the viewers. "Night of Bloody Horror" isn't really worth checking out, except maybe if you're a very tolerant fan of no-budget horror.