Blood and Lace (1971)

After her prostitute mother and her john are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere and her handyman. ... See full summary »

Director:

Philip S. Gilbert

Writer:

Gil Lasky

Stars:

Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, Milton Selzer

Cast

Cast overview:
Gloria Grahame	...	Mrs. Deere
Melody Patterson	...	Ellie Masters
Milton Selzer	...	Mr. Mullins
Len Lesser	...	Tom Kredge
Vic Tayback	...	Calvin Carruthers
Terri Messina	...	Bunch
Ronald Taft	...	Walter
Dennis Christopher	...	Pete
Peter Armstrong	...	Ernest
Maggie Corey	...	Jennifer
Mary Strawberry	...	Nurse
Louise Sherrill	...	Edna Masters
Joe Durkin	...	Unidentified Man

Storyline

After her prostitute mother and her john are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere and her handyman. Taking an avid interest in her welfare is detective Calvin Carruthers. Taking almost no interest at all, is social worker Harold Mullins who is completely under Mrs. Deere's thumb. Lots of unpleasant surprises are in store for Ellie, not the least of which is the fact that Mrs. Deere and her handyman are both brutal sadists, who run the orphanage like a concentration camp and the strong possibility that her mother's hammer-wielding killer is now stalking her.

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Plot Keywords:

orphanage | handyman | prostitute | social worker | detective | 

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Taglines:

SHOCK after SHOCK after SHOCK as DESIRE drives a bargain with MURDER!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 January 1973 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Dantela kai aima

Company Credits

Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP), Carlin Company Productions, Contemporary Filmakers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Melody Patterson's dialog in the opening scene was dubbed over by famed voice actress June Foray. After the first scene, the dialog is spoken by Patterson.

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Goofs

In opening scene, close-up of hammer used in bludgeoning murders already has splotches of blood between claws before it is even used on victims.

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Connections

Edited into Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987)

User Reviews

Cheap...but SHOCKING!

This odd and twisted 70's exploitation gem is incredibly hard to find these days, but definitely worth tracking down in case you're a fan of low-budget horror stuff that pioneered in shocking themes and abrupt plot twists. "Blood and Lace" was extremely ahead of its time back in 1971, with its story lines about child-abuse inside the walls of an orphanage, POV murder-sequences and incestuous relationships. The film is also quite explicit, as it displays – albeit with cheap make-up effects – the brutal murder of a sleeping couple with the sharp end of a hammer! And this right at the beginning of the film, so how's that for an intro? The woman who gets murdered is the prostitute-mother of the young and beautiful Ellie Masters. Since she never knew her real father, Ellie is sent to an orphanage ran by the corrupt Mrs. Deere and her sadistic handyman Tom. They have the nasty habit of torturing disobedient residents and even killing the ones that try to run away before storing their bodies in the basement freezer. If that isn't enough yet, there's a horribly deformed killing lurking around the orphanage with a meat cleaver. A police inspector whose interest in her is more than just professional closely follows Ellie's every move and proposes a strange offer in exchange for her rescue… "Blood & Lace" benefices from an incredibly creepy atmosphere and the overall nihilistic tone often makes the film very disturbing. This is a genuine American drive-in exploitation flick, so you can expect the most offensive and politically incorrect situations imaginable! The acting performances also contribute a great deal to the film's power. Particularly Gloria Grahame (as Mrs. Deere) and Len Lesser (Tom) portray nightmarish characters you certainly don't want to interfere with. Naturally, the budget was far too low for one-time director Philip Gilbert to play with imaginative camera angles or visual tricks, but that's okay, since "Blood and Lace" purely relies on shocks and cruelty. You won't believe your eyes and ears on more than just one occasion! Highly recommended super B-trash of the seventies!