Blood and Lace (1971)

Director:

Philip S. Gilbert

Writer:

Gil Lasky (writer)

Release Date:

29 January 1973 (Sweden)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

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

Plot:

After her prostitute mother and her john are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged...

Plot Keywords:

Orphanage | Handyman | Social Worker | Detective | Butcher Knife

Cast

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

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Sweden:15 | USA:GP

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987) (V)

An excellent slice of seventies trash!

Despite the fact that it's trash, I have to say that I really enjoyed Blood and Lace. I'm really not sure where the 'lace' part of the title comes from (perhaps a rip-off of Bava's masterpiece Blood and Black Lace?), but there's a bit of blood and plenty of other sickness as this film features a sadistic orphanage, hints of incest and a whole host of older male characters desperate to get it on with the central character - a teenage girl. The plot has a number of different angles springing from the numerous characters that have an interest in the proceedings, and the film starts with a brutal murder of a mother/prostitute and one of her clients, committed with a hammer. This leaves her daughter Ellie without anyone to look after her since nobody knows who her father is, so she is sent to an orphanage. The orphanage is run by a woman named 'Mrs Deere' and a handyman named Tom. There's also a social worker who stops by every so often, and a police officer with an interest in Ellie that goes a little past the call of duty...

It would be hard to argue that this is a bona fide 'good' film, but as a piece of seventies exploitation; it's a damn good film! This sort of flick really should just entertain and that's what it does. I imagine that certain themes on display would have been a lot more shocking in 1971 than they are today (though I'm not really sure how shocking considering the other films on offer around the early seventies), but personally I'm pretty much desensitised to being shocked by this sort of film anyway. The acting is pretty much atrocious all round, but lead actress Melody Patterson stands out in spite of her obvious lack of talent for being really cute! Older and more experienced performers Len Lesser, Gloria Grahame and Milton Selzer manage to impress a little more, but clearly this isn't an actor's film. The opening hammer murder sequence is the goriest and most brutal part of the film; from there the shocks are delivered by the male actors lusting after the teenaged lead, though the film doesn't feature any sex or nudity. The plot is always entertaining enough, and the ending revs up the stupidity to an irresistible level. Overall, Blood and Lace is pure trash and I really mean that in the nicest possible way! This film comes very much recommended to all the right people.