User reviews

Bloodsong (a.k.a. Dream Slayer) is a rare and almost totally forgotten horror trash flick made during the 1980s' boom of slasher films. Don't get me wrong, though. I say trash in a good way; defining the genre rather than the quality. Because, in quality this movie is quite mediocre and, actually, not at all that bad as some would make it out to be. It's sleazy, but by no means a sleaze flick. It's violent only to and extent. It's bloody, but not too much. And, although it was not a t.v. movie, it sometimes has the feel of one. On top of all this mediocrity, there are some assets to Bloodsong. The acting and storyline are pretty good, there's plenty of cheap 80s style and substance, and it's the only film in which you can see former teen heart throb Frankie Avalon play a hatchet wielding psycho.

Yes, you heard right. Frankie stars as Paul Foley, an escaped and homicidal mental patient, who prior to his liberation, supplied blood to a critically injured teenage girl brought to his hospital after a car wreck. The girl, Marion (played by Donna Wilkes), crippled but on her way to recovery at home, starts to have horrible visions of death both in dreams and awake. In other words, Paul's blood seems to have connected his mind to hers, making Marion an unwilling mental witness to his killing spree in which the murders always start off with him hauntingly playing a flute (hence, the title Bloodsong). Needless to say, it is inevitable that their paths will cross and it won't be nice.

Although far from a classic, Bloodsong is pretty entertaining and not a complete waste of time. The killings are semi-graphic but, otherwise, fully slasher film certified. Avalon surprisingly creates a creepy and menacing character. Another plus is that the plot is embellished by the fact that poor disabled Marion has a father who is an abusive alcoholic who makes her out to be a slut and gives her hell every chance he gets. That sub-story is worthy of the trashiest Lifetime movie of the week. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say this film is a mix between John Carpenter's Halloween (only much cheaper and not on Halloween) and William Lustig's Maniac (only toned down and a lot less bloody). So, mediocrity aside, Bloodsong is worth at least one view by all 80s slasher aficionados. Frankie would appreciate it.

Of all the people to star in an early 80's slasher film, Frankie Avalon doesn't seem like the most obvious choice and yet here he is, trying to give a respectable performance as the screenplay of Blood Song lets him down nearly every step of the way. Don't get me wrong. There's still some fun to be had with Blood Song, but it's not as taut and potentially thrilling as it could have been.

A young boy witnesses his father killing his mother, her lover, and then himself and is so in shock that all he can do is play his little wooden flute his father made him. Cut to present day and he decides to escape from the mental hospital where he's been cooped up forever. While he was there, he donated blood and this blood provided a life saving transfusion for a teenage girl named Mary (Donna Wilkes) after her father got them into a horrible accident which left her in leg braces.

Somehow, this shared blood has given them a psychic link and Mary can see him escaping and killing anyone along the way who says something disparaging about his flute.

If Blood Song had left out the silly blood transfusion leads to psychic visions subplot and kept the killer's flute out of it, it would probably be a much more effective movie. As is, it's too unintentionally hilarious to have the tension of chase scene broken by Avalon pulling out his flute and playing a few notes.

The acting isn't horrible, but Wilkes has been better in other films. The downbeat ending is a really punch to the stomach as well, but would have fit better into a more frightening film.

I was an assistant on this film. The staff was far from "un-professional" it is just in this business extras are not coddled. It was a fast paced, gotta get it right, no time for "pretty pleases". It is not the best horror flick but it has some great scenes as previous posted pointed out. Most extras and townsfolk enjoyed the film shooting and enjoyed the attention. We were in a great little Coos Bay hide away...fun little town. North Bend was great too! Lenny Montana - as big as he is - was the nicest and most gentle people I've met. It was odd seeing Frankie Avalon as a murdered. Still wickedly handsome. Low budget - blood, horror, fun story theme. It is great that it was repackaged as part of the double feature with Mausoleum.

Got this in a double feature movie pack the other being "Mausoleum". I am surprised to see this one has the higher score of the two movies as I thought that one was more entertaining though not necessarily a good movie in its own right. This movie starts out showing a boy who witnesses his father killing his mom and her lover and then himself. Well this kind of makes him mental and suffice to say he will grow up to be our killer. They do not really try to hide who he is during the movie as you see him fairly early in the picture. Well a girl with a bad leg sees visions of him doing his killings and he soon goes after her after she witnesses him disposing of one of his victims. There are a couple of good kills in this one, but for the most part the film is rather slow and a lot of times there is not a lot going on. The film will focus on the girl and her relationships with her father and her boyfriend then cut to a scene from time to time of the mental dude killing someone. Then after she sees him face to face the film is just him stalking her before finally going after her in a very prolonged scene. Just not all that entertaining. The psychic link she shares with the killer almost seems pointless after the initial scenes of her seeing visions of his killing and really added no new dimension to the film other than she should have been a bit more ready for him than she was. So all in all have to say this song had no rhythm and runs way to long at the end. I kept thinking to myself near the end "Shouldn't this be over?"

The Plot = A young boy witnesses his father shoot his mother and her lover and then himself, and is then sent to a mental hospital, but many years later he escapes along with his flute and goes on a killing spree. In the meantime a young girl Marion begins to have visions of him killing people through a rare blood transfusion between the two.

Okay Blood Song has some interesting ideas, but fails to execute them properly, for a start the whole concept of a girl having psychic visions of the killer could have been interesting but as the movie goes on it becomes it a bit dull, as there is absolutely no explanation given to why she has these visions, we know how through the blood transfusion.

I also liked the idea behind the heroine being physically flawed, which would seemingly make her a much easier target for the killer and possibly add to any sort of suspense later in the flick. Of course we don't get any of that. The film also throws in some long and drawn out drama scenes which takes away the tension out of this movie and plus while the murders and the final showdown are real highlights of this movie, it just takes too long and spaced too far apart, I mean at times I kinda forgot that I was even watching a slasher movie, it felt like a drama.

The positive aspects of this movie, is for one thing the climax watching the girl limp herself away from the killer and into some lumber yard. The change of setting proved interesting. And the performances were pretty good, Frankie Avalon was interesting as the serial killer even though he chewed the scenery practically all time but I found him fun and Donna Wilkes played the female lead pretty well, she hit the right notes at the right time.

All in all Blood Song is definitely an average 80's slasher with some pretty interesting ideas but are flawed to say at least I would only recommend this if you're a huge fan of 80's slashers.

Frankie Avalon would be a lot more terrifying if he didn't carry around a flute with him everywhere he goes. Without that, his performance might be considered one of the more effective teen idol to creepy character actor performances. Some of the death scenes are effective and the last act chase sequence between Avalon and his final victim works really well, but there's something a little too calm and leisurely about this to ever really get one's juices flowing.

"Blood Song" follows a teenager in a coastal Oregon town who finds herself stalked by a man whose blood she received through a transfusion; turns out the man is a psychotic killer who plays a wooden flute (yes, you read that right), and he has a psychic connection drawing him nearer to her.

All things considered, "Blood Song" is a pretty typical slasher flick aside from the weird flourishing touches, such as the killer who plays a small wooden flute gifted to him by his father who committed a murder-suicide with his wife; did I mention that '60s singer Frankie Avalon portrays the madman? Those two reasons alone make this film stand out from its peers, though, depending on who you ask, will be either to its detriment or success.

TV actress Donna Wilkes portrays the lead/final girl who is hobbled by a leg injury through most of the film, making her even more helpless; to make matters worse, her mother (Antoinette Bower of "Prom Night") and she are under the abusive power of her alcoholic father (a character that has strange incestuous undertones, I might add). The film is not conventionally scary, as the killer is no masked villain or elusive psycho; the audience sees and gets to know the goofy character from the outset, so that element of terror is stripped from the proceedings here. The film does feel like a made-for-TV movie, and has an innocence about it that belies its bloodier moments. The atmosphere is nicely established as well, and it's nice to see the coast of my home state get some representation in '80s horror.

In the end, "Blood Song" is a rather silly slasher flick that plays up its goofiness with no shame, even in its final moments. The whole thing is rather ridiculous, but if you can take it at face value, the offering here is amusing, slightly trashy, and utterly bizarre-it almost feels as though David Lynch attempted to make a slasher movie. Do with it what you will, but it's just weird enough to warrant a viewing from genre fans. 6/10.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Blood Song; before launching into my critique, here's a breakdown of my ratings:

Story - 1.00 Direction - 1.25 Pace - 1.00 Acting - 1.25 Enjoyment - 1.00

TOTAL - 5.50 out of 10

Here is another one of those stories that hold so many opportunities, but the writers fail to make use of them. Even with the reduced scope, the story isn't too terrible. It is pretty much your psycho who escapes from the asylum and starts a slaying splurge narrative. But there are some respectable elements in the story. The relationship between the father and daughter in the film is one instance. The pair don't get along. Theirs is a love-hate relationship - they love to hate each other. But when we learn the cause of their rift, everything becomes clear. The poor old mother has to be the referee to their angry bouts of word-slinging. This kinship is one of the elements that deserved more attention from the writers. Just as is the connection between the daughter and the psycho killer. It's touched upon early that she received a blood transfusion after an automobile accident. The rare blood type came from...yeah, you guessed it, the asylum. So does she have the slasher's blood running through her veins? We never get that clarification. It could have added so much more to the story.

Levi, however, does a decent job of shooting the script. The few changes in camera angles and lighting place it above average, though not far above. It would have been ideal if he could have varied the tempo some. The single pace is fast enough to keep your attention on the screen, but adding a mix of pacing would have helped create more tension and excitement. There may even be something you recognise if you're an avid watcher of horror films. When Marion takes a walk along the beach, she ends up at the bay featured in The Howling - shame the werewolves burnt up a year before she could have used their help.

Here's another reason the writers missed opportunities was so annoying. They had a reputable cast to perform their work, yet another waste. All of the performers are perfect in their roles. A couple even goes the extra mile. Donna Wilkes must have used a cane to help her walk at some time because when the doctor removes her leg brace, she correctly utilises the walking stick. It's a small thing, but these slight issues help a person to believe. But the actor who really goes the extra mile is Frankie Avalon. At the film's start, Psycho Paul isn't much to write home about. He's just an average bloke who gets annoyed whenever anyone tries to take his daddy-made flute from him. Shame he only knows one song. Though by the picture's climax, Psycho Paul is having fun - and it's kinda contagious.

If you like your slashers, then Blood Song may be worthy of your attention. Though it's run-of-the-mill genre fair, I found it an enjoyable film. Therefore, if you've exhausted your slash and dash library, feel free to check out Blood Song - it's okay for a quickie watch.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chiller lists to see where I ranked Blood Song.

Take Care & Stay Well.

A psychopath plays his blood song to his prey before killing them in 'Dreamslayer', an average run of the mill slasher from 1982.

The film intros us to our killer Paul early on. We see that 25 years prior, he witnessed his father murder his mother and her lover before killing himself. The trauma of that night led to Paul being institutionalized at a mental health facility. He decides that it's time to escape, so he kills an orderly and gets out of the hospital with his wooden flute given to him by his father before he died. We then meet our main character Marion who is physically disabled thanks to an accident caused by her alcoholic father. She required a blood transfusion, and unlucky for her, it was Paul's blood that was given to her! As the film goes on, and Paul murders many people, Marion starts to have weird visions and dreams of the murder. It appears that having his blood inside of her has given her the ability to see his actions. It all comes to a head when Marion ends up encountering Paul in person, making her his next target.

I purchased this movie on VHS years back under the title 'Dreamslayer', but it is also known as 'Blood Song' - a far more appropriate name given the music themed plot with Paul playing his flute to an annoyingly familiar tune each time he commits a murder. Some of the gore was well done given it's very low budget of a little over a million dollars, and despite not being able to see much thanks to the low quality of tape/film. The dark scenes are almost unwatchable, and sadly no release of this one of DVD has been able to restore it in any way. It affected the rating of the film for me, that and the silly concept that getting blood from a psychopath can give you visions and dreams of the person.

The acting wasn't all that bad. Donna Wilkes lead the way as our heroine Marion who battles her recovery, her alcoholic father, and a serial killer with a sense of fear but also silent strength. Frankie Avalon in a role unlike anything he may have ever done, was effective as the creepy and deranged murderer Paul. It was also great to see Antoinette Bower as Marion's mother, she of course played Jamie Lee Curtis' mother in 'Prom Night'.

Overall, 'Dreamslayer' isn't a terrible entry to that early 80's horror grouping. But outside of one really well done axe murder scene, it doesn't add anything special that we haven't seen before.

4/10.

The first time I saw this film (1997, on T.V.) it was midnight, and I almost felt really scared the first 20 minutes of the film. It was spooky, interesting... and I think it had a well built psycho-terror atmosphere; but soon it becomes weak... Why? the plot, the music, make this film a mix of "Friday the 13th 5: A New Beginning", "Armageddon" (because of the noise, not the visual effects) and "Striptease" (without the nude scenes and the boring dialogues).

This film has other spooky scenes, sort of like "Kalifornia" meets "Friday the 13th" (the first one). And the final scene is one of my favorites.

This film would had been a very good terror (series B) flick, but it has much wasted potential. If you liked "American Gothic", I think you'll enjoy this.

Barely worth seeing.

Honestly,I'm shocked no one has posted that headline yet,it's so obvious!I've seen this movie,and it's pretty bad!It should be noted that except for his occasional reunions with Annette,this is Avalon's ONLY acting performance since "Grease" Sad,when you consider he started his acting career with a few A pictures["The Alamo" & "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"]and then degenerated into the AI Beach films! Not a defense of him or this film,just a witty comment!