Blood Sabbath

This film might stay with you a little longer than most horror movies from the 70's. It's about an ex-Vietnam soldier who doesn't care about the outside world anymore. He finds himself in the woods and near death. He is awoken by a very beautiful pond goddess (?) who cannot love him unless he gets rid of his soul. Of course he wishes to be with her and will do anything to get rid of his soul. He asks the loner woods guy what he should do. He, just like everyone else, warns him to stay away from this woman (Yyalah). But he won't give up. He even asks the local priest how to get rid of his soul (in a slightly comical way, I might add). He decides to go to an evil witch who annually sacrifices a child so that "the village" will have good crops.

Well, I won't spoil it for you, but as you can see, it deals with the supernatural and goddess/witch love. As people have mentioned on here, there is tons of pointless nudity that includes naked slave witches dancing around and worshiping the main witch.

The movie is slightly magical and doesn't seem to be as raunchy as it sounds. There's even nature frolicking scenes and happy music. The actor who plays David must be a bit of a nerd in real life because it shows in the way he acts. He punches in the air with joy when something goes right, or he uses big giant facial expressions as if he were in a play. His acting makes the movie seem a little weird. Yyalah is also quite beautiful, even though she wears a horrible wig the entire time.

I give this a 4/10 because the movie has something about that makes you like it and you can't put your finger on why.

Boob Sa-butt, more like! If you like nudity, naked girls, and women with no clothes on then this film is right up your street. Our hero, David, is a Vietnam vet wandering the land with a guitar and not much else when he's set upon by naked, annoying hippy girls and before you know it he's being rescued by a water nymph and falling in love. Trouble is, the water nymph can't totally fall in love with him until he loses his soul. Why? I've no idea, but luckily there's a coven of witches nearby who just happen to be on the lookout for a soul. Makes sense to whomever wrote the screenplay, I guess.

You've also got the local fisherman guy, and the local priest who is now having an attack of the guilt after filling his boots with naked witch acolytes for years. What price will David pay for the witches services? How will his water nymph missus react? Does anyone come out unscathed from making pacts with witches? And will Dyanne whatshername get out her knockers and boogie for the lads? The answer to that last one is indeed a 'yes' and it's enough to make a bald man cry, if you know what I mean.

Look, Blood Sabbath is a strange, strange film. It should be kind of boring, but the frequent nudity and all round surreal nature of thing keep you going. David's a Vietnam vet, and I get the feeling that all this film takes place in some kind of purgatory or something, which would explain the annoying hippy people and the flashbacks to him accidentally shooting children. Either that, or I've watched far too many weird films and something bust up there in my brain, there.

Blood Sabbath (1972)

** (out of 4)

David (Anthon Geary) is walking around the country when he comes into a small town. He goes to sleep one night in the woods and is woken up by four naked women climbing over him. He manages to escape from them (why?) and then meets one woman and quickly falls in love but she keeps refusing him. It turns out he's gotten involved with a coven of witches and now they are going up against Alotta, the Queen of the Witches (Dyanne Thorne).

BLOOD SABBATH isn't a masterpiece or even a very good movie but it's got a few interesting aspects that make it worth watching. I'd be shocked if the budget was over $100,000 but that's not a slam on the picture. It's clear that they weren't working with much of a budget yet they appeared to find every woman that was willing to strip down. The film might not offer a very original story but it offers up plenty of nudity and then there's Thorne.

The biggest problem with this film is its pacing. The film moves way too slow for its own good and this was especially true for the final twenty-minutes or so. Before all of that, we're actually treated to a mildly entertaining film. I thought Geary was good in the lead role and at least kept you interested in what's going on. Susan Damante was good as well and it's always fun to see Thorne.

Another good thing about the movie was the setting as you really did get the feeling that you were out in the middle of nowhere. BLOOD SABBATH isn't going to have too many fans out there and especially since there are so many better movies dealing with witches. Still, if you're a fan of these types of movies this one is worth seeing.

The wimpiest and whiniest Vietnam vet in cinema history (played by "Luke" from "General Hospital")falls asleep in the forest for some reason and when he wakes up he finds himself being assaulted by five beautiful, naked women, so he does what any guy would do--he runs away screaming. Later he falls in love with a fully-clothed water nymph (don't ask), but can't be with her unless he gives up his soul (really, don't ask). Fortunately, the head of the coven of naked women, played by Dyanne "Ilsa" Thorne, is willing to take his soul off his hands, especially after he becomes very insistent ("Take my soul, damn you!"). But then he drinks sacrificial blood which is a problem for some reason and his water nymph lover is horrified ("You're covered with blood. . . sacrificial blood"!). Then the movie just starts to get weird.

Obviously, the only reason to watch this movie is to see a lot of naked women, including the top-heavy Dyanne Thorne dancing around in nothing but a skimpy black bikini bottom. "Luke" has a brief nude scene too (one for the ladies, I guess). It's also pretty unintentionally funny. Besides the looney situations and idiotic dialogue, the movie is chock-full of other absurdities. You would think from the sylvan location of the story and the water nymphs, satanic coven, etc. that this would be set in the British Isles or somewhere in the Old World, but it is supposedly set in Mexico! It doesn't look anything like Mexico and no one maintains a consistent Mexican accent (let alone speaks Spanish), but the coven does decapitate a "padre" at one point. That's the only scene that might recommend this to horror movie fans, but you see one priest decapitated by a satanic cult, you seen 'em all. Then there's the "Vietnam" flashback footage, but the less said about that the better.

Delirious mess of a witchcraft tale is watchable mainly as a showcase for the female bust. 'Nam vet drifter David(Anthony Geary, "Luke Spencer" of GENERAL HOSPITAL fame) is nettled by a group of reckless hippies who are having some sort of baby-oil orgy in the wilderness. By and by, he falls in love with a foxy water nymph named Yyalah, but she can't requite his affections "because he has a soul". The inimitable Dyanne Thorne(of the amazing ILSA films) turns up as a witch named Alotta (hmmmm...now there's a name you can have all sorts of fun with), who has plans of her own for David. This very druggie deep-woods tale of love, lust, and the supernatural culminates in a satisfactory bittersweet finale(and a closing credits crawl with that distinctly MARY-TYLER-MOORE lettering font), but getting that far along is a challenge and a chore.

An occasionally interesting, but mostly tiresome affair from the post-psychedelic burnout years(a place in time which I personally refer to as "the rattan zone"). If you're not a dedicated completest of 70s horror trash, you might opt to give this one a wide berth. I'm pretty sure it's inspired by, or very loosely based on Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's 19th century romantic fantasy novella UNDINE.

4/10