Blood

How can someone call themselves a fan of cult horror movies like "The Blob" and the various "Godzilla" flicks, and call this movie "cheap trash. "Blood" is basically a low budget love letter to other low budget cheapies, which are also considered classics today, movies like "The Wolfman" and "Satan's Cheerleaders," are cult favorites. Maverick director Andy Milligan has taken his love for Dracula and The Wolf man, and perhaps the cult tv show "Dark Shadows," which this movie has a lot of similarities to, and created this stylish horror opus. . A cursed family arrives from an obscure part of Eastern Europe, and holes up in a large, gothic home in Staten Island, New York. They harbor a hideous secret, as the lady of the house has a rare disease in which she needs a constant supply of blood to keep her alive. Without her "medicine," she turns into a monstrous creature. The gore is brief, but when it's on screen it can be quite nasty, Fortunately Milligan doesn't let his camera linger on those gore shots for more than a couple seconds. Being a period piece, we get some lovely, albeit cheap 1930's era costumes and hairstyles. Before Milligan turned to horror, he directed a collection of erotic, sometimes even pornographic films, which he was surprisingly good at making. His films are dialog-heavy, but the fact that the dialog is so zany and bizarre, becomes a good thing. If you have patience, "Blood" is considered one of the director's more ambitious works, with it's costumes and music score. It also scores high marks on weirdness, and most importantly, "Blood" is one of the more atmospheric horror movies to come out of the 70's. But it's not recommended for cinema snobs, self-proclaimed critics who are going to rip something apart because of some imperfection. With films like this, the flaws sometimes become their greatest asset. Presently I am working through Milligan's body of work, at least the films that weren't lost due to the neglect of his careless family, and admittedly, there are some bad titles. There are also some real gems among them, the absolute best being "Fleshpot On 42nd Street," which was one of the director's non-horror efforts. I recommend "Blood" to fans of true cult horror movies.

The son of a werewolf marries the daughter of Count Dracula in this rare Milligan gorefest.Hope Stansbury gives a great performance and is perfectly cast as Dracula's evil daughter.There's lots of gruesome gory scenes including a man who gets a meat cleaver struck into his skull.This is Milligan's most gothic looking movie that I've seen so far and it's worth a look not only for gorehounds but for horror fans in general.I give this movie ***** out of ***** for it's originality and style.

Blood (1974)

** (out of 4)

Downright craziness from director Andy Milligan has Lawrence Talbot working under the last name Orlovsky. He moves his wife, the daughter of Dracula, into a house where he also brings along a wide range of weird people. Inside the house he is growing plants, which will eat humans but there are more dark secrets within these walls.

Milligan has a huge cult following and it's really easy to see why. I've gone through a hand full of the director's films and for the most part I've found them ranking from downright horrid to suicide worthy. With that said, BLOOD is probably the best film I've seen from him because of how crazy and bizarre it is. I'm not sure if the director just figured he'd throw everything into a film and see what would stick but you've got a werewolf, Dracula's daughter, a deformed mutant and of course the man-eating plants.

There are some really kooky moments throughout this thing ranging to some bizarre dialogue where the wife wants to know if her husband still loves her to a werewolf attack that is filmed in such dark conditions that you can't even see what is happening. The melodrama that Mulligan adds to a lot of his horror pictures is something that actually works here because of the fact that it's a werewolf and a vampire. The added supporting of the other freaks is just a good bonus.

The performances really aren't all that bad and the film has a much more professional look that the majority of the director's work. At just under 70 minutes the movie manages to keep your interest throughout.

Andy Milligan, a maker of extreme low budget horror flicks. Most of them are boring but even stranger most of them aren't available. To find an movie by Milligan you really have to search hard, the only two you will find easy are The Ghastly Ones (Blood Rites) and The Rats Are Coming.... All his other features are in the public domain. So it's for the real geeks out there to find them. if you have seen the two ones mentioned earlier then you will know what to get from Milligan. A low budget movie with almost no acting whatsoever. The effects are not really effects, no transformation into a wolfman, the teeth from Dracula's wife are there from one shot to another. But still, it is watchable because it only clocks in into 1 hour. Now IMDb stated it as 74 minutes but so far I haven't found someone who had that version, so for me there's only this version. Most of he actors only played in this flick or in other Milligan movies, just one has made it, Patricia Gaul. Her biggest acting was in Silverado. This was her second feature. again, if you are collecting grindhouse flicks then you should add it into your collection.

BLOOD is yet another epic from Director Andy Milligan. It is the tale of Dr. Lawrence Orlovsky and his wife, Regina (Hope Stansbury). Lawrence is a stern, rude man, perhaps due to his hat being six sizes too small.

Enter Regina, a vampire brought in during daylight. This explains why she resembles a molten pizza with fangs. Regina needs injections to keep her from disintegrating altogether. Thus injected, she whines incessantly. This helps to offset Lawrence's turd-on-a-rope personality.

Meanwhile, their servants, including the leg-deprived Orlando (Michael Fischetti), the brain-destroyed Carlotta (Pichulina Hempi), and the soon-to-be-one-legged Carrie (Patti Gaul), take care of the Orlovsky's man-eating plant collection (aka: plastic hotel lobby foliage). Horror ensues.

While this movie is full of Milligan's signature cardboard characters spouting absurd dialogue, there is a bit of a story here somewhere. In spite of the Director's trademark meandering, there's even a modicum of tension. In fact, this could be the best Andy Milligan movie ever made!

Of course, it's still a sub-sludge production, featuring horrid camera work, lantern-like lighting, etc., but at least the damned thing makes some sort of sense! With BLOOD, Milligan reached the pinnacle of his... "talent".

THE BEST SCENE IN THIS MOVIE: When Petra (Eve Crosby), who looks as though she sleeps in a coal bin, is attacked by Halloween-novelty-teeth-wearing Regina! After witnessing this, one will never look at mannequin arms in the same way again! Ever!...