I Drink Your Blood

This week in the corner we will take a look at David Dursten's I Drink Your Blood.  Right off the bat I should say that this movie was released in 1970 and was the first movie rated X for violence.  It follows a group of Satan worshiping, acid tripping hippies who have arrived at a small rural area to perform demonic rituals.  In the process they end up catching a women spying on one of their rituals and they take it upon themselves to assault her in the woods.  When the woman arrives home she tells her grandfather and little brother what has happened.  When the grandfather seeks revenge, the little brother decides to follow.  What transpires from there is a mixture of a twisted after school special and Sweeny Todd.  For one, the band of Satan worshipers drop acid like they are candy.  The movie, for me, has sort of a "don't do drugs" undertone.  Also, the little brother in the movie ends up killing a rabid dog in the woods.  He gets a syringe and draws blood from the rabid dog and secretly injects the blood into some meat pies that the Satanic cult plans to eat.  The cult then gets rabies themselves and begins to go on a blood thirsty rampage.  The cult members foam at the mouth, decapitate each other, and just plain go insane.  This movie seems to try very hard to be like George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead(my favorite horror movie).  Although to be fair Romero released The Crazies in 1973 which is in a lot ways similar to I Drink Your Blood.  Living Dead, for me always spoke to social inequality, civil rights, and what it means to be different.  All topics relevant in 1968 when the movie was released.  I drink your blood doesn't necessarily tackle the exact same issues but for being released in the same time frame and having LSD being the drug of choice of a bunch of devil worshiping rapists, it is hard to ignore the "drugs are bad" message.  If you choose to watch this movie, make sure you get the uncut director's X rated version.  That version is 8 minutes longer and includes all of the things that have made this movie a grind house hit.  The R rated version actually cuts a scene, in my opinion, that is fairly important for the rest of the movie.  This movie isn't for everyone, but if you like early 70's grind house flicks with gritty footage and grisly gore, you should definitely check this out.

Next week in the corner, I will write about a movie that I have never seen before!  FrankenHooker!!!!

Oh and give me your thoughts in the comments section!!