11 December 2024
Blood and Lace (1971)
88 min.
Directed by Philip Gilbert.
With Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, Vic Tayback, Milton Selzer, Len Lesser, Dennis Christopher, Terry Messina, Ronald Taft, Peter Armstrong.
Feisty little AIP number holds its own.

After her mother is brutally murdered by a hammer wielding psycho, traumatized young Ellie (Patterson) finds herself shoveled off to the Deere Youth Home...where sadistic headmistress Deere (Grahame) dispatches her charges and stores their bodies in the cellar freezer!

A nasty hammer claw goreing sets the stage (similar in tone to Carpenter's POV Halloween starter), the story unfolds at a nice clip with some odd touches including a kid tied and starving in the attic.

1940s film noir vet Grahame gives a delightful latter day performance as the warped orphanage director, while Patterson is sympathetic as the frightened but savvy Ellie who discovers Deere's secrets...as well as her own.

Definitely worth seeking out.

© copyright 1998-present | The Terror Trap; www.terrortrap.com | all rights reserved