Blood Rites (AKA The Ghastly Ones – 1968) is number 9 in our Video Nasties Project.
No matter how bad a movie may be, it will always be greatly improved by the presence of a live rabbit eating, maniacal hunchback named Colin. Director Andy Milligan may have been responsible for some of the finest examples of ‘so bad they’re good’ movies to emerge in the latter half of the twentieth century. His filmography reads like a particularly good record collection, with titles such as Dragula (1971) (later the title of a great Rob Zombie song) and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me! (1968) (used as the moniker of an equally fantastic album from The Cure) standing out in particular.
Blood Rites was made in 1968 for what no real budget whatsoever. It would also appear that only one camera was used, and for most of the time, this was hand held, no tripod. If you are in any way affected by motion sickness, this may not be the movie for you. The minimalistic approach to equipment actually adds something to the overall feel and atmosphere of the movie. There is an admirable dinginess created in its frantic cheapness. The decision to make it a period piece is an odd one, but one can only imagine that it was an attempt to cash in on the success of the Roger Corman / Edgar Allan Poe features of the era.
The story itself carries more than a hint of Poe; a trio of sisters are summoned to their family home with their respective husbands, upon arrival, the one stipulation is that they must simply spend some time in the foreboding mansion.
As is often the case, the servants are odd as the damned, and this is when we meet Colin. He seems upset by the arrival of the family and, in particular, the amount of luggage they have with them. He inexplicably runs away in a haze of impotent fury, and finds a cute white rabbit in the garden which he then begins to eat. This scene may have been the one which caused upset amongst the censors, but there are a few others as well which create an awkward and uncomfortable feeling.
There is a particularly unsettling (and weirdly unprovoked) marital rape scene, which is only accentuated by the flustered and uneven camerawork. There are a few deaths which deliver the blood, but with such a lack of finesse that focus is merely drawn towards the clumsiness of it all. The sound in this movie is beyond terrible, and the peculiar nature and incidental noodlings of pseudo chamber music crossed with piercing organs does very little to add anything worthwhile to the feature.
Out of pure speculation I would imagine that it was the title which drew the attention of the DPP to Blood Rites (it seemed that anything with the somewhat innocuous ‘B’ word was put under intense scrutiny).
The elements of inheritance, murder and red herrings are common so far in the Video Nasties list. The problem with Blood Rites is that it doesn’t address any of them very well. For an example of a similar plot executed in a far superior way, watch Mario Bava’s Bay of Blood instead. It might not have Colin, but it’s a far more gratifying experience overall.
(1:11:50)(original title: The Ghastly Ones) (Banned outright)
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