Color, 1972, 84 mins. / Directed by Ed Adlum / Starring Bruce Detrick, Norman Kelley, Tanna Hunter, Jack Neubeck, Cynthia Fleming / Music by Beau Eurell and A.J. Smutt / Cinematography by Frederick Douglass Format: DVD - Ventura/Retromedia / Letterboxed (1.85:1) / Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Shot on the ultra-cheap in upstate New York, Invasion of the Blood Farmers belongs comfortably with the efforts of 16mm sleaze wizards like Andy Milligan, William Girdler, and Michael Findlay, who not so coincidentally edited this one (along with director Ed Adlum's more widely seen follow up, Shriek of the Mutilated). Barely coherent but rarely dull, this madcap tour through a
During the fiery, crimson-tinted intro, we learn about the history of Druids who continue to thrive to this day across the globe. Why, they've even shacked up in the great American Northeast, where locals are falling prey to a pair of farmers who bleed their victims in a wooden shack. A nasty incident at a local bar in which a man collapses dead from means unknown triggers a local investigation, which touches on the bizarre experiments of one Dr. Anderson (Norman Kelley). The scientist's
The memorable poster art for Blood Farmers depicted a hillbilly farmer preparing to gouge a topheavy woman with a pitchfork, but the film is a little stranger than your average exploitation effort. Like the thematically similar Motel Hell, the film uses its rural setting and farmland locations to interesting effect, a far cry from the gothic castles and bubbling laboratories which had populated horror films in the previous decade. Some sequences in particular, such as an extended bloodletting ritual by masked farmers in a barn, foreshadow the later (and obviously far superior) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; while the intensity level is kept at bay by numerous unintentional chuckles (check out the shoe polish hairdos) and gaping plot inconsistencies, the film has enough going on to keep fans of Z-grade trash busy munching on their popcorn.
Briefly released on VHS in the format's infancy, Blood Farmers has been difficult to track down for the past fifteen years or so. Thankfully its DVD incarnation is vastly superior to the muddy, cropped tape edition; in fact, it's unlikely this no budget 35mm effort could look much better. Some problems caused by shoddy lighting and obviously clumsy lab work show up in the source material, so don't expect this to look like a big budget Hollywood feature. That said, the letterboxing at least offers some semblance of formal composition (something it always seemd to lack before), and the colors and detail level are fine. As part of Fred Olen Ray's Nite Owl Theater, this release features the director camping it up with his wife and a bevy of semi-nude starlets; the release is also augmented with the original theatrical trailer and spots for Ray's films both available and forthcoming on disc.
backwoods region populated by scientists, mad cults, and bloody mayhem became something of a drive-in staple during its day, and now the DVD can astonish and mentally damage a whole new generation on DVD.
tinkering with human blood triggers the interest of our modern Druids, led by the not terribly imposing Creton (Paul Craig Jennings). It seems their bloody actions (which include ambushing a woman in the shower) can all be justified because they intend to revive their dead queen, a beautiful blonde kept preserved in a glass coffin.
