Color, 1970, 80 mins. Directed by Robert O'Neill
Starring Peter Carpenter, Maria De Aragon, Vicki Peters, Reagan Wilson, Jacqueline Dalya, Alex Rocco / Cinematography by Bob Maxwell
Format: DVD - Rhino (MSRP $9.98) Full Frame / Dolby Digital 2.0
"Plunge into a night of unspeakable terror!" gasps the cover for Blood Mania. At least they got the unspeakable part right. Drive-in and sleaze palace viewers were often suckered in during the early '70s by this low-thrill "psychological thriller" masquerading as a gore film, and now you can relieve the experience of waiting in vain in your very own home with this shiny little disc.
Blood Mania seems to have the basic ingredients for a trashy good time: the inept animated opening credits which segue into nightmarish footage of a woman running past colored gel lighting, the labyrinthine plot laced with scuzzy elements like murder and rampant sex, and a slinky female lead whose weird paintings indicate something isn't quite right upstairs. So why is Blood Mania such a complete bust? The obvious lack of blood would be an obvious starting point, though at least there is one violent killing in the last five minutes. The sex scenes are also extremely drab, with nudity kept to a minimum as characters loll around in bed yapping about the plot. Then there's the cast, made up of actors like Carpenter and the always colorful Alex Rocco (both of whom did better work for Russ Meyer); at least there's De Aragon, who's marginally compelling in the most dynamic role of the film. (Trivia note: she's reportedly also the one inside Greedo's costume in the original Star Wars.)
Naturally Rhino chose to deliver the best transfer of its budget DVD series for the lousiest movie. Many of their past transfers have been notoriously awful, especially Galaxina, but evidently Crown International turned over the original negative for this one. The image quality looks absolutely pristine and vibrantly colorful, with the open matte image far more detailed and blemish free than the old VHS prerecords that used to turn up in mom and pop video stores during the '80s. The hilarious trailer (which tries to make this look much more exciting than it really is) looks equally immaculate, making one wonder exactly what weird twist of fate determines which Grade-Z movies should survive the ravages of time. The mono audio is also spotless and crystal clear, except for the mediocre recording quality of the original that muffles a few lines of dialogue. Press materials announced this film as having an 88 minute running time, but the version that's been circulating for decades has clocked in at 80 minutes. One can only wonder whether anything was ever cut out, but if it was more dialogue, we should all be thankful.
Victoria (Maria De Aragon) is what you might call an unstable girl, though part of the problem may be the company she keeps. Her lust for Craig Cooper (Peter Carpenter), a young doctor, gives her the brilliant idea of coaxing along her father to the grave in order to provide him with money to pay off a nasty blackmailer, Larry (Arell Blanton), who's been keeping secrets about Cooper's abortion service during med school. When Victoria's father (who also happens to be Cooper's boss at the hospital) finally dies, the money and the estate pass on to Victoria's sister instead, triggering a deadly chain reaction.
