Film Review: BLOOD AND LACE (1971)

Why the hell isn't this on DVD yet? Volume 3

BLOOD AND LACE (1971 American International) Starring Melody Patterson, Gloria Grahame, Vic Tayback, Len Lesser, Dennis Christopher, Milton Selzer, Terri Messina, Ron Taft, Maggie Corey.  Directed by Philip S. Gilbert.

Okay, folks, here's your chance to see the late, great Vic Tayback playing a hero!

Well, sort of.  

BLOOD AND LACE is a very, very low budget horror film starring Melody Patterson as the "not quite 21" year old Elly Masters (21 being the legal age in this unnamed state) who is orphaned when her mother is brutally murdered in her sleep by a hammer-wielding psycho. Since her mother took the identity of Patterson's father to her early grave, Melody has nowhere to go except the Deere Orphanage, run by icy Gloria Grahame and creepy handyman Len "Uncle Leo!" Lesser. 

Grahame has a shady financial arrangement with the county that she will stop at nothing---literally, nothing---to preserve. While police detective Vic Tayback investigates the crime, and shows more than just a passing interest in the young girl's welfare, Patterson is having repeated nightmares about the crime that increasingly seem real.

The lack of funding hurts, in particular with the makeup and the soundtrack, which consists entirely of music that was probably recorded at least two decades before this film was shot. There's a good laugh to be had early as Tayback explains that he's a plainclothes detective because "none of the married men wanted the hours". It's much more likely that he's a plainclothes detective because the budget wouldn't allow for an authentic police car or uniform, since we never see either! Hell, even PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE had that much.

One can see an influence on later genre classics. Just compare the opening scene here with John Carpenter's opening sequence in HALLOWEEN seven years later. And the psycho in Elly's dreams looks more than a little like Freddy Krueger without his hat.

This was promoted as "the sickest PG film ever made" in 1971. It is astonishing that this secured a PG rating--Gil Lasky's screenplay is extremely cynical and thoroughly tasteless, and director Gilbert pulls out all the stops in bringing it to life.  BLOOD AND LACE gives us murder, incest, child abuse, insanity, arson, decaying corpses, amputation by meat cleaver, starvation, hypothermia, unsubtle undertones of pedophilia, plenty of gore, overacting, underacting, Vic Tayback looking for good breeding stock (for my money, the best and cringiest line in the picture) and, perhaps most disturbing of all, aging Gloria Grahame and moon-faced Milton Selzer enjoying an afternoon delight.  Thankfully the camera didn't explore that too thoroughly.

In other words, a must-see, folks!


So, why isn't this on DVD yet?

Extremely low budget film with lots of familiar TV names, but no big-screen stars save for Grahame. I mean, Vic Tayback is your hero--as I said, sort of.  This film really doesn't have one, just a fascinating bunch (including Bunch played by Messina) of characters with self-serving interests with varying acceptance of reality. 

Why it should be released on DVD:


Well, like I said, Vic Tayback is your hero!  Does it get any cooler than that?

This film is a perfect fit for Sony's "Midnite Movies" DVD series .

Like Patterson, Terri Messina's career was way too short.  This is one of her infrequent appearances also.  Incidentally, she was playing an underage orphan at age 25 here.

Gloria Grahame, even with far less than the best material and over a decade past her prime, is always compelling. 

A commentary with Lesser and/or Patterson? Still possible.

Another clear question: why the Hell didn't Vic Tayback ever get his own detective series?  I mean, this man looks more than ready to compete with Rockford and Cannon. right?

Film has been recognized as influential, and is slowly gaining a cult following with airings on Showtime, Flix and Encore Mystery Channel in recent years.