Blood Song

A psychopath plays his blood song to his prey before killing them in 'Dreamslayer', an average run of the mill slasher from 1982.

The film intros us to our killer Paul early on. We see that 25 years prior, he witnessed his father murder his mother and her lover before killing himself. The trauma of that night led to Paul being institutionalized at a mental health facility. He decides that it's time to escape, so he kills an orderly and gets out of the hospital with his wooden flute given to him by his father before he died. We then meet our main character Marion who is physically disabled thanks to an accident caused by her alcoholic father. She required a blood transfusion, and unlucky for her, it was Paul's blood that was given to her! As the film goes on, and Paul murders many people, Marion starts to have weird visions and dreams of the murder. It appears that having his blood inside of her has given her the ability to see his actions. It all comes to a head when Marion ends up encountering Paul in person, making her his next target.

I purchased this movie on VHS years back under the title 'Dreamslayer', but it is also known as 'Blood Song' - a far more appropriate name given the music themed plot with Paul playing his flute to an annoyingly familiar tune each time he commits a murder. Some of the gore was well done given it's very low budget of a little over a million dollars, and despite not being able to see much thanks to the low quality of tape/film. The dark scenes are almost unwatchable, and sadly no release of this one of DVD has been able to restore it in any way. It affected the rating of the film for me, that and the silly concept that getting blood from a psychopath can give you visions and dreams of the person.

The acting wasn't all that bad. Donna Wilkes lead the way as our heroine Marion who battles her recovery, her alcoholic father, and a serial killer with a sense of fear but also silent strength. Frankie Avalon in a role unlike anything he may have ever done, was effective as the creepy and deranged murderer Paul. It was also great to see Antoinette Bower as Marion's mother, she of course played Jamie Lee Curtis' mother in 'Prom Night'.

Overall, 'Dreamslayer' isn't a terrible entry to that early 80's horror grouping. But outside of one really well done axe murder scene, it doesn't add anything special that we haven't seen before.

4/10.

"Blood Song" follows a teenager in a coastal Oregon town who finds herself stalked by a man whose blood she received through a transfusion; turns out the man is a psychotic killer who plays a wooden flute (yes, you read that right), and he has a psychic connection drawing him nearer to her.

All things considered, "Blood Song" is a pretty typical slasher flick aside from the weird flourishing touches, such as the killer who plays a small wooden flute gifted to him by his father who committed a murder-suicide with his wife; did I mention that '60s singer Frankie Avalon portrays the madman? Those two reasons alone make this film stand out from its peers, though, depending on who you ask, will be either to its detriment or success.

TV actress Donna Wilkes portrays the lead/final girl who is hobbled by a leg injury through most of the film, making her even more helpless; to make matters worse, her mother (Antoinette Bower of "Prom Night") and she are under the abusive power of her alcoholic father (a character that has strange incestuous undertones, I might add). The film is not conventionally scary, as the killer is no masked villain or elusive psycho; the audience sees and gets to know the goofy character from the outset, so that element of terror is stripped from the proceedings here. The film does feel like a made-for-TV movie, and has an innocence about it that belies its bloodier moments. The atmosphere is nicely established as well, and it's nice to see the coast of my home state get some representation in '80s horror.

In the end, "Blood Song" is a rather silly slasher flick that plays up its goofiness with no shame, even in its final moments. The whole thing is rather ridiculous, but if you can take it at face value, the offering here is amusing, slightly trashy, and utterly bizarre-it almost feels as though David Lynch attempted to make a slasher movie. Do with it what you will, but it's just weird enough to warrant a viewing from genre fans. 6/10.

I was an assistant on this film. The staff was far from "un-professional" it is just in this business extras are not coddled. It was a fast paced, gotta get it right, no time for "pretty pleases". It is not the best horror flick but it has some great scenes as previous posted pointed out. Most extras and townsfolk enjoyed the film shooting and enjoyed the attention. We were in a great little Coos Bay hide away...fun little town. North Bend was great too! Lenny Montana - as big as he is - was the nicest and most gentle people I've met. It was odd seeing Frankie Avalon as a murdered. Still wickedly handsome. Low budget - blood, horror, fun story theme. It is great that it was repackaged as part of the double feature with Mausoleum.

Of all the people to star in an early 80's slasher film, Frankie Avalon doesn't seem like the most obvious choice and yet here he is, trying to give a respectable performance as the screenplay of Blood Song lets him down nearly every step of the way. Don't get me wrong. There's still some fun to be had with Blood Song, but it's not as taut and potentially thrilling as it could have been.

A young boy witnesses his father killing his mother, her lover, and then himself and is so in shock that all he can do is play his little wooden flute his father made him. Cut to present day and he decides to escape from the mental hospital where he's been cooped up forever. While he was there, he donated blood and this blood provided a life saving transfusion for a teenage girl named Mary (Donna Wilkes) after her father got them into a horrible accident which left her in leg braces.

Somehow, this shared blood has given them a psychic link and Mary can see him escaping and killing anyone along the way who says something disparaging about his flute.

If Blood Song had left out the silly blood transfusion leads to psychic visions subplot and kept the killer's flute out of it, it would probably be a much more effective movie. As is, it's too unintentionally hilarious to have the tension of chase scene broken by Avalon pulling out his flute and playing a few notes.

The acting isn't horrible, but Wilkes has been better in other films. The downbeat ending is a really punch to the stomach as well, but would have fit better into a more frightening film.

Bloodsong (a.k.a. Dream Slayer) is a rare and almost totally forgotten horror trash flick made during the 1980s' boom of slasher films. Don't get me wrong, though. I say trash in a good way; defining the genre rather than the quality. Because, in quality this movie is quite mediocre and, actually, not at all that bad as some would make it out to be. It's sleazy, but by no means a sleaze flick. It's violent only to and extent. It's bloody, but not too much. And, although it was not a t.v. movie, it sometimes has the feel of one. On top of all this mediocrity, there are some assets to Bloodsong. The acting and storyline are pretty good, there's plenty of cheap 80s style and substance, and it's the only film in which you can see former teen heart throb Frankie Avalon play a hatchet wielding psycho.

Yes, you heard right. Frankie stars as Paul Foley, an escaped and homicidal mental patient, who prior to his liberation, supplied blood to a critically injured teenage girl brought to his hospital after a car wreck. The girl, Marion (played by Donna Wilkes), crippled but on her way to recovery at home, starts to have horrible visions of death both in dreams and awake. In other words, Paul's blood seems to have connected his mind to hers, making Marion an unwilling mental witness to his killing spree in which the murders always start off with him hauntingly playing a flute (hence, the title Bloodsong). Needless to say, it is inevitable that their paths will cross and it won't be nice.

Although far from a classic, Bloodsong is pretty entertaining and not a complete waste of time. The killings are semi-graphic but, otherwise, fully slasher film certified. Avalon surprisingly creates a creepy and menacing character. Another plus is that the plot is embellished by the fact that poor disabled Marion has a father who is an abusive alcoholic who makes her out to be a slut and gives her hell every chance he gets. That sub-story is worthy of the trashiest Lifetime movie of the week. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say this film is a mix between John Carpenter's Halloween (only much cheaper and not on Halloween) and William Lustig's Maniac (only toned down and a lot less bloody). So, mediocrity aside, Bloodsong is worth at least one view by all 80s slasher aficionados. Frankie would appreciate it.