Huellas de sangre

Easy Action were one of the first Swedish glam rock band and was formed in Stockholm in 1982.In 1983 they released their self-titled debut album and had a minor hit in Sweden with the song "We Go Rocking".In 1985 the band appeared in cheap survival horror "Blood Tracks" made by B-movie producer Mats-Helge Olsson.Easy Action broke up around 1986 after having recorded "That Makes One".If you are a fan of this cheesy glam rock group then check out "Blood Tracks" with its corny murderous family hiding in a a snow-swept disused factory.The family lives close to the cabin where 80s Swedish rock band 'Solid Gold'(Easy Action) have just arrived to film their latest smash video."Blood Tracks" is a dull horror movie with flat characters and almost zero gore.Still I have seen worse.5 blood tracks out of 10.

Swedish slasher movie set in Colorado about an 80's big haired rock band Easy Action recording a music video high up in the mountains. Not only is there an avalanche putting their lives at risk but also a family of cannibals. However, despite these dangers the boys are only interested in getting naked with the girls accompanying them. And they do this quite a lot. The obvious comparison here is The Hills Have Eyes, just not in the same league. Solid Gold were played by then real poodle haired band Easy Action, who may have been famous in their native Sweden but I'd never heard of them. I found this film to be pretty lame with dislikeable characters and not much gore. However I did watch it on low grade VHS, which had been cut by 23 seconds (BBFC), so an uncut viewing of better quality may gain an extra point. But I'm certainly in no rush to seek it out!

Blood Tracks main crime was a complete lack of any interesting characters or lead character of interest. Supporting this the kills weren't really interesting and most of the horror was done in the dark which made it very hard to really care.

The acting wasn't much better with many of the actors sounding like they are reading their lines verbatim a lot of the time. So bad, this is true B territory. Then there is the script, jeepers. No explanation provided for anything, the whole script is pure trash. A women stabs her hubby to death because he was picking some coins up off the floor so they become mutants living in a factory then kill anyone that comes near them.

Other issues with the plot like why didn't the locals know anything about these killer hermits living practically right next to them. What we do actually get is a fair amount of blood, quite a few kills, some moody music and a very nice assortment of t&a. All of which went to waste because no interesting characters were available.

My review was written in May 1986 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Blood Tracks" is a gory horror film that although it was made last year belongs rightfully in the cycle of teen slasher features from five years ago. Prospects are modest in international markets.

Silly premise has a rock group amed Solid Gold (played by Swedish band Easy Action) on location in the Colorado mountains (actually filmed in Sweden) to shoot a music video. A large contingent of attractive femme models isalong, to provide th usual scantily clad decoration (even though it's cold and strictly snowsville, with frequent avalanches to boot).

While the troupe is holed up in a snug mountain cabin, workmen disturb the peace of a barbarian clan of savages living underneath an abandoned factory nearby. A prolog sequence shows how an ultraviolent domestic quarrel some 10 years earlier ended up with daddy dead and mom and the kids trekking to the remote spot where they're living and murdering primitively today.

When the rock entourage youngsters are not engaged in sex they're wandering out in the snow (this being a cornball horror picture after all) to be attacked by the primitives.

"Blood Tracks" emphasizes some grisly makeup effects, particularly one in which a girl suddenly is split in two from head to toe. Several sex and nude scenes are included, the silliest of which has blonde Mary (Karina Lee) making love to a musician out in a car when they're buried by an avalanche; when rescued she scrambles across the snow naked much to the merriment of the rescuers.

Cast is hampered by the use of post-synchronized English dialog, but the youngsters are good looking and that apparently is all that is required in this genre.

BLOOD TRACKS opens with a flashback to 1945 with a violent family confrontation resulting in death. Forty years later, a heavy metal band is in "town" -more like a wasteland- to film a music video. Grisly horror ensues.

Or, something like that.

Indeed, the people from 1945 are still around, looking pretty much the same. That is, except for bad makeup and mangy wigs.

Enter the supermodels, running around half dressed through the snow. Not even their towering hairdos can save them!

The filming of the music video is hilarious. It's reminiscent of those moldy old MTV vids of bands like QUIET RIOT or POISON. Will the video be finished before everyone is annihilated? A true gut-buster!

Unfortunately, when people aren't busy dying, the movie bogs down in tedious non-dialogue by the non-actors. Hell, even the avalanche is dull!...