Bloodlust!

BLOODLUST! (1961) is yet another retelling of "Most Dangerous Game" with a lackluster cast and inferior production values. The mostly youthful actors and actresses are terrible and turn in cardboard performances. There is one exception, however, and that is Wilton Graff as Belleau, a latter-day Count Zaroff wielding a crossbow to dispatch his victims on the remote island. Graff gives a very fey performance (imagine what Vincent Price could have done with this one!) as he stalks his prey and includes them in his tableaux of trophies and macabre death scenes. He chews scenery but at least attempts to raise the level of this hopeless mess which is why this effort isn't a complete waste. Beware the substandard print by Madacy Entertainment on a double-feature DVD which is accompanied by ATOM AGE VAMPIRE. Cast includes Robert Reed, June Kenney, Joan Lora, Eugene Persson, Walter Brooke and Lilyan Chauvin.

The description on the DVD box made this look like a forerunner of the SCREAM or Friday THE 13th movies (madman stalks teens) but if I hadn't read it first I wouldn't have guessed than anyone in the cast was supposed to be under thirty (including the head of the Brady Bunch). It didn't take long to figure out this was a MOST DANGEROUS GAME rip-off made on the ultra cheap. As such it seemed to me that the writing and photography were decent efforts but the direction wasn't up to realizing the potential of either. One or two touches (again, in the writing) were clever and took me by surprise and the accent on the gruesome reminded me of an old black and white horror comic, but all in all the movie didn't add up to much. A respectable failure. Oh, and it has the worst cardboard cave set I've ever seen!!

A group of youngsters land on a beautiful, seemingly deserted island while taking a detour on their boating trip. After exploring the wooded island for a few hours they run into a seemingly sweet older man who convinces them to stay at his house since it is getting dark and there are a lot of scary animals roaming the woods at night. The group all agree but there's just something not right about this older man. It turns out he is a crazy millionaire who lets victims loose on the island while he hunts them down and kills them to keep as "trophies". Really not a bad story (although not original) but the execution really is a bit silly. The dialog really is bad especially at the beginning. Robert Reed plays one of the youngsters in an early role of his. It is somehow amusing to hear his voice once you know him as Mike Brady. Although most of the acting was plastic, I thought the part of the crazy millionaire played by Wilton Graff, was pretty decent in what is clearly a role best suited for Vincent Price. A few of the bit parts were well played too actually. This is a remake of "The most dangerous game" that falls short in many places but I really didn't feel bored with this 68 minute movie.

I'd file this under "No classic, but lots of fun!". The cast is good: It's interesting to see Robert Reed in his pre-Brady Bunch days. The late Wilton Graff (as the villain) is one of those faces many remember but can't name; he was usually seen as concerned fathers or business execs who knew more than they were telling. He gives a convincingly understated performance in this film; one is constantly reminded of Vincent Price. Plotwise, there are some effective jolts along the way (bodies floating in tanks, or posed in realistic attitudes in a "trophy room"). There's also a memorable scene where a young lady karate-flips a would-be attacker into a vat of acid; we're offered screaming closeups of his skin peeling away. The lively finale involves quicksand, leeches and a body hung (still living) on a spiked frame. Like I said, no classic, but if you enjoy the occasional anything-goes exploitation film, you could do worse!

Entertaining take on "The Most Dangerous Game" featuring "teens" (you know, the kind in their late-20s), violence and a bit of gore. Apparently it was a feature on MST3K...but the movie isn't as terrible as that would suggest. It does feature some obnoxiously 50s dialogue, characters, and acting, but it also features some really fun stuff (like a teeny bopper girl that knows judo and flips a bad guy into a vat of acid...and we get to watch him decompose! how can you not love that?!). The dad from the Brady Bunch is in this, and is annoying as ever, and the plot gets a little too Scooby Doo in parts. But there are some fairly creepy scenes here. In fact, I enjoyed this much more than I probably should have. My rating: 5/10