Blood Voyage

You don't necessarily need to be Stephen Hawking to know upfront that "Blood Voyage" isn't going to be a great masterpiece of cinema. And yet, I - for one - cannot be very harsh for a flick that is A) a slasher-movie that came out before the slasher genre became immensely popular, B) features a uniquely claustrophobic and original setting aboard a yacht in the Pacific Ocean, and C) stars three incredibly gorgeous leading ladies that all willingly go topless!

The plot cannot be simpler. On their way to a tropical Hawaiian wedding by yacht, a group of four tourists and three crew-members are confronted with a vicious meat cleaver-wielding maniac. The culprit must be one of them, and there are a few obvious suspects, like a girl with a background of mental illnesses and a Vietnam veteran who keeps hearing voices in his head. That's it! Of course, there's a bit of additional intrigue and attempts to mislead the viewer, but it's plain obvious we're only watching this for the kills and the nudity. Actresses Laurie Rose and Midori still have a minimum of acting skills, but this girl named Mara Modair was clearly just cast for her luscious curves and measurements.

Final footnote: what I personally find even more fascinating than the film is the story behind its director Frank Mitchell. Apparently, he had been an actor since the silent movie era already and starred in nearly one hundred films. Only at the very end of his career he suddenly decided to take place in the director's seat. For a horror movie, moreover, which is a genre he never acted in. "Blood Voyage" was also his only effort as a director.

BLOOD VOYAGE (aka: NIGHTMARE VOYAGE) is a semi-entertaining thriller about a group of friends, including what was known at the time as "a bevy of bodacious babes", who all set sail for Hawaii.

Unbeknownst to our seafaring heroes, a mad killer is among them. In no time, someone uses a cleaver to start dicing up the crew. As the story progresses, various motives and red herrings are revealed.

WARNING: This film contains scenes of pot and heroin use, as well as big boobs and even bigger sideburns!...

Ahoy, matey's!!! Expect far more than the ship's mainbrace to get spliced on this ill-fated pleasure cruise to Hawaii! There's titillating T & A and hot snatches of gore, in Frank Mitchel's cult 70s psycho slasher 'Blood Voyage'. The 1st seafaring slasher has groovy-looking 70s chicks, hirsute alpha dudes, soapy Agatha Crispy theatrics, and salty seamen! Forget about turgid landlubber, Mike Myers, this sinisterly ship-stalking shipmate is where its at! With the directors hand's rock steady at the tiller, this bracingly brine-lashed, bikini-splashed blood-spiller is a killer diller! Not one for the anchors that poo-poo vintage Grindhouse goodness, as 'Blood Voyage' is a yacht better B-slasher than the neg-heads would have you believe.

The plot = 8 people set sail on a luxury yacht among them a wealthy doctor, his money grabbing step daughter, his young and beautiful wife and Amy one the doctor's patients an attractive oriental drug addict, along with 2 crewmen one of which was in Vietnam and has recurring nightmares and a captain, and it's not long before the captain jumps ship (literary) and it soon becomes a nightmare voyage.

I came across this movie one day at a car boot sale, priced at 50p although it was titled "Nightmare Voyage", and I was immediately drawn to it, but when I finally got round to seeing it, I was sorely disappointed, for a start the blood title is very misleading as there is absolutely not a drop in sight, (well barely), and none of the passengers are remotely likable or can act, the actress who plays the step daughter looks more like she could be the doctors wife and he awful blonde wig does all her terrible acting for her.

For a start it looks as if there was no effort put into this movie whatsoever, so cheaply shot that you can't even see whats going on and plus the killer was so obvious from the get go, just read the back of the video, and the constant nudity was just added in to pad out running time and a desperate attempt to salvage this mess which sadly it doesn't.

All in all an awful mess of a movie, with boring unimaginative murders and equally uninteresting characters.

What is meant to be a pleasure cruise becomes a nightmare as murder follows murder on a small ship.

With tension mounting, passengers and the crew turn on each other in a desperate attempt to identify the killer.

The version I saw was off a video tape from a British print and rated X. Not sure why. Right off the bat, it opens with a well endowed topless and silver haired cutie. The music is bizarre and sort of like porn music. I think today it could be rated PG-13

There's a good dose of hot chick nudity or bikini sprinkled throughout in fact. And don't miss the Asian girl licking a hot dog and then putting it back on the platter! Huh?

The film takes its time to get going. It sort of reminded me of I Spit on your Grave in the sense that it builds the suspense and you know something is going to happen.

Only not very much really happens! The problem with the movie is that it's done more like a mystery movie than a slasher film. But the last 10 minutes are hysterical!

Interestingly the guy who directed this was a one shot director, but he had been an actor in Hollywood since 1920!