Delirio di sangue

Neurotic artist (John Phillip Law) is driven luridly insane by the death of his beloved wife (Brigitte Christensen), and his spectacularly vile necro-cannibal manservant (George Mitchell) diabolically turns the maniacal maestro's ancestral pile into a gruesome, cadaver-strewn nightmare! While the text is an amusingly camp, cliché-sodden shambles, the goofy exchanges, wanton sexual perversity, bloody eviscerations, unleavened hysteria, and endearingly rudimentary practical FX provides a cornucopia of bloodthirsty B-movie mayhem! This tantalizingly trashy, goriously tasteless Gothic slasher has scintillating Schlocky sensibilities on par with John Waters and H. G Lewis, thrillingly making 'Blood Delirium' a delirious treat for Euro-cult horror fans! Technical aspects of the splendid Screenbound Blu-ray are exemplary, pristine sound and vision enhances the plasma-plastered shocker's dazzling idiosyncrasies, and the extras offer compelling insight into the making of a sleazily demented Italian cult classic!

Blood Delirium is a very creepy and atmospheric Gothic horror shot on the cheap in Italy. A deranged painter and his butler dig up his wife's grave a year later to use her blood as secret ingredient in his highly acclaimed paintings. The butler is also nuttier than squirrel turd and a huge pervert, necrophile and rapist. The tone of the film is very dark and sleazy. The quality of the production is above average for a film this cheap. The acting is convincing and oozing with creepiness and depravity. The film has lots of gore, nudity and awkward creepiness and mental illness. It also has a dark ambiance. Recommended to those that want something bizarre and twisted.

This is a pretty wild one alright... Towards the end of the great Italian Giallo movement.

One thing that can be said about it is that it didn't just completely mindlessly go for brutal graphic gore as many did by that time. Although there are some pretty dicey scenes in it, and although quite sleazy at times, still, it is done with a fair amount of true Gothic atmosphere and at times an engaging Surreal mood.

Don't get me wrong, there are some rather extreme scenes here, but for me personally there is a difference to a degree as to the intent and the tone of something with that kind of content. In other words, you can have a coldly sadistic, very mean-spirited tone by someone like Eli Roth for example, a man who wouldn't know how to make a genuinely 'Fun' Horror movie to save his life.

Or... like in this case, you can have almost the same degree of extremity, but the tone and mood are all quite different. More of a Surreal, Gothic, almost Retro dreamy atmosphere where you still kind of turn away in Horror, but with more of a 'Fun' vibe that doesn't come across as mean-spirited in its intention. So, to me, there is a distinct difference.

John Phillip Law is of course very well known by this point for much better and more famous films years before like 'Danger Diabolik', and at this point he is clearly just glad to have the work. But, as Troy Howarth says in the commentary, and I do agree, is that even though his performance is Way the hell over the top, still, he'd rather see an actor fully commit even to a rather Out There role than just go through the motions. And, boy does he give it all he's got!

The guy who plays his assistant was also very well known at the time and had made many films. Their interaction during the movie I thought had a special something that made it almost more sympathetic, which is Really stretching the meaning of that word when you see him do some of the things he does. I will say that, without giving away any true spoilers, the one scene where he is continuing to rape the girl after she is clearly dead I found rather disturbing. But, thankfully it is very brief. Extremely Creepy, but brief... : )

So, not one I would ever highly recommend as one of the better Giallo films, not even close. But, just for pure wild effort and commitment on the parts of the director and actors, I will give it a '5'...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Particular Way of Rating:

5 - Flawed, but perhaps with some entertainment value.

6. A decently passable story maybe worth a watch.

7. A solid film, well made, effective, and entertaining.

And, obviously, you can probably figure out what above and below these would mean... : )

Misogynistic Trash. Really awful film. I read that Sergio Bergonzelli directed mostly porn during his career. I believe it. He managed to get a bad performance out of John Phillip Law. He managed to get a bad performance out of everybody.

The story takes the mad scientist trope and adds a twist. John Phillip Law plays a mad artist who can see small parts of the future. Gordon Mitchell plays his rapey necrophilic Igor-like sidekick. There are many sexual crimes.

Brigitte Christensen is the protagonist. She spends most of the film waiting around and needing to be rescued. Marco Di Stefano plays her boyfriend who eventually goes looking for her.

On a positive note, the castle location is fantastic!

And there was a brief, but interesting time-traveling ghost idea. But it seems like the director couldn't decide if the ghost was time-traveling from the future or from the past. It didn't matter. The ghost was just a deus ex machina and was not a central part to the movie which was mostly about madness and misogyny.

Blood Delirium is an almost completely unknown Italian horror film and, apparently, is partially lost as certain scenes from the 'uncut' version of the movie have never been seen as the uncut version remains unreleased anywhere in the world. The film is directed by Sergio Bergonzelli; the oddball director best known for his bizarre and often-disliked Giallo 'In the Folds of Flesh', and anyone who saw that film is likely to have an idea of what to expect as this director apparently doesn't do ordinary! The storyline is something of a crossover between the Giallo and horror genres and focuses on a painter. Charles Saint Simone has lived with his butler in his castle ever since the death of his wife. He's lost all inspiration for his painting; but that changes suddenly one day when he meets a young woman who is the spitting image of his deceased lover. His inspiration returns...but it isn't until he discovers the colour of blood that his love for painting goes into overdrive.

The film stars John Philip Law; the star better known for his leading role in Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik. He puts in a solid performance in the lead role, although he is eclipsed somewhat by Gordon Mitchell who co-stars as the butler. The two have a good chemistry together and their perverse characters work well. The 'clever' part of the film comes from the fact that the story is intertwined with Vincent Van Gogh's life. While this is a good and interesting little horror film; I do have to admit that I am just a little bit bemused by the overall positive reaction it gets from the people that have seen it. It's clear that Bergonzelli did not have the biggest budget to work with, but the film is not as great as it could have been given the ideas and the storyline. There are a few memorably shocking scenes; although I do wonder just what was cut out. Overall, I am glad I saw this film and it is well worth tracking down if you can find a copy; but I'm not as wild about it as the others that have seen it.