Ahh,those wonderful early seventies.America shuddered at the threat of other Manson-esque cults lurking in the shadows,the psychedelic power of L.S.D.,and hippies' free love which chipped away at the moral fiber of our country from the inside.Director David Durston capitalized on all of these when he served up "I Drink your Blood"(originally titled "Phobia")to eager drive-in crowds in 1971,scoring an underground classic that successfully played on those fears,and remains a zany,over-the-top favorite to this day.
"Satan was an acidhead!"and from the looks of it,clothes bummed him out,too.
Freaky Hindu Bhaskar leads a troop of hallucinogen-drenched hippie burnouts whose groovy van breaks down in a small community,forcing the far out Satan-diggers to hole up in a local barn,where they drop some acid,strip out of their bell-bottoms,and brutalize/gang rape a curious female onlooker,spurring on an investigation by the girl's grandfather,who also gets roughed up and sent packing,after they dose him too,much to the dismay of his pre-teen grandson,a future conservative republican if ever there was one,who decides to take revenge by infecting the town's meatpies with rabies from a dead dog in the woods(!)then feeding the pies to the unsuspecting devil worshippers.Suddenly the outta sight bunch is frothing at the mouth,spreading the contagion amongst the innocent townsfolk,and embarking on a hallucinogenic murder spree!
Mrs. Lovett's got nothing on this little rascal.
Hands get sliced off with electric knives(remember those?for people too lazy to cut their own meat...),heads get chopped off,swords are swallowed,rats get barbequed on a spit,stabbings,hangings,Oriental Dragon Ladies douse themselves in gasoline and set themselves ablaze,and all the while dainty Lynn Lowry doesn't utter one line of dialogue!In the end,the local heros discover that the rabid antagonists,like ALL hippies really,have a loathsome fear of water,and turn the tide with a common garden hose...Or do they?
Take "yo momma" jokes too far,and this is what happens.
Before Box Office Spectaculars re-released a deluxe edition on dvd last year,the out-of-print multi-autographed original(complete with the late Cobra Dancing Paki,Bhaskar) went for upwards of three hundred samoleans on eBay.A throwback to the glory days of diabolical drive-in horror double features,this one will have you waxing nostalgic for pounding beers in a classic muscle car,while your date stocks up on Nardone's pizza at the concession stand,later to be given the extensive "back seat tour" once you're properly plastered enough.No horror collection is complete without it,so run out and grab one while the grabbing's good!
David Spade's disembodied head?You decide!
Four out of four B.W.'s
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