I Drink Your Blood DVD Review | Digital Retribution

I Drink Your Blood (1970)

By: David Michael Brown on February 3, 2005

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Umbrella Entertainment (Australia). All Regions, PAL. 4:3. English DD 2.0. 83 minutes

The Movie

Cover Art

Credits

Director: David. E. Durston
Starring: Bhaskar, Jadine Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson
Screenplay: Clay Pitts
Tagline: "Satanic Hippies on a Holiday to Hell!"
Country: USA

All you need to know about I Drink Your Blood is that it's a Jerry Gross Production and it was originally released in a double bill with I Eat Your Skin; it's a guarantee of debatable quality. The film is a low budget grindhouse trash classic and delivers sex, drugs and violence in spades.

A gang of satanic hippies are wild for kicks and looking for salacious fun. Passing through a small village they torment an old man by slipping the old timer numerous tabs of acid. His grandson is not happy and realises what all these drug-crazed hippies will want on their comedown - a good meat pie. The thing is he injects these pies with the blood of a dead rabid dog and luckily for the boy these hippies aren't vegetarians. They devour the feast and before you know it they are frothing at the mouth and biting anyone they can grab hold of.

Everything in I Drink Your Blood is over the top. The acting is dreadful and the blood is everywhere albeit in that classic low budget Seventies kind of way. Saying that its not quite as over-the-top as the packaging states. It proudly boasts that I Drink Your Blood was the first ever film in the states rated "X" for violence.

The dialogue is a scream and the soundtrack is synthesiser hell but it doesn't matter. The film is one of those "so bad its good" movies and was the debut feature for Lynn Lowry who later starred in Romero's similarly themed The Crazies, Cronenberg's Shivers and Paul Schrader's Cat People remake; she played the hooker who is mauled by the cat at the beginning of the movie.

Enjoyable trash from beginning to end, it's the type of film made with a particular audience in mind. Those who love this stuff will love it, you know who you are. Everyone else will think its poorly made rubbish, but what do they know?

Video

The video transfer is ok, the film is cheap and old so I was never expecting too much. The print is relatively clean but is a bit grainy in places. I haven't seen the US version to compare but this is probably the best version we'll see of I Drink Your Blood.

Audio

The stereo Dolby mix is as good as can be expected for a film of this budget, pleasant to the ears but nothing special.

Extra Features

A great set of extras accompanies the main feature which as far as I can see pretty much mirrors those on the US disc. Director David. E. Durston and one of the films stars Bhaskar give a fun running commentary. Durston also hosts a fun look back at the making of the film entitled the "I Drink Your Blood Show" featuring new interviews with the cast including Lynn Lowry "I Played a mute hippy on acid with rabies! Oh and I cut off a ladies hand with an electric carving knife" and Barney Cohen, the man who named the movie. The interviews seem to take place in Durstons back garden and are more a friendly chat full of hilarious anecdotes.

We then get four deleted scenes including the original downbeat ending that the sleeves hyperbole states was too disturbing for Seventies audiences. The shock may have lessened with time but you could imagine audiences freaking out if it had been left in. Umbrella also throw in out-takes, a stills gallery, the trailer and a radio spot. Their usual bit of self-promotion ends a fine selection of extras.

The Verdict

A nicely put together disc with an excellent set of extras; the exuberance of the performers on screen and in the extras show a crew dedicated to bringing us a trash classic and for that we should love them. Well worth picking up if you don't already have the import disc.