Blood Cult

Now here's an interesting one I didn't know about...back in 1985, VCI's Bill Blair took a brave step with the home video market. What with the ever spiralling costs of licensing films for the home video market, he realised that you could likely make a movie for around the same price (or even cheaper) than it would cost to license a film. So he got together with TV soap opera director Christopher Lewis and put together the first ever 'direct to video' movie release...'Blood Cult'!

The film opens with the slaying of a teen girl in her college campus lodgings, her arm sliced off and the only clue being a strange gold amulet left at the scene of the crime. The ageing local sheriff takes up the case and with the aid of his librarian daughter soon uncovers that the amulet is linked with a strange (and long defunct) satanic coven that worships the evil god Caninus and things get worse as the body count starts to grow with more victims appearing with various limbs missing and more amulets appearing (and our poor sheriff doesn't know where to begin!)

In all honesty, 'Blood Cult' is a real mixed bag experience - the film itself is at times fun but at others a bit of an exercise to keep up with as the main scenario of the killing (which is entertaining in a H G Lewis kinda way) seems to repeat itself on a loop that if you were to drop off for ten minutes you'd never know! Some of the set pieces are atmospheric indeed (with the opening scene very reminiscent of a low budget tip of the hat to Carpenter's Halloween) but after a while you'd wish that the film had been edited down to a neat 60 minutes rather than what we're delivered. The cast performances are at times unintentionally amusing also with the ageing lead sheriff (complete with hearing aid) delivering a performance that retired daytime TV soap actors would be proud of, and his librarian daughters over enthusiastic tongue assaults on her clingy redneck boyfriend will have you feeling nervously uncomfortable as you really do feel that she's making the most of the opportunity to get to neck a fella (all in the name of movies though! he he) As mentioned earlier, the gore effects are pleasantly bloody and handled with the gusto of H G Lewis's early work but at the end of the day 'Blood Cult' is a strange oddity that plays like a ominous hybrid of slasher flick and daytime TV family detective drama - making the film one you could most likely sit one afternoon and watch with your granny (and both be mildly sated!)

On the other hand though, this release of 'Blood Cult' is majorly enhanced because of the films fascinating background and the package that VCI have delivered it in. The films origins make this a fascinating viewing experience and proudly reminds us of its historical importance in the home video scene. So it is with the disc extras that we are truly treated to a wealth of enhancing info that will tweak your interest in watching the movie and appreciating its significance on the genre scene. There's two short but very informative interviews with director Lewis and VCI's Bill Blair that are essential viewing before you actually watch the film itself. There's also a very enjoyable audio commentary with director Lewis, effects man David Powell and soundtrack composer Rod Slane which is bags of fun as they get into the films background and have a laugh pointing out all the crew cameos whilst talking about the process of low budget film making. There's also a couple of short trailers that you may want to leave until you've seen the film (otherwise you'll ruin the fun of knowing who the killer actually is)

'Blood Cult' as a film itself is probably somewhat dated now, but it's a significant turning point in genre home viewing and VCI have done a fine job paying tribute to this forgotten shocker. Perhaps not for everyone but collectors and genre historians should find it somewhat fascinating.

Review by Alan Simpson