David E. Durston's I Drink Your Blood is widely considered to be a classic from the 'Grindhouse' era, a notion that is strongly seconded here at 42nd Street Cinema. It perfectly encapsulates everything exploitation filmmaking is about; an insanely memorable and attention-grabbing title, a plot overflowing with lunatic characters, marketed garish with promotional materials brimming with phrases to get arses into theatre seats, and released as a double bill with an older film. Paired with Del Tenney's unreleased 1964 horror Zombies, retitled to I Eat Your Skin by Jerry Gross after purchasing the rights, I Drink Your Blood was produced, marketed and distributed by Jerry Gross through his company Cinemation Industries. Jerry strongly believed that the key to success was a good title and a solid ad campaign, if anything the way I Drink Your Blood took off is proof of just how right he was.

Picking up from the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis (Blood Feast [1963], Two Thousand Maniacs [1964]), Andy Milligan (The Ghastly Ones / Blood Rites [1968]) and George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead [1968]), David E. Durston's early outbreak-themed horror is a brooding piece filled with social commentary; ruthless hippie cultists crash into small-town Americana with bloody and uncompromising results. Also noteworthy for marking the first on-screen appearance of cult film legend, Lynn Lowry, although her role is uncredited. In tern, I Drink Your Blood likely served to inspire  several future outbreak films including; Romero's The Crazies (1973), David Cronenberg's Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977). David E. Durston would also return to the outbreak theme himself for his 1972 drama / thriller, Stigma; a film about a doctor who comes up against a sheriff after uncovering a syphilis outbreak amongst an isolated island community. I know it sounds wacky, but it's full of exploitation charm and gritty social commentary; a really out-there picture featuring an extremely early appearance by future Miami Vice star, Philip Michael Thomas.

Starring: Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury (as just "Bhaskar"), Jadin Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson, and Riley Mills.

I Drink Your Blood is a twisted yarn concerning a small soon-to-become ghost town besieged by a group of Satan worshipping hippies and their enigmatic leader, Horace Bones (Bhaskar), aping the then still recent crimes of the "Manson Family".

Following a botched ritual which leaves a local girl raped and beaten, the hippies stop-off at a small rundown town. The hippies break-in to a vacant hotel infested with rats, upon entering the building Horace declares a game: "who can catch the most rats for the barbecue?" Probably not the most pleasant choice of parlour game one could hope for, yet here we are.
Rollo (George Patterson) wins and becomes the supreme ruler of Sados for one night, whatever that means, he spends the next few minutes speaking some Satanic mumbo jumbo.



We learn that the previously mentioned local girl is the granddaughter of an elderly veterinarian and sister to a young boy, Pete (Riley Mills). The grandfather confronts the group only to suffer a severe beating, before being fed LSD. Pete comes to his rescue and decides to enact his own brand of revenge by injecting rabies-infected blood, from a dead dog he shot earlier, into some meat pies. He serves up the pies to the hungry hippie freaks, seemingly to reacting with the LSD already in their systems, sending them completely crazy. One of the infected hippie chicks panics and runs off into the night. She's chanced upon by a bunch of nearby construction workers, who take her back to their lodgings where they party and she has sex with some of them. Spreading the disease among the men. Once both factions; the construction workers and the hippies, begin to show their symptoms the town is completely overrun with rabid lunatics.

After this act the movie becomes as frenzied as those who are infected, a testament to the pacing. There's rarely a dull moment in I Drink Your Blood, really has enough going on, except for any actual blood drinking, there's plenty of strained facial expressions, foaming at the mouth (kinda looks like toothpaste, doesn't it?), amputation by electric carving knife, decapitation, hydrophobia, and a dead goat being dragged around by a maniac with a machete.



"Let it be known that Satan was an acid head" - Horace Bones (Bhaskar)

As is the case with several films of the era, I Drink Your Blood isn't without animal cruelty and although it's not as severe as what is present in Italian cannibal movies and some of the Hong Kong offerings, it can still be very upsetting. This is your only warning.

I have to admit though, it kind of bugs me that there's still an ongoing discussion about animal cruelty and exploitation film. We all know it's abhorrent, distasteful and unpleasant to watch, but back then, especially in certain corners of the world, animal welfare was not a priority if even a thought at all. I see fewer people complaining about horses being severely injured during the production of Westerns, than& what folk have to say about Cannibal Holocaust (1980) or Calamity of Snakes (1982). It shouldn't be a point for judging exploitation, or world cinema, it is a symptom of a bygone era of filmmaking, and there's enough information at one's fingertips to be thoroughly informed about a movies content before sitting down to watch it.

I Drink Your Blood is exploitation gold; gore-geously photographed with a batshit story to boot. At times distasteful, it's a no-budget flick with cheap gags, effects and dire acting, but these are the reasons I love it. If you're of a similar disposition you'll surely lap this up.
It's also a great starting point for those ready to veer off the beaten path of horror towards the wild terrain of exploitation.