BLOOD CULT (1985)

Charlie's Review (cont.):

As with so many of our ShockMarathon movies, Blood Cult opens with a prologue that involves none of the main characters save the killer (whose identity is kept secret). POV shots take us on the killer’s journey through a house; footage intercut with shots of a girl taking a shower. It seems that the actress might be one of the filmmakers’ sisters as the camera deliberately steers clear of showing us anything too racy. But the poor girl is inevitably offed and the plot is in motion: a killer is loose on a college campus!

The police quickly descend; the investigation spearheaded by a grandfatherly Sheriff (portrayed by Charles Ellis), a man who resembles a slightly dazed, elderly sea turtle. The college president informs the Sheriff, “We do not need a serial murderer on this campus.” A bold position, but true. Isn’t it amazing how many movies have, as a key element of their plot, some sort of killer on the loose, and a bureaucrat who wants to keep the whole thing quiet? This Jaws scenario continues to be copied to this day.

Back to our Sheriff. Not only does he seem a very unlikely policeman, he also doesn’t strike me as having a chance at being elected to Congress. And yet that is exactly what he hopes to make a run for after finishing up his last few weeks on the job. The Blood Cult universe is an amazing one—a radical place where feeble elderly men are superheroes.

Rarely do actors like Charles Ellis get cast in lead roles. He looks as if he is constantly trying to remember something, like what was he supposed to pick up at the grocery store, or who won the National League pennant back in ’58. I can’t be sure, but it looked as if he might have been helped by cue cards during a few scenes. All of his confusion and feebleness work to his advantage, however, and make him a likeable and entertaining character. You can’t wait to see how this guy will react in various situations.

It seems that a golden medallion, bearing a wolf-like embossed image, has been found at each murder scene. Looking for info regarding this evidence, Sheriff heads over to the library to visit his daughter Tina, a campus librarian. Tina is the most rotund actress I have ever seen on-screen. She has a generally beat-down, slovenly air about her, as if she has just woken up and can’t wait to get back to bed. I can only imagine that she smokes in bed too, letting the ashes fall where they may, and then rolls around in them throughout the night. Once awake, I envision that she forgoes a shower, eats a breakfast of pork rinds and Jolt, and then heads over to the library.

At various points throughout the movie, Tina meets up with her boyfriend, the lanky and oily Joel. Though annoying and disgusting, Joel is one of the more entertaining characters of our festival. Wherever Joel and Tina find themselves seems like a good place for making out. These scenes aren’t pleasant.

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