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Blood and Lace

Play trailer Poster for Blood and Lace R Released Mar 3, 1971 1h 27m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 22% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
An orphanage operator (Gloria Grahame) catches her runaways and freezes them for display to a head-counting social worker (Milton Selzer).
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Blood and Lace

Critics Reviews

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Tony Mastroianni Cleveland Press Gloria Grahame has come out of retirement for a movie called Blood and Lace. The picture is so bloody awful it can't do very much to further her new career. Oct 19, 2018 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy [UPDATED 2024 BLU-RAY REVIEW] The supporting roster includes some familiar faces: Vic Tayback as a lecherous detective, Len Lesser as a lecherous handyman, and Dennis Christopher as a teenager who is decidedly not lecherous but does raid the fridge a lot. Rated: 2/4 Nov 28, 2015 Full Review Dustin Putman TheBluFile.com "Blood and Lace" is pure trashy silliness, but its bonkers story curves do provide a certain oddball allure. Rated: 2/4 Nov 23, 2015 Full Review Lucius Gore ESplatter An awesome, unjustly unavailable early '70s horror film, ...This film's opening murder must have inspired John Carpenter, who filmed the first killing in Halloween in a similar way. Rated: 3.5/4 Aug 11, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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will k More high camp horror with Gloria Grahame, a must see for fans of GG !! ♥️♥️ Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review steve d Not shocking or fun. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Bad, but enjoyable bad horror film about teenage orphans and runaways who end up in a crooked orphanage run by Gloria Grahame (who's one of my favorite actresses of the 40s and 50s) and her evil handyman, Len "Uncle Leo" Lesser. The two sadistic caretakers kill many of their charges and then keep them frozen, so they can pose them later in beds when the state comes to do head-counts. The film also centers on the latest teenage orphan to join the crooked orphanage, Melody Patterson, who's parents were brutally murdered in their sleep by a hammer wielding psycho, and who now may be stalked by the killer herself. None of the filmmakers behind the camera ever made anything else of note, unless you count the the screenwriter's other credits "The Gay Deceivers," The Night God Screamed" and "Mama's Dirty Girls." Overall, this is a pretty silly film, but you can definitely see this film as a porto-slasher film and as being influential on later (better) slather films to come (i.e.. "Halloween, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," etc.). The opening murder scene is shot from the POV of the killer would be copied (and done better) by John Carpenter in 1978's "Halloween" which really did launch the slasher film genre. Vic Tayback also appears as a detective and Dennis Christopher appears as one of the orphans. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review cory t A giallo with a low body count that predates Black Christmas and Halloween for the opening POV tracking shot of the killer, Blood and Lace was an influential 1971 slasher picture. Under the harsh light of modern times, it's a clunky, plodding and altogether harebrained concoction with stock music from the Ed Wood films of yesteryear. The vantage point technique is shoddy though with the claw hammer (the murderer's weapon of choice) practically mounted to the lens as if the culprit was holding it right above his nose. Draining the film of nocturnal ambience is the high-key lighting scheme which would be more appropriate for The Mary Tyler Moore sitcom. With nary a shriek or pulverizing sound effects, the hammer deaths are tepid. Obviously the charred mask and red sweater were reconfigured for A Nightmare on Elm Street. But just because it was the template doesn't mean Wes Craven didn't substantially improve upon it. When Ellie Masters (Melody Patterson) is orphaned and incessantly reminded that she doesn't know the identity of her father, the plot twist is telegraphed miles ahead. Except the shockingly lurid incest-and-blocked-memories revelation ("Evil breeds evil honey") in the final moments can't scrub away the pure boredom of teenage angst with Ellie and her peers prattling about their absentee parents. The kernel behind a halfway house with decomposing runaways is a pulpy and could've been skin-crawling but it's comical putty in the maladroit hands of Philip S. Gilbert. All of the "orphans" are incontrovertibly played by 30-year-olds. In the Mommie Dearest role, Gloria Grahame is a slurring shrew but she lacks the combustibility although her soliloquies to her refrigerated husband are loony. This is not a treasure trove in the sands of time. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Cheaply made and for the most part badly actor slasher flick is one of several pieces of junk Gloria Grahame unfortunately was reduced to making at the end of her career. The ending in particular is beyond stupid. Really scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a pretty good movie considering the age of it. I mean it kept me in suspense.and is pure trash and I really mean that in the nicest possible way! This film comes very much recommended to all the right people. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Blood and Lace

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Movie Info

Synopsis An orphanage operator (Gloria Grahame) catches her runaways and freezes them for display to a head-counting social worker (Milton Selzer).
Director
Philip Gilbert
Production Co
Contemporary Filmakers, Carlin Company Productions
Rating
R (Some Violence)
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 3, 1971, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 10, 2017
Runtime
1h 27m
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