Welcome to Cinema Meat Grinder, where I, Count Scottula of HorrorWeb, take the choicest vintage cuts of cinema beef and serve them up raw. I’m your culinary guide on this trip through the butcher shop of horror cinema, here to introduce rare delicacies to the discerning palette. I have quite the variety of meats to sample. Gourmet gore, video vittles and celluloid steak tartare are on the menu, my friends. So let’s dig in.
Tonight I have tasty gem straight from the 70’s, it’s a cautionary tale about what happens when you inject rabies into meat pies and serve them to a gang of Satanic hippies. Yes, that’s right…Satanic hippies with rabies. Are you foaming at the mouth yet?
In 1971, ‘I Drink Your Blood’ was unleashed on the unsuspecting viewing public, double billed with a shit black and white zombie film retitled “I Eat Your Skin” which will get no further attention from me from this point onward due to the fact no skin is eaten in the film, but I digress. Originally titled “Phobia” ,then “Hydro-Phobia” and finally the much more marketable “I Drink Your Blood” was brought to us by exploitation producer Jerry Gross, the guy responsible for distributing the surprisingly inspiring “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” along with a slew of exploitation smut and horror flicks. You know, the stuff dreams are made of.
“I Drink Your Blood” was inspired by several real-life events, specifically a rabies epidemic in Iran and the fun loving murders committed by the wacky Manson family. The graphic violence depicted in the film earned it an “X” rating, however subsequent cuts led to an “R” rating (Thanks MPAA, for making shitty movies even shittier).
What do you do when you’re a kid and suddenly a gang of devil worshipping acid heads come to town? The kind of weirdos who say shit like, “Let it be known, sons and daughters, that Satan was an acid-head. Drink from his cup. Pledge yourselves. And together, we'll aaaalll freak out!”. Why you feed them rabies, of course. What could go wrong? Aside from frothing maniacs running amok , beheading folks and infecting the locals with sexually transmitted hydrophobia that is. Seems worth it to me.
This hilariously violent nugget of absurdity has earned its place as an exploitation horror classic, fun for the whole family. Gather the kiddies and settle in for blood, LSD, unwanted nudity and lots of shaving cream posing as rabies induced mouth foam. Bad acting, even worse dialogue and an inaccurate depiction of how rabies affects humans awaits you, along with the satisfaction of seeing some of the best dismemberments that schlock exploitation has to offer.
Bon Appetit - Count Scottula
“I Drink Your Blood” 1971 Directed by David Durston Starring: Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, Ronda Fultz, Arlene Farber, George Patterson, Riley Mills, John McCook, Alex Mann.