By Geno McGahee
The 1980s gave birth to the video stores and it gave rise to a video market that had never been seen before. The SOV or “shot on video” VHS releases were flooding the market. Filmmakers that could not afford to make movies in the past were now able to and were able to get them out to a large group of people. One of the first horror films that came out and boasted that the film was shot with the video store in mind was the 1985 horror film “BLOOD CULT” or “SLASHER.” I know it as “BLOOD CULT,” but it goes by both names.
All things considered, I should absolutely love BLOOD CULT. It has bad acting, low production value, and that unmistakable 80’s shine…the things that I love! Unfortunately, the film has some major issues and seems lost at times, barely following the story and trudging along in a very dull way. Written by Stuart Rosenthal, who only wrote this one film and never wrote again, and directed by Christopher Lewis that went on to direct other films like the sequel to BLOOD CULT, called “REVENGE,” which I recall is even worse than this, BLOOD CULT surrounds some college girls being killed via meat cleaver. Whoever is doing the murders is leaving an amulet behind and the bodies are piling up.
Detective Ron Wilbois (Charles Ellis) is on the case and begins researching. He narrates a little with some of his reflections and then we get into the story. His daughter, Tina (Juli Andelman), proves helpful as she does some research and connects the murders to cult activity. Her boyfriend, Joel (James Vance), has the worst hairstyle I’ve ever seen. It screams “TO CATCH A PREDATOR”, and you can sense that Ron doesn’t want his daughter nailing that geek. Unfortunately, Ron is too old to beat up the scrawny nerd and just lets his daughter nail him on the side.
Following clues, Ron arrives at a farm and the old woman tells him of the noises and strange people that she sees at night. He does a stake out and finds some familiar characters, all in cult robes, and all worshiping Satan. He is in for several shocks before waking up in the hospital with those around him believing his experience to be a hallucination or dream. Whatever it was, there is still a killer or killers on the loose and Wilbois needs to track them down.
We get a very muddled ending without much closure and it does leave it wide open for the sequel, but BLOOD CULT misses the mark at every turn. It does have that great 80’s straight to video charm, but that is where the charm ends. It is obviously inspired by films like RACE WITH THE DEVIL, but it didn’t know what to do. There is no character development. There is the big moment at the end when there are characters revealed to be part of this cult and I didn’t know any of them, really. In order for a shock scene like that to work, you have to be invested in the characters, to understand them, and to not expect that from them. Not knowing them, I wouldn’t put anything past them, and therefore, there wasn’t any shock to this scene.
BLOOD CULT has heart and I get the sense that the group wanted to make a good movie, but it was built on a poor foundation. The writer didn’t know how to construct a story or how to build characters and just relied on what he saw in other films without any contributions of his own. Some have it and some don’t and that is the case here. There are very good SOV films like VIDEO VIOLENCE and 555, but then you find the occasional BLOOD CULT or SLEDGEHAMMER and you realize where the reputation of these movies being shit comes from.
From a big fan of VHS and the 80’s brand of horror, I sort of recommend this to anybody like me that has not seen it. I guess it’s for nostalgia’s sake more than anything else. As much as I didn’t like this, I still enjoyed reliving a time when they made these sorts of films. If you don’t mind sitting through a bad film, you may like the 80’s SOV atmosphere. I did.
Rating: 2/10 – I wish you had a different writer BLOOD CULT!
