By Geno McGahee
In 1973, WESTWORLD was released and it mixed the idea of a western with a sci-fi twist. People were brought to an old west amusement part with human-like robots for fun but the robots begin killing them. It would lead to a sequel with FUTURE WORLD and an upcoming TV series. It is obvious that the 1977 WELCOME TO BLOOD CITY was heavily influenced by WESTWORLD and even placed this story in the old west. It’s got some originality to it though and has an aura of mystery that was enjoyable.
Lewis (Keir Dullea) awakens on a beach and has no idea who he is, where he is, or why he is there. He is told by the group around him that they all awoke in the same fashion and that they all have murdered more than one person, indicated by the cards that they all have in their pockets. Lewis immediately rips up his card and explores, which the group doesn’t agree with but follows anyway.
Two hillbillies come by and steal the boots from all the people, shoot and kill one and rape the only female in the group. They go away and the group forges on into a town which is run by Frendlander (Jack Palance). He informs the group that they will be slaves for one year and after that, they could become part of the town and own a shop and have their own slaves. Lewis will have none of it and he fights for his freedom as Frendlander has his own inner battles. He has memories he cannot explain that are haunting him…memories of a different life that was in modern times. Something odd is going on.
We get introduced to some people in a futuristic lab, watching the activities of this small town and inputting different scenarios to test Lewis. Lewis also begins to sense that he doesn’t belong there. A friendship develops between Frendlander and Lewis and they both begin questioning the law of that land, leading to some rash decisions by the decision-makers.
(SPOILERS)
When it later turns out that Lewis is part of a government experiment to train killers, it gets rather cool. The majority of this film is slow and difficult to get through, but once we get to the last 20 minutes, we get into some really interesting stuff and the payoff is acceptable. Jack Palance is great in this film, but the old west proved repetitious and boring and the only intrigue became what the reasoning for the experiment may be.
WELCOME TO BLOOD CITY reminded me a little of CABIN IN THE WOODS and WESTWORLD, but didn’t prove nearly as entertaining as either. The movie is slow with a gradual pick up at the end. It might be worth a watch, but if you want a sci-fi western done right, you may as well watch WESTWORLD. This one should be your last resort sort of movie.
Rating. 3.5/10
