"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!" And indeed, your Grue-Crew did freak out. Join your faithful Grue Crew - Doc Rotten, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr - as they kick off their next one-hundred episodes with this truly wondrous, groovy, and gory film from 1970, I Drink Your Blood!
Decades of Horror 1970s
Episode 101 – I Drink Your Blood (1970)
A band of satanist hippies roll into a town and begin terrorizing the local folk. They rape a local girl and her grandpa goes after them. He fails and is given LSD. This bothers his grandson and he gets back at the hippies by feeding them meat pies infected with blood from a rabid dog. They turn into crazed lunatics and begin killing and/or infecting everything in their path.
IMDb
Director: David E. Durston (as David Durston) Writer: David E. Durston (as David Durston) Featured Cast: Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury as Horace Bones Jadine Wong as Sue-Lin Rhonda Fultz as Molly (credited as Ronda Fultz) George Patterson as Rollo Riley Mills as Pete Banner John Damon as Roger Davis Elizabeth Marner-Brooks as Mildred Nash Richard Bowler as Doc Banner Tyde Kierney as Andy Alex Mann as Shelly David E. Durston as Dr. Oakes Arlene Farber as Sylvia Banner Lynn Lowry as Carrie
Not surprisingly, there is a lot to say about I Drink Your Blood and the 70s Grue-Crew is up to the task. Bill proclaims that with the right distribution and marketing, this film might have been as influential as Night of the Living Dead. The memory of The Black Saint is invoked by Chad as he recounts how Santos talked of the giant syringe that came with a special edition of I Drink Your Blood, just in case you needed to inject someone’s food (meat pies work the best) with the blood of some rabid animal. Doc has an unusual interpretation of the “foaming-at-the-mouth” effect used by the filmmakers but the rest of the Grue-Crew really don’t want to go there. The opening scene, including the strategically placed sword hilt, was all Jeff needed to see to go all-in on I Drink Your Blood. They universally proclaim the boy as the best character in the film as he unintentionally wreaks havoc on the local citizenry while seeking revenge on the satanist hippies.
Your Grue-Crew highly recommends I Drink Your Blood, but cautions that there are a lot of different versions out there. Even the version on Shudder is missing a couple of key scenes. Doc and Chad viewed a version on Youtube that seems to be the most complete and includes a final scene that is much truer to the decade’s vibe.
We want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave us a message or leave a comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror 1970s podcast hosts at docrotten@decadesofhorror.com.
