Blood and Lace

Blood and Lace is a 1970 (released March 1971) American horror film directed by Philip Gilbert from a screenplay by co-producer Gil Lasky (Spider Baby; The Night God Screamed). Co-producer Ed Carlin also handled The Evil (1978) and Superstition (1982). In the US, it was distributed by American International Pictures (AIP).

Cast:

Gloria Grahame (Mansion of the Doomed; The Nesting), Melody Patterson, Len Lesser (Ruby; Grandmother’s House), Vic Tayback (Tales from the Darkside; Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers) and Milton Selzer.

Plot:

After her prostitute mother and her client are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere and her handyman. Taking an avid interest in her welfare is detective Calvin Carruthers. Taking almost no interest at all, is social worker Harold Mullins who is completely under Mrs. Deere’s thumb.

A number of unpleasant surprises are in store for Ellie, not the least of which is the fact that Mrs. Deere and her handyman are both brutal sadists, who run the orphanage like a concentration camp and the strong possibility that her mother’s hammer-wielding killer is now stalking her…

Reviews:

“Blood and Lace is one helluva fun movie. It’s got unintentional humour, high camp, a teenage cat fight, a few lashings of gore and a bucketful of sleaze. It’s hard to believe that little kids would have been allowed to sit through this twisted tale that takes in the murder of children, pedophilia and incest! Certainly this isn’t hard-core horror but neither is it a Disney flick, either. Gloria Grahame’s performance is probably better than the movie warrants.” Justin Kerswell, Hysteria Lives!

“Of course, Blood and Lace is not for everybody. It’s acting is amateurish in spots, the story and the character’s behavior push credibility often and the whole business is drive-in trashy. The soundtrack, which comes across as random records being played, is the biggest drawback and could possibly be blamed entirely for this movie missing the appreciation that it deserves.” Kindertrauma

“Blood And Lace swipes beauty tips from Blood Freak, procrastinates with Scream, Baby, Scream, and weeps next to an After School Special. In essence, it’s the greatest thing that Donald F. Glut (I Was A Teenage Movie Maker!) and Brad F. Grinter (you know who he is) never collaborated on. Amateurish yet decently budgeted, it’s all sunshine, sloppy edits, bursts of perversion, and ill-suited orchestral bomps (good stuff) backed up against a 30 minute midriff of talking heads and rehashed details (not so good stuff).” Bleeding Skull!