In this lurid slab of grindhouse fare, a ruthless, unhinged nympho named Victoria (Maria De Aragon) speeds up the death of her ailing father Ridgeley (Eric Allison) so her boyfriend, Dr. Craig Cooper (Peter Carpenter), can pay off a blackmailer (Arell Blanton). Complications ensue when the lion's share of the inheritance goes to Victoria's sister, Gail (Vicki Peters).
Though marketed as a horror film, this is really an R-rated soap opera with two murders and far too many soft-core sex scenes. Yes, De Aragon and Peters (along with Reagan Wilson) look nice with their breasts bared, but unless the film is X-rated, I want a halfway decent story to accompany the boot-knocking. In that regard, BLOOD MANIA does not deliver. I also did not understand the ending, even though I watched it twice.
The studly, 6'3" Carpenter was a passable actor, though hardly A- list material. Had a cerebral hemorrhage not killed him in 1971, he likely would have continued to produce and star in B movies for many years. Maria De Aragon is all over the place as the increasingly deranged Victoria. Her over-the-top hysterics after the reading of her father's will are something to behold. Also, there is good support from Leslie Simms as a kindly nurse and former sexpot Jacqueline Dayla as Gail's, ahem, "traveling companion." Eric Allison was too boyishly handsome to convincingly play the curmudgeonly father. And Vicki Peters must have been cast for her looks, because she couldn't act worth a damn. Her performance as the guileless Gail runs the gamut of emotion from A to B. And the cinematography showed a lot of imagination, though I could have done quite nicely with one less montage.
In all, BLOOD MANIA is a reasonably entertaining bit of sleaze.
Some dialogue samples:
RIDGELEY: I could choke to death on my coffee and you wouldn't shed a tear.
BLACKMAILER (to Carpenter): You're no longer that middle-class punk trying to brain your way out of the lower middle class.
CARPENTER: I need fifty thousand. VICTORIA: Dollars? CARPENTER: Dollars.
Though marketed as a horror film, this is really an R-rated soap opera with two murders and far too many soft-core sex scenes. Yes, De Aragon and Peters (along with Reagan Wilson) look nice with their breasts bared, but unless the film is X-rated, I want a halfway decent story to accompany the boot-knocking. In that regard, BLOOD MANIA does not deliver. I also did not understand the ending, even though I watched it twice.
The studly, 6'3" Carpenter was a passable actor, though hardly A- list material. Had a cerebral hemorrhage not killed him in 1971, he likely would have continued to produce and star in B movies for many years. Maria De Aragon is all over the place as the increasingly deranged Victoria. Her over-the-top hysterics after the reading of her father's will are something to behold. Also, there is good support from Leslie Simms as a kindly nurse and former sexpot Jacqueline Dayla as Gail's, ahem, "traveling companion." Eric Allison was too boyishly handsome to convincingly play the curmudgeonly father. And Vicki Peters must have been cast for her looks, because she couldn't act worth a damn. Her performance as the guileless Gail runs the gamut of emotion from A to B. And the cinematography showed a lot of imagination, though I could have done quite nicely with one less montage.
In all, BLOOD MANIA is a reasonably entertaining bit of sleaze.
Some dialogue samples:
RIDGELEY: I could choke to death on my coffee and you wouldn't shed a tear.
BLACKMAILER (to Carpenter): You're no longer that middle-class punk trying to brain your way out of the lower middle class.
CARPENTER: I need fifty thousand. VICTORIA: Dollars? CARPENTER: Dollars.