Blood Song (1982) User Reviews

Somewhat Fair Slasher Flick

[Alien_I_Creator · 6/10 · 28 December 2006]

Bloodsong (a.k.a. Dream Slayer) is a rare and almost totally forgotten horror trash flick made during the 1980s' boom of slasher films. Don't get me wrong, though. I say trash in a good way; defining the genre rather than the quality. Because, in quality this movie is quite mediocre and, actually, not at all that bad as some would make it out to be. It's sleazy, but by no means a sleaze flick. It's violent only to and extent. It's bloody, but not too much. And, although it was not a t.v. movie, it sometimes has the feel of one. On top of all this mediocrity, there are some assets to Bloodsong. The acting and storyline are pretty good, there's plenty of cheap 80s style and substance, and it's the only film in which you can see former teen heart throb Frankie Avalon play a hatchet wielding psycho.

Yes, you heard right. Frankie stars as Paul Foley, an escaped and homicidal mental patient, who prior to his liberation, supplied blood to a critically injured teenage girl brought to his hospital after a car wreck. The girl, Marion (played by Donna Wilkes), crippled but on her way to recovery at home, starts to have horrible visions of death both in dreams and awake. In other words, Paul's blood seems to have connected his mind to hers, making Marion an unwilling mental witness to his killing spree in which the murders always start off with him hauntingly playing a flute (hence, the title Bloodsong). Needless to say, it is inevitable that their paths will cross and it won't be nice.

Although far from a classic, Bloodsong is pretty entertaining and not a complete waste of time. The killings are semi-graphic but, otherwise, fully slasher film certified. Avalon surprisingly creates a creepy and menacing character. Another plus is that the plot is embellished by the fact that poor disabled Marion has a father who is an abusive alcoholic who makes her out to be a slut and gives her hell every chance he gets. That sub-story is worthy of the trashiest Lifetime movie of the week. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say this film is a mix between John Carpenter's Halloween (only much cheaper and not on Halloween) and William Lustig's Maniac (only toned down and a lot less bloody). So, mediocrity aside, Bloodsong is worth at least one view by all 80s slasher aficionados. Frankie would appreciate it.

Frankie Avalon Has A Song For You

[carolinephillips-47427 · 5/10 · 5 October 2020]

Of all the people to star in an early 80's slasher film, Frankie Avalon doesn't seem like the most obvious choice and yet here he is, trying to give a respectable performance as the screenplay of Blood Song lets him down nearly every step of the way. Don't get me wrong. There's still some fun to be had with Blood Song, but it's not as taut and potentially thrilling as it could have been.

A young boy witnesses his father killing his mother, her lover, and then himself and is so in shock that all he can do is play his little wooden flute his father made him. Cut to present day and he decides to escape from the mental hospital where he's been cooped up forever. While he was there, he donated blood and this blood provided a life saving transfusion for a teenage girl named Mary (Donna Wilkes) after her father got them into a horrible accident which left her in leg braces.

Somehow, this shared blood has given them a psychic link and Mary can see him escaping and killing anyone along the way who says something disparaging about his flute.

If Blood Song had left out the silly blood transfusion leads to psychic visions subplot and kept the killer's flute out of it, it would probably be a much more effective movie. As is, it's too unintentionally hilarious to have the tension of chase scene broken by Avalon pulling out his flute and playing a few notes.

The acting isn't horrible, but Wilkes has been better in other films. The downbeat ending is a really punch to the stomach as well, but would have fit better into a more frightening film.

Frankie Avalon only wants to be your friend!

[ceejayred · 4/10 · 2 March 2018]

BLOOD SONG is a movie that has a couple of interesting ideas but then totally writes them off in order to turn things into a stalker story.

Frankie Avalon plays a man named Paul, who escapes from the mental institution, making sure to take his homemade wooden flute with him. The flute is special to him and was made by his daddy when he was a kid. You see, he's crazy because he saw his father kill his mother and her lover in cold blood and then turned the gun on himself, which adds up to a very traumatic episode for little Paulie. The flute starts off interesting when Paul plays it and annoys the heck out of people like the guy in the van who picks him up hitchhiking, and then a female hitchhiker that Paul himself picks up after he steals the first guy's van. Then the flute is forgotten.

Donna Wilkes (JAWS 2, ANGEL) plays a young high school girl who has a bum leg. She eventually graduate from leg brace to walking stick. Soon after, her leg injury is totally forgotten about, as it doesn't even manage to become a plot device integral to the story. She has a doting mother and an alcoholic abusive father (Richard Jaeckel) who totally doesn't want her seeing her boyfriend. She is connected to Paul in a way that the movie doesn't really spend a lot of time on, and doesn't even bother exploiting it further after about halfway through the story. She received a blood transfusion after the car wreck that damaged her leg (caused by her drunken father), and the donator was Paul himself, since the mental institution was the closest hospital nearby. What a dumb idea! She has a psychic link and can see Paul murder people as it happens, but then this plot device is dropped as well.

Frankie Avalon is okay as the psycho killer, and has some good scenes early on, but then his character gets bogged down in a way-too-long chase after the young girl. She witnessed him burying one of his victims, and now he wants to killer her. Donna Wilkes tries so hard to get people to believe her stories that it gets repetitive.

There is some decent gore, but not enough action as the movie takes the slow build path to a climax that totally betrays everything that led up to it.

BLOOD SONG is an average thriller at best. Recommended for anyone who wants to see Frankie Avalon do anything other than Annette.

Fun to work on this flick.

[heddamartin · 25 April 2014]

I was an assistant on this film. The staff was far from "un-professional" it is just in this business extras are not coddled. It was a fast paced, gotta get it right, no time for "pretty pleases". It is not the best horror flick but it has some great scenes as previous posted pointed out. Most extras and townsfolk enjoyed the film shooting and enjoyed the attention. We were in a great little Coos Bay hide away...fun little town. North Bend was great too! Lenny Montana - as big as he is - was the nicest and most gentle people I've met. It was odd seeing Frankie Avalon as a murdered. Still wickedly handsome. Low budget - blood, horror, fun story theme. It is great that it was repackaged as part of the double feature with Mausoleum.

This blood song is kind of slow and not very catchy.

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 5 February 2011]

Got this in a double feature movie pack the other being "Mausoleum". I am surprised to see this one has the higher score of the two movies as I thought that one was more entertaining though not necessarily a good movie in its own right. This movie starts out showing a boy who witnesses his father killing his mom and her lover and then himself. Well this kind of makes him mental and suffice to say he will grow up to be our killer. They do not really try to hide who he is during the movie as you see him fairly early in the picture. Well a girl with a bad leg sees visions of him doing his killings and he soon goes after her after she witnesses him disposing of one of his victims. There are a couple of good kills in this one, but for the most part the film is rather slow and a lot of times there is not a lot going on. The film will focus on the girl and her relationships with her father and her boyfriend then cut to a scene from time to time of the mental dude killing someone. Then after she sees him face to face the film is just him stalking her before finally going after her in a very prolonged scene. Just not all that entertaining. The psychic link she shares with the killer almost seems pointless after the initial scenes of her seeing visions of his killing and really added no new dimension to the film other than she should have been a bit more ready for him than she was. So all in all have to say this song had no rhythm and runs way to long at the end. I kept thinking to myself near the end "Shouldn't this be over?"

Average 80's Slasher

[acidburn-10 · 4/10 · 2 October 2011]

The Plot = A young boy witnesses his father shoot his mother and her lover and then himself, and is then sent to a mental hospital, but many years later he escapes along with his flute and goes on a killing spree. In the meantime a young girl Marion begins to have visions of him killing people through a rare blood transfusion between the two.

Okay Blood Song has some interesting ideas, but fails to execute them properly, for a start the whole concept of a girl having psychic visions of the killer could have been interesting but as the movie goes on it becomes it a bit dull, as there is absolutely no explanation given to why she has these visions, we know how through the blood transfusion.

I also liked the idea behind the heroine being physically flawed, which would seemingly make her a much easier target for the killer and possibly add to any sort of suspense later in the flick. Of course we don't get any of that. The film also throws in some long and drawn out drama scenes which takes away the tension out of this movie and plus while the murders and the final showdown are real highlights of this movie, it just takes too long and spaced too far apart, I mean at times I kinda forgot that I was even watching a slasher movie, it felt like a drama.

The positive aspects of this movie, is for one thing the climax watching the girl limp herself away from the killer and into some lumber yard. The change of setting proved interesting. And the performances were pretty good, Frankie Avalon was interesting as the serial killer even though he chewed the scenery practically all time but I found him fun and Donna Wilkes played the female lead pretty well, she hit the right notes at the right time.

All in all Blood Song is definitely an average 80's slasher with some pretty interesting ideas but are flawed to say at least I would only recommend this if you're a huge fan of 80's slashers.

Avalon, The Psycho

[markdecarlo-98321 · 5/10 · 30 January 2021]

Frankie Avalon would be a lot more terrifying if he didn't carry around a flute with him everywhere he goes. Without that, his performance might be considered one of the more effective teen idol to creepy character actor performances. Some of the death scenes are effective and the last act chase sequence between Avalon and his final victim works really well, but there's something a little too calm and leisurely about this to ever really get one's juices flowing.

Originally called "Premonitions"

[DeSade · 1/10 · 7 June 2000]

I had the opportunity to be an extra in this movie while in high school in North Bend, OR, where it was filmed. The staff of the film was unprofessional, to say the least, and the overall acting in the movie was sub-par, if not worse.

Nichelle North was a very nice person as was the gentleman who played the part of the Sheriff. Frankie Avalon was not believable as a psychopathic killer on the loose. He should have stuck with his beach movies instead.

Grainy and dull

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 24 February 2018]

BLOOD SONG is a cheesy, low budget slasher film of the early 1980s, one that openly copies John Carpenter's masterclass HALLOWEEN throughout. It's best known today for the novelty casting of former '60s beach singer Frankie Avalon in a supporting role. He's okay but he's not nearly a good enough reason to bother tuning in. This is dark and grainy throughout, with only a few moments of originality and interest; most of the time it merely follows dull characters through drawn-out plotting up until their eventual death or escape.

Blood Song

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 3 January 2009]

A lunatic, who watched his father shoot down his mother and her adulterous lover before putting a bullet in his mouth, escapes from a mental asylum after a sneak attack on his doctor who was attempting to retrieve a wooden flute, terrorizing an innocent teenager with a wounded leg who catches him attempting to bury a dead body. As Paul(Frankie Avalon, in a startlingly effective performance) was digging a burial spot for a woman he had recently strangled, troubled teenager, Marion(Donna Wilkes)stumbles upon him in the act. This confrontation was seemingly fated to happen because, strange enough, Marion had been having unpleasant visions/nightmares of Paul and his acts towards people along the way..blood transfusions or not, the idea of being linked to someone mainly due to that is kind of feeble at best.Paul had buried a hatchet into the face of a driver who gave him a ride in his van(..this driver was absolutely tired of Paul's never-ceasing flute playing), picked up a sweet little loose honey who even slept with him(..only to criticize his loud flute music which bludgeons the ears of even the most patient of folks, with a necklace he had bought her used to suffocate her)and plans the worst for Marion, stalking her everywhere she goes. Marion, before Paul entered her life, had been telling others about her frightening visions, including boyfriend/fisherman Joey(William Kirby Cullen)and school gal pal Cathy(Noelle North), and the claims of seeing a psycho planning on burying a victim in a park near a beach without evidence causes them to worry about her mental health. Meanwhile, Paul awaits the moment where he will strike, and somehow Marion must convince somebody to believe her.

The film is about as much a melodrama as a psycho-thriller with a sub-plot devoted to the ever-increasing estrangement between Marion and her antagonistic, bullish, drunk of a father, Frank(Richard Jaeckel). Frank's drunkenness was behind the crash which caused Marion's damaged leg. He also is very negatively vocal against her relationship with Joey. Bea(Antoinette Bower), Marion's mother, tries to consistently calm Frank and this tense drama makes up a chunk of the overall film. It all culminates towards the end as Paul attacks Frank with a hatchet in the film's most graphically violent scene which will lead to the maniac chasing after Marion into a darkened sawmill. There's an interesting psychological twist which provides a grim conclusion concerning Marion's state of well being. I think Frankie Avalon's clean-cut, matinée image provides a startling contrast to what hides bubbling under the surface..I think he actually embraces the dark side of this part and with this new freedom, plays the killer to the hilt. I like how he's actually a wimpy child, his mania as a result of temper tantrums when people "hurt him." Thanks to the cinematography which presents Paul in a murky manner, Avalon is often shrouded in darkness, his unsettling grin present until provoked towards violence when you insult him. See, Avalon has this kind and soft look about him, he seems very approachable and charming, and then you flick that switch(..even on accident)with the monster released..that's what I liked best about this little-known slasher. Many slasher faithful will find the home drama perhaps trifling and dull, but I liked the fact that the filmmakers attempted to flesh the characters out. I didn't think the "visions" angle worked, at all really, but the finale(..the chase through the sawmill)was suspenseful and exciting. I have to say, I liked this better than I thought I would. I think it does have a lot to do, though, with the blue collar environment and that the lead actress is normal looking(..the 80's, unlike the films of the last 15 or so years, actually featured female leads which looked like someone you might have actually went to school with)with her own mundane problems to deal with.

Watchable but far from memorable..

[bfan83 · 2/10 · 1 March 2009]

Donna Wilkes (Jaws 2) stars as Marion, a partially crippled teenage girl who is psychically gifted. Marion begins having visions of a demented man (50s teen idol, Frankie Avalon) randomly murdering people. She also hears him play the flute when no one else does. She soon encounters him in a park burying one of his latest victims. He catches her watching him and a stalk and chase scenario soon ensues as she becomes his next target.

Personally, I don't really consider this a slasher. It's more of a Suspense/Thriller. There are maybe four or five deaths, very little gore, and some very brief nudity. Most of the film is padded out to feature Marion's dysfunctional relationship with her abusive alcoholic father and her supportive, but neurotic mother. Her father is probably the biggest jerk I've ever seen in a slasher film. Thankfully, he gets his just desserts.

Frankie Avalon was surprisingly dead on with his performance as the psychotic killer who witnessed his father kill his mother and her lover in cold blood as a child. There are a few scenes when watching was truly disturbing. Bravo, Mr. Avalon! The rest of the characters were too underdeveloped to really care about. Marion was nothing but a whiny brat, but it's understandable considering what her father puts her through. Still, I was rooting for Frankie to kill her. The ending was ludicrous and frustrating to watch.

Overall, BLOOD SONG a.k.a. DREAM SLAYER (the version I own) is a decent enough suspense/thriller, but it doesn't really work well as a slasher flick. If you are a devoted horror fan, then give it a watch, if only for curiosity's sake.

Cool early 80's psycho horror flick starring 50's teen idol Frankie Avalon as a crazed killer

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 14 June 2006]

50's teen idol Frankie Avalon gives a surprisingly solid, credible and even fairly creepy performance as Paul, a crazed, murderous flute-playing mental patient who develops a psychic link with sweet gimpy teenage girl Marion (appealingly played by the adorable Donna Wilkes of "Jaws 2" and "Angel" fame) after his blood is used for an operation she undergoes. Pauls escapes from the asylum, steals a van, and drives cross country so he can meet Marion in person, bumping off a few folks along the way. Monty Turner's gratingly redundant droning synthesizer score tends to be more annoying than effective, but fortunately Alan J. Levi's able direction, Steve Posey's polished cinematography, some witty dialogue ("I've got a hangover that would make King Kong climb a wall"), a decent amount of gore, and the uniformly fine acting from an interesting cast are all up to par. A radically cast against type Avalon in particular has a field day with his juicy homicidal fruitcake part: Frankie plants a hatchet in a guy's face, strangles a hot young lady after making love to her, and, best of all, vigorously engages in a strenuous mano-a-mano no-holds-barred physical confrontation with veteran tough guy actor Richard Jaeckel (who's excellent as usual as Marion's stern, cranky, overbearing dad). Lenny Montana, the hit-man who winds up sleeping with the fishes in "The Godfather," served as a co-producer, co-wrote the script and pops up in a small supporting role as an amiable tugboat skipper. A fun little fright flick.

Much wasted potential

[toomuch-2 · 7/10 · 11 February 1999]

The first time I saw this film (1997, on T.V.) it was midnight, and I almost felt really scared the first 20 minutes of the film. It was spooky, interesting... and I think it had a well built psycho-terror atmosphere; but soon it becomes weak... Why? the plot, the music, make this film a mix of "Friday the 13th 5: A New Beginning", "Armageddon" (because of the noise, not the visual effects) and "Striptease" (without the nude scenes and the boring dialogues).

This film has other spooky scenes, sort of like "Kalifornia" meets "Friday the 13th" (the first one). And the final scene is one of my favorites.

This film would had been a very good terror (series B) flick, but it has much wasted potential. If you liked "American Gothic", I think you'll enjoy this.

Barely worth seeing.

Beware of Murderous has-been 50's Crooner!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 20 January 2008]

Yay! Another totally obscure early 80's slasher no one has ever heard of! I often wonder where they keep coming from. Are the 80's still going on in some kind of alternate dimension or something? How else would you explain the never-ending upstream of long lost slashers? Anyway, this one isn't very good, but I can honestly state that I've struggled myself through 80's slashers that are much worse and yet somehow enjoy a mild cult reputation. "Blood Song" only enjoys the status of obscurity, but at least it offers a couple of ingenious gimmicks, an occasionally unsettling atmosphere, some nasty killings, a handful of likable characters and – not to forget – a unique member in the cast of nobodies! Ladies and gentlemen: washed up 50's and early 60's crooner Frankie Avalon! And in all fairness, I also have to admit that the script of "Blood Song" attempts to be slightly more than just a random slasher. The plot tries to spiritually link the female protagonist Marion to a fugitive killer through a blood transfusion, nightmarish POV visions and … flute music! "Blood Song" opens with a typically clichéd horror scene, yet with an unexpected twist at the end of it. A young boy witnesses his father killing the unfaithful wife, her lover and himself. What's a poor kid to do at such a traumatizing and future-determining point in life? Well, play the wooden flute his daddy hand-made for him of course! More than 20 years later he escapes from a mental asylum, still holding on to his wooden flute, and goes on a rampage where he kills everyone who negatively criticizes the music he produces. Meanwhile, Marion witnesses all of his vile acts in visions because the killer once anonymously donated blood to her when she was involved in a car accident. A confrontation between the two is inevitable, but not before the musical killer eliminates some more random victims first! Like often the case in this genre, "Blood Song" is a lot more enjoyable if you don't ask too many questions regarding the plot's plausibility and don't bother about the multiple giant holes. All the ingenious aspects of the plot sadly vanish when the girl and the killer first stand face to face and "Blood Song" then reverts to an ordinary stalk-n-slash flick, albeit with an odd father-daughter relationship sub plot. Frankie Avalon isn't too bad, but he hasn't got many lines and what he says doesn't always make much sense. Funny detail is how the script never explains why they sent little Pauly to a mental institution in the first place. Okay, he witnessed a triple murder and suicide but he didn't commit any acts of insanity at young age himself, at least nothing hints in that direction. Since when is it customary to send traumatized kids to an asylum instead of to foster parents or orphanages? Because now it seems that he only really lost his sanity whilst being committed. A-ah, (unintentional?) food for thought in a mediocre & insignificant 80's horror movie!

Hey, it's Frankie Avalon!

[RareSlashersReviewed · 28 January 2004]

*Spoilers (slight)*

I was just settling into watching 1982's BLOOD SONG when the psychopath made his first appearance. All of a sudden something dawned on me. I thought to myself, ‘hang on a minute, I recognise this guy from somewhere'. And low and behold, it was none other than fifties rock and roll teen idol Frankie Avalon. For those of you who don't know, he was that youngster groomed for stardom by Bob Marcucci and Peter DeAngelis. In 1958 he became part of the ‘Philadelphia phenomenon' that also gave life to rockers Fabian and Bobby Rydell. He enjoyed a successful career in music and amongst others gave us chart toppers in ‘Venus' and ‘Why'. Quite what he was doing starring in a lowbrow slasher flick was far beyond me. I guess it was just another experience to add to his already extremely varied career resume. But would he alone, help to save this attempt from being wholly lacklustre?

A middle-aged guy returns home from a trip in a black taxi. He thanks the driver and heads up the footpath to a dimly lit house. Seconds after his entered, we hear a frantic male scream `Put down the gun', before two shots shatter the silent night sky. It seems he's caught his wife in bed with another man and let his emotions get the better of him. He asks the lord for forgiveness and then turns the gun on himself, ending the wraith of his unforgiving conscience. All these events are witnessed by a small boy, who's obviously distraught and overtaken with upset so much, that instead of whimpering or crying, he plays a mournful tune on a small wooden flute! (And yes, if you're thinking what? Already, I suggest you don't even bother watching this at all!) Some years later we are shown a patient recklessly escaping from a mental institute but taking the time to save a similar looking small brown flute…hmmm! We are now introduced to a young girl named Marion (Donna Wilkes). She keeps having strange nightmares in which a deranged killer plays a strange tune on a mouth instrument, before he ruthlessly butchers innocent people. The young girl is convinced that these are not dreams but are more like premonitions. All her friends including her boyfriend Joey (William Kirby Cullen) think that she's just stressed out by her ‘control freak' father Frank (Richard Jaekel) who's pretty damn strict. Before long the local county Sheriff (who is also a wisecracking ‘one liner king'. Watch out for his witty dialogue including the classic `…I've got a hang over that'd make King Kong climb a wall! And also `I don't wanna be disturbed unless world war 3 breaks out on Main Street' which, was another of his comical quotes!) finds a mutilated female corpse and it becomes apparent that maybe Marion isn't all that crazy…

Well, where do I start? Firstly this is a pretty shoddy release and watching it - for the most part - to write this review was a pain staking arduous task hindered mainly by the fact that my copy –which, was extremely hard to get hold of – had a thin transparent line running straight through the middle of the screen, right until the end. The acting isn't too bad, and at least the heroine featured here is indeed a teen, but to be totally honest not a lot happens and I found myself having to keep rewinding it in case I'd missed something, where I was absent mindlessly flicking through my copy of The Sun whilst watching. That's never a good sign and further proves that BLOOD SONG cannot manage to keep you interested for long.

People expecting to witness yet another carbon copy of either HALLOWEEN or FRIDAY THE 13TH will be pleasantly surprised to find out that this is a shockingly different approach that manages in many ways to break the mould. This is apparent in lots of circumstances including the final girl being hardly virginal; she's no Laurie Strode! If I had to put my finger on the inspiration behind this flick, I would say it owed more to NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN or maybe even THE SLAYER. What is interesting however, is how it looks like this may have had a major part in the influence behind Wes Craven's A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Although this is hardly worthy of such an accolade, it's clearly two years Craven's predecessor and many of the ingredients honestly do look to have been lifted. The way that Marion dreams of all of the murders is almost identical to the fate that springs upon Nancy Thompson and her friends down good old Elm Street. Wes' box office smash is a much stronger effort, but it's interesting to note that he must've seen this before he helmed his idea!

What about redeeming features I hear you ask? Well it's pretty graphic, as in you get to see some ketchup pour out of some hardly imaginative wounds! But after watching over an hour of mindless and cheesy screenplay the ending really did surprise me. Obviously I can't spoil it here for you, but it was the only sign of any intelligence on display and left you with just a touch of satisfaction. To be fair this is an original effort. And if we gave awards for ideas then this would certainly gain a prize. But I'm afraid a flick will only get rewarded here if it's above average and interesting, which, sadly this isn't. Sorry Frankie even you couldn't save this one

This mixed bag of faded heartthrobs and gore should have been filled with cement and discarded.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 8 September 2023]

One of the least memorable slasher films of the early 80's, this isn't worth the sands of time that Frankie Avalon greased up for a comeback. He'd have to wait a few years and get reunited with his 60's sweetheart Annette Funnicello as this cheaply made horror films is one of the worst of the lot of dozens like it.

The premise of child witnessing a horrific crime and turning out to be a brutal serial killer is a horror movie tripe pre-dating "Psycho". It's slow moving and poorly written and acted, featuring pastel "thought bubbles" coming out of nowhere to indicate a flashback or memory of that character.

Donna Wilkes stars as the disabled young lady continuously in distress, and she ended up with a cult film career that showed talent but not much luck in long term potential. Richard Jaeckel is the one big question mark as to how a truly talented actor like him could end up in something like this.

OMG - That Blood-y Song! Your Average Slasher Fair - Could Have Been Better.

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 5/10 · 19 April 2022]

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Blood Song; before launching into my critique, here's a breakdown of my ratings:

Story - 1.00 Direction - 1.25 Pace - 1.00 Acting - 1.25 Enjoyment - 1.00

TOTAL - 5.50 out of 10

Here is another one of those stories that hold so many opportunities, but the writers fail to make use of them. Even with the reduced scope, the story isn't too terrible. It is pretty much your psycho who escapes from the asylum and starts a slaying splurge narrative. But there are some respectable elements in the story. The relationship between the father and daughter in the film is one instance. The pair don't get along. Theirs is a love-hate relationship - they love to hate each other. But when we learn the cause of their rift, everything becomes clear. The poor old mother has to be the referee to their angry bouts of word-slinging. This kinship is one of the elements that deserved more attention from the writers. Just as is the connection between the daughter and the psycho killer. It's touched upon early that she received a blood transfusion after an automobile accident. The rare blood type came from...yeah, you guessed it, the asylum. So does she have the slasher's blood running through her veins? We never get that clarification. It could have added so much more to the story.

Levi, however, does a decent job of shooting the script. The few changes in camera angles and lighting place it above average, though not far above. It would have been ideal if he could have varied the tempo some. The single pace is fast enough to keep your attention on the screen, but adding a mix of pacing would have helped create more tension and excitement. There may even be something you recognise if you're an avid watcher of horror films. When Marion takes a walk along the beach, she ends up at the bay featured in The Howling - shame the werewolves burnt up a year before she could have used their help.

Here's another reason the writers missed opportunities was so annoying. They had a reputable cast to perform their work, yet another waste. All of the performers are perfect in their roles. A couple even goes the extra mile. Donna Wilkes must have used a cane to help her walk at some time because when the doctor removes her leg brace, she correctly utilises the walking stick. It's a small thing, but these slight issues help a person to believe. But the actor who really goes the extra mile is Frankie Avalon. At the film's start, Psycho Paul isn't much to write home about. He's just an average bloke who gets annoyed whenever anyone tries to take his daddy-made flute from him. Shame he only knows one song. Though by the picture's climax, Psycho Paul is having fun - and it's kinda contagious.

If you like your slashers, then Blood Song may be worthy of your attention. Though it's run-of-the-mill genre fair, I found it an enjoyable film. Therefore, if you've exhausted your slash and dash library, feel free to check out Blood Song - it's okay for a quickie watch.

Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chiller lists to see where I ranked Blood Song.

Take Care & Stay Well.

One of the best of the mad psycho on the loose films from the 1980's

[dbborroughs · 6/10 · 2 September 2009]

Frankie Avalon is a psycho with a weird connection to a teenage girl in a leg brace. Well made psycho on the loose film is a cut above many other films of a similar type in the production and acting departments. Its clear why Avalon took the role since it allowed him to be more that the fun guy that Annette hung out with. He's a mean and ugly guy here. He's so good it might change your opinion of him. If there is a problem with the film its that it plays out like any number of other films that were made before and since. Granted its much more watchable than any of the other films in the genre, but at the same time it has a much too familiar feel to truly stand out as a great film. The best that I can say its one of the best of a rather weak collection of films, which unfortunately sells this film shorter than I should. Actually if you want to see a good psycho on the loose film see this one.

Frankie Avalon and Donna Wilkes make this Movie!

[RogerMooreTheBestBond · 10/10 · 1 December 2019]

I saw this film on TBS or TNT years ago and I instantly loved it. Frankie Avalon plays an insane ax murderer and he does it very well. He had seen his mom and dad die when he was young and it made him into a murderer later in life. He always would play a wooden flute that his dad gave him. I guess it was the one good memory he had from his childhood. Anyway Donna Wilkes does not have a great home life either with her stepdad who is always drinking and thinking her boyfriend is no good for her. She keeps having these weird nightmares about Frankie killing people. One day she actually sees Frankie digging a hole and starting to bury a woman's body that he killed. Then the fun begins. He begins to chase her all over the town for the rest of the film. Dane Clark plays the sheriff in a supporting role and as always he does a very good job. There are some really good creepy moments in the film and the music score really helps out with that part of it. I wish Donna Wilkes had done more films, she is very underrated as an actress.

Above-Par 1980s Slash-Fest

[Flixer1957 · 7/10 · 31 December 2008]

Pre-ANGEL Donna Wilkes plays a physically-challenged teen with two off-the-wall parents--one neurotic, the other a tyrannical drunk. As if that isn't enough, a psychotic killer is on the loose and she's Number One on his "hit" parade. Of course, the murderer has to give us our money's worth by slaughtering a few people along the way. There is blood and gore galore including hatchet-hacking, a near-disembowelment and an incredible showdown in a sawmill. The psycho is played by Frankie Avalon! Between this and HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR, he must have been trying to shatter his Beach-boy image. They should have thrown in one of his songs somewhere, or maybe a clip from BEACH BLANKET BINGO. Richard Jaeckel is outstanding as the girl's father who, drunk or sober, carries protectiveness a little too far. This darkly-photographed potboiler is no Hitcockian masterpiece but it's never boring. Its characters seem real which is more than can be said for most slasher flicks of that era. This flick was once included in Brentwood's BLOOD BATH DVD collection; it definitely lives up to that description.

hey this movie was A-OK

[recluse2 · 7/10 · 29 August 2014]

Great little movie. I found the acting and story realistic. The lead girl was excellent--so natural, and such a nice-girl-type. She inspires feelings of pity because of her crippled leg (which gets better during the course of the film, so she is able to get her brace taken off and use a cane instead). And her strict father is giving her a hard time about her boyfriend. You feel sorry for this poor girl. And later in the movie she is being chased around on her bad leg by the maniac. (The doctor told her to take it easy on the leg when he removed the brace, so I was worried about that). I will add that quite some time elapsed in the movie before I even noticed her leg brace. (Or was that when it was first revealed--when she dives out of the way of the black van?) The lead girl's best friend did a nice acting performance too.

I like the Oregon setting, and the Oregon-type clothing they were wearing.Liked the harbor and the sawmill and the dark, not-very- decorated wood-paneled house where the girl and her father and mother live. I liked the schoolroom scenes, not very bright and cheery, a bit on the depressing side.

I felt sorry for the father, even though he was being a mean bastard.

I was cheering for the heroine--she does an admirable job of getting away from and battling the killer maniac, especially considering her bad leg.

The very end--I didn't expect it or want it that way, but....

Frankie!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 16 October 2020]

Filmed in 1980 at the height of the slasher and not released until two years later, Blood Song stars Frankie Avalon, which is mindblowing that an actor that adorned the bedrooms of teenage girls a few decades earlier is now menacing their daughters with a hatchet and, strangely, a wooden flute.

Frankie plays Paul, who watched as his father came home to catch his wife in bed with another and killed them both before taking his own life. Ah, slashers, you seem to come at us with transgression but under your bloody hood beats the heart of a puritan at times and at others, the soul of a man who desperately knows that his wife has the eyes on the crotch of every man she meets and you can't escape that gnawing feeling.

Meanwhile, Donna Wilkes (Angel, Jaws 2, Grotesque, Schizoid) is Marion, a girl forced to wear a leg brace after the drunk driving accident her father put her through. She can't wait to escape home, which is filled with rages and screaming and recrimination. However, she can also see Paul's murders, as they shared the same blood from a transfusion.

Sure, alright. Science.

That said, this is a grimy and brutal film that has no easy ending for the final girl.

Based on a short story by Joseph Shink, who adapted the screenplay with Frank Avianca and Lenny Montana, this somewhat neglected film was directed by Alan J. Levi, who mostly worked in television.

Venus if you will,please send a little girl for me to kill!

[charles-60 · 7 February 2004]

Honestly,I'm shocked no one has posted that headline yet,it's so obvious!I've seen this movie,and it's pretty bad!It should be noted that except for his occasional reunions with Annette,this is Avalon's ONLY acting performance since "Grease" Sad,when you consider he started his acting career with a few A pictures["The Alamo" & "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea"]and then degenerated into the AI Beach films! Not a defense of him or this film,just a witty comment!

Goofy slasher oddity

[drownsoda90 · 6/10 · 20 August 2019]

"Blood Song" follows a teenager in a coastal Oregon town who finds herself stalked by a man whose blood she received through a transfusion; turns out the man is a psychotic killer who plays a wooden flute (yes, you read that right), and he has a psychic connection drawing him nearer to her.

All things considered, "Blood Song" is a pretty typical slasher flick aside from the weird flourishing touches, such as the killer who plays a small wooden flute gifted to him by his father who committed a murder-suicide with his wife; did I mention that '60s singer Frankie Avalon portrays the madman? Those two reasons alone make this film stand out from its peers, though, depending on who you ask, will be either to its detriment or success.

TV actress Donna Wilkes portrays the lead/final girl who is hobbled by a leg injury through most of the film, making her even more helpless; to make matters worse, her mother (Antoinette Bower of "Prom Night") and she are under the abusive power of her alcoholic father (a character that has strange incestuous undertones, I might add). The film is not conventionally scary, as the killer is no masked villain or elusive psycho; the audience sees and gets to know the goofy character from the outset, so that element of terror is stripped from the proceedings here. The film does feel like a made-for-TV movie, and has an innocence about it that belies its bloodier moments. The atmosphere is nicely established as well, and it's nice to see the coast of my home state get some representation in '80s horror.

In the end, "Blood Song" is a rather silly slasher flick that plays up its goofiness with no shame, even in its final moments. The whole thing is rather ridiculous, but if you can take it at face value, the offering here is amusing, slightly trashy, and utterly bizarre-it almost feels as though David Lynch attempted to make a slasher movie. Do with it what you will, but it's just weird enough to warrant a viewing from genre fans. 6/10.