Bare with me here on this one…
Night of Bloody Horror (1969)
Directed By: Joy N. Houck Jr. (The Night of the Strangler )
The Prologue
Today we keep diving into the catalog of Cheezy Flicks. One thing I like about the DVDs they have for sale is the fact you almost feel as if you are in some old drive-in or grindhouse type theater with the sticky floors while watching their stuff. Of course while they have some awesome films for sale, you then run across something like what we got today, Night of Bloody Horror. *Sigh*. Well it is what it is folks, a sleazy looking film from 1969 that gives off a pretty dirty feel while you watch it. Sadly however in the case of this movie the actual film it’s self didn’t give us anything to strike the same feeling. And while I did finish it, I have to admit it sure as hell wasn’t easy to do.
The Movie
Wesley, who lives with his Mother, has had a hard life. He is haunted by the memory of his brother that seems to be filled with tragedy from his youth. And on top of all that, his girlfriends keeps dieing..well, actually they keep getting killed. I don’t think it would be much of a spoiler if I went as far as to admit they keep getting killed off by Wesley himself! Can Wesley control what is inside of him causing him to do such things?? Will the cops catch up to him before it’s too late? After all, you can only have soo many girlfriends get killed before it starts to look like you did it. Will you be able to stay away to witness the “dramatic” conclusion?? Who the hell knows…
It’s hard to believe a film that tosses some hot women (for the 60′s) and some blood at you would be a chore to finish but ultimately that’s the case with this little film from 1969. The film looks it’s age, which isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s just too slow and drawn out to really suck you into the story. A lot of what happens isn’t as much creepy as it is just ridiculous. By the time this thing wraps you want it to wrap and you have no desire to try to make sense of a lot of what you’ve seen that didn’t add up what so ever. Sure it’s old, it’s grimy, and it looks the part, but it just has no quality to match up to what you’d expect based on the name and the type of film it is.
I will however give director, Joy N. Houck Jr., some credit for his shots in the film. Some of the stuff was rather artsy for it’s time period and would even work today. He also seems to want to get “trippy” a time or two with the editing which doesn’t hurt things. I find it pretty funny the little graphic that appears on the screen whenever Wesley starts to wig out on us. It’s a nice touch, even if it is hilarious..which I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be. It’s the little things like that in the movie that makes it possible to finish it, even when at moments it seems nearly impossible to do so. If you’re looking for positives here I’d say the directors overall vision had the best of intentions and the gore isn’t horrid for it’s time, it just doesn’t add up to enough to save this thing.
But the damn thing just moves soo damn slow. Wesley gets a new hot girlfriend, he charms her, and he kills her. And how is it that up until the end he seems to take so long to snap? Sure, this film gives us a somewhat shocking end, but I’m willing to bet that by the time you get to that point you will more than likely no longer care. I’d not have this movie at the top of any watch list unless you’re just having a night where you want to relive what it might have been like to see some sleazy double feature with your friends, just make sure the second movie you watch has some real value because I’m sad to say I really seen none of that here. It’s like a low rent Psycho, and it takes more than just the story of a momma’s boy to equal that.
The Conclusion
Well the less said about this one the better. If you however want to see it then click your happy self on over to Cheezy Flicks and pick it up from them. They also got other stuff worth watching over there for low prices. They also have nice t-shirts, and as a matter of fact I am wearing one of them right at this very moment. The shirt is actually way better than the movie, so maybe you should skip this movie and just get the shirt?
The Rating (3.5/10)
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