Blood and Lace (1971) stars Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, and Vic Tayback in a “proto slasher” that’s one of the first to feature a hammer as the murder weapon. Despite its off-putting score (and lack of lace), it remains strikingly fun and is way better than a hammer to the head.
Buy Blood and Lace Blu-rayYoung Ellie Masters (Patterson) is shipped off to an orphanage after her mother, the town floozy, is murdered with a hammer along with her lover for the night. When Ellie arrives at Deere Youth Home/Orphanage run by Mrs. Deere (Grahame) and her nefarious handyman Tom, (Len Lesser), she quickly learns it’s not as nice as it was presented to be. Ellie hates being cooped up but soon finds out life for those who try to run away is not very pleasant at all. As she struggles to adjust to the harsh rules of her new home, Ellie begins having nightmares of a hammer-wielding maniac. She also begins to discover that Mrs. Deere is housing some creepy secrets locked in the attic.
Detective Calvin Carruthers (Tayback) is assigned to the hammer murders and as he investigates, we find out that he too has had relations with Ellie’s mother, “before she turned pro.” As the story rolls along, Ellie lets it be known that all she knows about her father is that he was her mother’s very first lover. Do Carruthers and Ellie have a dark link? Will Mrs. Deere’s misdeeds be exposed? Did Ellie hammer her own mum? Only by making it to the shocking end of Blood and Lace can the answers be revealed.
Blood and Lace isn’t really all that bad and it has some very entertaining moments, a few being unintentionally comical. There isn’t much gore and no lace is ever really seen. The special effects are about as good as a bad TV-movie but the cast, which includes some familiar TV faces, like Milton Selzer and Terri Messina, keep this one interesting. With no budget for music, the odd choice to use old monster movie music and sound effects give the action/horror scenes a monster jam feel and at times comes across more like a 1940s sci-fi serial. The final showdown between detective and handyman has the humorous feel of one of those old monster clashes a la Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman due to music used.
Of course there are plot holes a-plenty and certain story angles are complete dead ends, like Mrs. Deere’s dear dead husband. The twist ending one can see coming from a mile away but it’s well edited and provides a rather chilling final scene. That final shot acts as an amusing bookend to the rather silly opening sequence with its hammer POV.
The audio commentary by film historian Richard Harlan Smith is interesting and fun. He discusses the slasher movies that would follow Blood and Lace and how they seemingly borrowed certain elements from it. Smith provides great background details about the making of the movie and all those involved. He has done his homework well and explains some of the reasons behind a few of the movie’s more bizarre aspects. For instance, he tells us that the first scene with Patterson was dubbed because at the start of filming she was apparently sick and couldn’t be heard when speaking. Smith also points out that director Phillip Gilbert is probably a one-off nom de film as there are zero records or info available on him. Fascinating stuff.
Blood and Lace is fun despite the movie’s flaws (that score!) and misleading advertisements, which make it seem like some risque, satanic cult thriller. The alternate title of The Blood Secret is better suited to the film’s subject matter as there is very little lace and the blood is rather bland.
