"Blood Bath" follows (or at least seems to follow) a deranged artist who believes he is (or may in fact actually be) the reincarnation of a legendary vampire. For inspiration, he kidnaps women and boils them in wax before painting the subjects. Dorian, an experimental ballerina, crosses paths with him, and gets dangerously close while trying to uncover the truth.Maybe one of the biggest oddball horror films in the annals of history, "Blood Bath" is not adequately described by the synopsis I provided, and anyone trying to tie the loose threads up will find it extremely difficult (if not impossible). This is because, as many have noted, the film is actually a composite of several different films. Producer Roger Corman purchased the footage from "Operation: Titian," a European espionage film that he had co-produced but deemed too terrible to release, and brought the film to the United States, where Jack Hill (and later, Stephanie Rothman) constructed an entirely different narrative based on the footage they had to work with. To fill in the blanks, they shot additional scenes in an attempt to piece together a "whole" movie.The result is not quite so "whole," but it certainly is fascinating, and one of the few instances—and perhaps only instance in the horror genre—where a film came to fruition in such a way. At times, "Blood Bath" feels like a campy beatnik take on vampires, and at others it edges into complete surrealism rivaling "Carnival of Souls" or Roman Polanski's early short films. Gorgeous footage of European castles and cityscapes populate the film (Hill shot his portions in Venice, Los Angeles in order to carry on the European aesthetic of the "Operation: Titian" footage), as well as several stunning, surreal scenes shot on an empty California beach. A haunting musical score and a strange, lush atmosphere elevate the film profoundly—it almost (inadvertently?) becomes an art film. The narrative itself is so convoluted (and understandably so) that it's difficult to see where it's going or why, but taking the film for what it is is the best bet for any audience. Running at just over an hour flat, I think the film can be easily digested if taken on its own terms.Several other versions of the film aside from the "Blood Bath" or "Operation: Titian" incarnation exist (all of which have been lovingly restored and released by Arrow Video this year), which further adds to the complex history; and while that history is the undoubtedly the main allure of the film, this is a weirdly beautiful, well-shot, and haunting piece of celluloid to be devoured. Overall, I found "Blood Bath" absolutely transfixing. Ultimately, the jagged narrative is secondary here to the lush and haunting cinematography, and it somehow manages to play out as a sort of patchwork art-house movie. Its production history is certainly a central draw for the simple reason that so many hands were on it at different times. The disaster that was this film's production is impossible to keep out of the back of one's mind while watching it, but I also think it's worth paying attention to the unique and weirdly eerie (and yes, incoherent) film that that tattered production ended up producing. If nothing else, the film is a beautiful anomaly. Side note: watch out for a supporting role from a very young Sid Haig. 8/10.

Don't get carried away too much by the cool sounding title, the awesome looking film poster or the names of the some of the people involved in this production, as "Blood Bath" is not one of those vastly entertaining Roger Corman B-movie cheapies, but a weird and experimental hybrid of 2-3 movies at once. As far as I can tell, Corman initially hired Jack Hill ("Spider Baby", "Pit Stop") as director but he then got replaced by Stephanie Rothman ("The Velvet Vampire") who was ordered to insert bits and pieces of a Yugoslavian movie where the producer wasted his money on … or something like that! The result is an oddity that very occasionally is tense & atmospheric, but most of the time just dull, incoherent and meaningless. Daisy Allen is a young model desperately looking for an artist to make her famous, but all she ever encounters are idiots in rancid bars that shoot with paintball guns at paintings. She then runs into the promising artist Antonio Sordi, who also happens to be romantically involved with her sister Donna, but he quickly proves to be a lunatic who talks to the illustration of a woman on canvas and believes he's the reincarnation of a cruel vampire. So instead of making artful portraits of his models, he slaughters them and boils their bodies in a hot wax bath! Yes, I do realize it sounds like terrific horror entertainment, but I assure you it's not. During perhaps 2 or 3 scenes, the atmosphere of "Blood Bath" reminiscent to genre classics that were released earlier in the decade, notably "Dementia 13" and "Bucket of Blood" both of which also came from Roger Corman's stable. Unfortunately these are only a few isolated moments of greatness, while the vast majority of the film is utter baloney. The undeniable highlight is a bizarre and nightmarish chase sequence ending on a merry-go-round! What a giant contrast with the absolute low point, which is a stupid split-screen ballerina dancing scene on the beach that that lasts for … Well, I don't know exactly how long it lasted because I pressed the fast- forward button. Far too long, that's for sure!

1966's "Track of the Vampire" was first released theatrically at 62 minutes, under the title "Blood Bath," but this review will be of the full 78 minute version issued to television. William Campbell stars as Antonio Sordi, an artist lauded for his paintings of dead nudes, who believes himself to be the reincarnation of an artist ancestor burned at the stake for sorcery after being exposed by his latest model, Miliza, who believed her soul had been captured on canvas. Sordi keeps a portrait of Miliza in his studio, and cannot make love to his newest muse Dorean (Lori Saunders) because of her close resemblance to it. All the new scenes with Campbell were filmed by director Jack Hill, maintaining the name he used in "Portrait in Terror," but whenever the character becomes a blonde haired vampire sporting tiny fangs (!), a different actor was cast by new director Stephanie Rothman, resulting in sporadic chase sequences and a ballet lasting more than 3 minutes. Just over 9 (out of 81) minutes of footage from "Portrait in Terror" were used, recasting an unbilled Patrick Magee as a jealous husband (the exotic dancer now becoming his wife) who winds up covered in wax, like all of Sordi's female victims (the shared sequence between Campbell and Magee has completely new dialogue badly overdubbed). Apparently, he kills them first, paints their nude likenesses, then covers each corpse in wax. Campbell himself doesn't make his first appearance until 22 minutes in, the vampire having already worn out its welcome with a 6 1/2 minute pursuit of a young lass who ends up in the ocean minus most of her clothes, while a middleweight Tor Johnson lookalike acts as temporary lifeguard. The ending didn't make any sense, but probably made the film. Stephanie Rothman did all the vampire stuff, including the subplot featuring Sandra Knight, all of which is self contained (only a single dissolve fuses the artist and the vampire, pretty lame). Jack Hill did all the beatnik scenes, plus the bizarre climax, filming in Venice California. I'd say each director was split fairly even, sharing writing and directing credits, but never working in tandem (the uncredited Roger Corman replaced Hill with Rothman).

No wonder this lacks the cult following of Hill and Rothmann's other films--its myriad clashing elements suggest this movie's conception and shooting might have occurred at widely spaced times, whenever money or locations were available. Apparent female leads come and go. Sometimes the focus seems on satirizing pretentious "beatnik" art a la "Bucket of Blood." Then the film will stop dead for lengthy minutes of laughable "modern dance" by alleged dancers of highly varied ability. (Even the best seem in desperate need of an actual choreographer.) Beautiful young women are being killed by an alleged "vampire" painter allegedly descended from a line of vampires/artists stretching back to the 11th century. It's anyone's guess why most of the characters seem to be early 60s hipster-parody Los Angeleans, complete with wanderings on beach and in balmy surf. Meanwhile, we're told a particular castle and bell tower date back to (again) an ancestral 11th century? It's all supposed to be one city. Apparently "Vampire" aka "Blood Bath" was shot in both Venice, CA and Belgrade, Serbia-- ah, the mysteries of international funding! Trust me, the locations do not become seamless in the editing. This movie is bizarre and erratically well-crafted enough to hold interest, but it's still a disconnected mess that falls far short of the drive-in classics by Hill (Spider Baby, Switchblade Sisters) or Rothman (The Student Nurses, Terminal Island). It's a curiosity.