The Bloodstained Lawn
The Bloodstained Lawn
| 02 March 1973 (USA)
The Bloodstained Lawn Trailers

A couple of wandering hippies meet a man by the name of Antonio who takes them to the home where he lives with his sister and brother-in-law. There they meet several strange characters: a gypsy woman, a prostitute and a disturbing drunk. The host tells them that he is a producer of wines and loves to entertain strange people. In fact he is a madman who has created a mechanism that can suck blood from human bodies.

Reviews
GL84

Having collected various strangers, a deranged and twisted family brings the group together in their home where it soon dawns on them how psychotic they are and must try to get away alive.This one here was quite the enjoyable psycho-thriller. One of the more engaging parts of this one is the fact that there's quite a lengthy and prolonged first half that really does a great job at building a chilling and creepy atmosphere. The scenes of the group securing the different people, ranging from the different degenerates and hitchhikers in the various parts of town then bringing them back to their house under the guise of treating them well only to have the tables turned on them makes for a solid exploitation premise that features all the usual sleaze and nudity usually found there yet subtly instituting clues that something's not quite right along the way. From the couple's odd habits, finding the nude woman tied up in the bedroom and the psychedelic soundtrack playing over the orgy in the hall of mirrors, there's enough weirdness going on that it really makes for an appropriate set-up already so that once it turns around in the second half it's gradual induction of their strange machines kept hidden away really turns this one into quite the chilling effort. Once there, the raging thunderstorm and the reveal of their trap gives this a nice air that's magnified by the actual draining procedure conducted by the robot which is quite a surreal sight. There's quite a lot to really enjoy here with these elements, though there's a few minor problems with this one. The biggest issue is undoubtedly the confusing investigation going on alongside this one as it is so lazily shoehorned into the proceedings that it's quite obvious an afterthought by the short, quick-cut inserts they are placed into the film and interrupt the sleaze and exploitation in the remaining parts of the film. Likewise, this also tends to cause the film to stutter along with quite a rather plodding pace during this section and really keeps the film from unleashing it's full gimmick until quite late in here which is due to the rather unnecessary inclusion here. Otherwise, there's not much else really wrong here.Rated Unrated/R: Full Nudity and drug use.

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melvelvit-1

Riccardo Ghione's amusing and self-aware black comedy takes a rather wry look at a very real concern in the early 1970s-Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock" was required reading on college campuses back in 1972 and the alarmist book "about the future and the shock that its arrival brings" was only a forerunner of the fears the "Me Decade" grappled with, especially on screen with nightmarish fare like WESTWORLD and DEATHRACE 2000. Two other 1973 cautionary tales, SOYLENT GREEN and TRAITMENT DE CHOC, also envisioned a cannibalistic future but THE BLOODSTAINED LAWN, the third in this futuristic triptych, goes "where no man has gone before" by making light of the rampant paranoia.Amoral aristocrat Nina Genovese (Marina Malfatti, who looks a bit like Sharon Tate), her mad scientist husband (who looks a lot like Soupy Sales right down to the big bow ties), and the brother she's in love with bring a drunk, a hooker, a gypsy, and a pair of hippies back to their ultra-modern estate for some dope, orgies, and music but soon the guests disappear one by one to become the secret ingredient of a rejuvenating wine the depraved trio bottle and sell. Meanwhile, "special guest star" Nino Castelnuevo (Nino Newcastle??), he of CAMILLE 2000 fame, plays a UNESCO agent hot on their trail of blood...Nina, dead serious about a superior race, makes good use of society's "disposables" in an increasingly over-populated world and insists to her love-struck brother that "only money brings happiness" as the decadent rich get yet another roasting, only this time on the lighter side and very well done. Director Ghione also has fun inverting "happy" clichés like lovers (in this case, the hippie couple) running in slo-mo over hill and dale (twice!) and the life-size "Robbie The Robot" gadget the villains use to extract their victim's lifeblood is more ridiculous than anything else. The hip-and-happening score is oh so "of its time" and the garish decade's flashy fashions and decor also serve the story well. It's (kind of) classy Eurotrash that doesn't take the doom-and-gloom predictions about the future too seriously and does for the wine industry what DEATH LAID AN EGG did for poultry farms.

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morrison-dylan-fan

Reading a fellow IMDb'ers reviews a few weeks ago,I stumbled upon a review for a title that an IMDb'er had highlighted to me during the IMDb's Horror board's October Challlenge,thanks to the movie having a wicked sounding Black Comedy streak.Gathering up films to view for IMDb's Classic Film poll for the best titles of 1973,I was delighted to see that 1973 was the movies release year,which led to me excitingly getting ready to get the lawnmower out of the shed for the first time in years.The plot:Driving round on the lookout for the 'lowlifes' of society,socialite Nina Genovese and her scientist husband Dr.Antonio Genovese spot a hippie couple looking for a hitch-hike. Generously giving the hippie couple the chance to sleep at their villa for the night,the couple are delighted to discover that the Genovese's are the leading wine makers of the town.Thrilled at finding wine flowing from every part of the villa,the hippie couple begin to seriously wonder if they could ask the Genovese's if it would be OK if they could stay with them for a few days.Finding that the wine has an oddly unique 'kick',the couple decide to look round the villa to discover the special ingredient which gives the wine its distinctive taste,which will lead the couple to discover to their horror the Genovese's deep desire to drain the poor.View on the film:Despite the only version that I could find of the title being one that took some shine off the title, (thanks to it being an old fullscreen TV print)the screenplay by writer/director Riccardo Ghione still thankfully contains a vicious bite,with Ghione taking sleek satirical Black Comedy shot at the upper-class of Italy,with Ghione showing the Genovese's firm belief that the poor are dirt on their shoes and need to be drained of what little 'life' they have. Complimenting his swipe at the upper- class,Ghione shows the low-life's of society to be filthy hippies who cant see danger coming towards their peace & love blinded eyes.Placing most of the movie in one location,Ghione gives the Genovese's Villa a charmingly off-beat feel by making each of their extreme wine making machines being ones that are wonderfully low-tech,which appear to have been borrowed from a cheap Sci-Fi film.Giving this very interesting Horror title an added dose of weirdness,Enzo Tarascio gives a wild performance,with Tarascio showing Antonio's love for his wife Nina, (played by the pretty Marina Malfatti-who had earlier teamed up with Tarascio for the Giallo The Night That Evelyn Came Out Of The Grave)to be so draining on him,that he will be prepared to drain the poor of their only valuable commodity,their blood.

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Red-Barracuda

This very odd Italian movie is a horror movie with a social commentary of sorts. It's basically about a group of rich, decadent people who pick up various less fortunate people and take them to their remote luxury villa. The aristocrats entertain this assortment of poor people with a wild orgy and plenty of other sensual pleasures. There is a catch, of course. And that catch is that these poor fools are to have all their blood drained from their bodies via a strange machine built by the resident scientist. Their blood is then sold in wine bottles for a tidy profit.The idea of the rich leeching off the poor is the social commentary. It adds an unusual dimension to what is a quite strange film to begin with. The blood-draining machine and the other bizarre devices in the house give the film a slight science fiction element which is not exactly typical for a film of this type. I wouldn't really go as far as to say that this is a particularly good film though. It's a bit meandering and unengaging a lot of the time. But, as I say, it does have its eccentricities and that is a plus point. It stars Marina Malfatti as the chief ice blonde. She starred in a number of gialli such as All the Colors of the Dark and The Red Queen Kills 7 Times. This film is definitely not up to the standard of those but at least Malfatti gets a more central role in this one.It's a bit different and it is a definite obscurity. But it's not essential though.

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