I first watched this film with my neighbors about 40 years ago. We took this at the only video rental in town back then.To me, as a 10 year old, this film was always a mystery. I looked it up again a while ago to understand it better, and glad I found it.I wanted to review the sociological metaphors and moral again, now that I am getting close to 50.Of course, the acting, directing, and other effects are nothing like we find today, but back then it was a sure 10.Some ideas in this film are still unique, even today.This movie did not leave my mind for 40 years...

You know what this film reminded me of? The Cabin in the Woods. If you've seen that, you'll know what I mean when the film totally takes you out of the 'moment' and twists things up a bit.Keir Dullea wakes up somewhere with no memory except a card in his pocket that tells him how many people he's killed. Not that he reads it mind. His other buddies at the time do, but by the time the plot gets going most of them are dead.He finds himself in some sort of Cowboy world where life is cheap and terrible clothes are even cheaper, but who can he trust? Probably not Jack Palance. And is this world even trustworthy anyway? It's a very early take on Virtual Reality, this one. But then it's another film where you shouldn't really reveal much of the plot, because that's where the enjoyment lies. P'ting

A group of strangers wake up to find themselves in an unknown place with little recollection of how they got there and of their previous lives. They come across Sheriff Friedlander (Jack Palance), who takes them to a town called "Blood City". It's like they're back in the Wild West, but with a strange law system and social order involving a slave society and where murder is encouraged. But something is not quite right, as unknowingly for these people they are part of an experiment / reality game from outside forces who can manipulate the situations. Originality can only go so far, if your execution isn't up to par. That's the story for the Sci-fi outing "Welcome to Blood City". Its ambitious quality in its ideas shows, but it's poorly staged. Low budget eats away and so does its limitations. While the technical side won't set the world alight with Peter Sasdy's steadfast direction, but I can't just fault that as the material is somewhat hodgepodge too. What starts off is intriguing, only goes onto become inconsistent and muddled as the more we learn about the predicament the characters find themselves in, the less involving it gets. The problem here is that it gives away the reveal too early, and when we find out about the experiment it seems to be incoherent in its narrative developments. The question why, is asked a lot. Rules just seem to be thrown about, the reasoning is that's the way of life and motivations become hazy of what's really going on behind the scenes with a real lack of elaboration on the bigger picture that becomes silly. The writers probably became lost with all the possibilities being churned out.The complex concept behind the film does offer some sinister and nightmarish strokes, but it lacks the visual flair to complement it. Looking quite makeshift. Still it does have a brutal and ruthless edge to some scenes, but the excitement/suspense levels never rises, sometimes the pacing being bogged down and the climax finishes off on a anticlimactic and baffling note (if humorous with a final chase involving Palance doing his best woody the woodpecker impersonation). In the same way the flimsy ending does leave you dumbfounded. Keir Dullea is likable enough in the lead and Jack Palance is always a treat with that devilish smile. It's a cunning performance. The interplay between Palance and Dullea's characters is for most part amusing. Samantha Eggar gives a good turn playing two roles; one in the game and that of a scientist behind scenes who gets a little too involved in her programming work. So in the end it's disappointing in what it could have been, as there's an interesting, if strange set-up and the beginning builds that up, but alas it doesn't come together. Still there's something admirable about it.

The untouchable Jack Palance leads a pack of virtual reality cowboys in this shameless high-concept ripoff of Yul Brynner's WESTWORLD. Several amnesiacs awaken in a dusty old west town, where they are immediately forced into slavery. Their only hope of social advancement is to murder other denizens of Blood City, gaining all-important street cred and working their way up to a face-off with the schizophrenic sheriff, valiantly played to the straight-faced hilt by Palance. The prematurely revealed would-be `twist' is that all the amnesiacs are actually in suspended animation, merely passing a computerized aptitude test in the technologically manufactured west, uh.world. And if you've rented BLOOD CITY in search of blood, there's not a drop to be seen. This constantly deflating film co-stars sci-fi veterans Keir (2001) Dullea and Barry (SPACE:1999) Morse, and was also released as WELCOME TO BLOOD CITY.