BLOOD BATH-1966-After
it seems like a vampire killed a woman, some beatniks (including Sid
Haig & Jonathan Haze) check out Max (Karl Schanzer) the artist's
new painting. Then waitress Daisy (Marissa Mathes) has a discussion
with ballet dancing Dorean (Linda/Lori Saunders) about a secret meeting she
has with a man. While looking at some paintings Daisy meets artist
Antonio Sordi (William Campbell), who's artist ancestor was burned at
the sake after being betrayed by his mistress Melizza. While having a
flashback/hallucination, he turns into the vampire and kills Daisy
with a meat cleaver. Sordi is also the person Dorean was meeting on
the beach. Later at a party, he attacks a woman who falls into a
pool. Daisy's sister Donna (Sandra Knight) goes looking for her (Max
recognizes her from Sordi's latest painting) but Sordi denies knowing
her. She learns about Sordi's ancestor who came back as a vengeful
vampire after being burned, eventually being staked.
Donna sees a
connection between the missing women and Sordi. She decides to shadow
him but he kills her on a merry go round (while others do nothing).
His vampire self terrorizes Dorean but she escapes. Max has a fight
with the vampire who seems to fall to his death but his body
disappears. Poor Dorean seeks shelter at Sordi's bell tower residence
where she discovers a dead corpse (Patrick Magee). Sordi isn't dead
and thinks Doreann is Melizza come back to him. Fortunately some of
his victims come back to life and throw him in bubbling wax.
This
movie has a crazy history. It started out life as a US-Yugoslavian
production called “Operation Titan” for which Roger Corman
provided American actors William Campbell and Sid Haig as he planned
to distribute it in the US. Corman was unhappy with the resulting
film and finally asked Jack Hill to write a new script and shoot new
scenes while incorporating some of the original. Hill turned it into
a horror film called “Portrait in Terror”. Corman was still
unhappy with this new version and hired Stephanie Rothman to shoot
more scenes. Unfortunately star William Campbell refused to do
anymore re-shoots and an unidentified actor portrays the vampire
monster which is why the Sordi character transforms into a totally
different monster! Sid Haig's character also grows a beard for his
later scenes! New scenes were also shot for a TV version called “Track
of The Vampire”.
There's always a story with Roger Corman!
Thanks for reading!
(imdb)
(imdb)
