Another largely forgotten horror from the early 1970s, Blood and Lace sounds a very interesting film, particularly since it was apparently released with a PG rating (actually ‘GP’, but equivalent) despite featuring brutal murders and torture of children. This website also shows how many similarities there are between this and several other horrors that came after it (including the killer’s striking resemblance to Freddy Krueger).
Notably, this was director Philip S. Gilbert’s only film. It seems that it has never been released on DVD but was briefly available to stream on US Netflix so there’s a chance that it may be given a release soon.
This US 30×40 features photographs that have been hand-tinted using brilliantly lurid colours and note the poorly-drawn blood-splatters on the hammer. I’m a big fan of what the designer of the poster did with the title.
The use of large, repeating type is a common them with horror film posters from this period.
The original trailer can be found on YouTube.
The late Tamara Dobson‘s second and last outing as the titular blaxploitation crime-fighter sees her traveling to Hong Kong to rescue two of her fellow agents who have disappeared whilst on a case. She soon discovers that the owner of a Macao casino and major drug lord, the sinister Dragon Lady (Stella Stevens), is responsible and Cleopatra sets out to stop her at all costs.
Apparently the film failed to make as much of an impact as the first one due to the fall in popularity of blaxploitation films by 1975. Director Charles Bail had previously worked on another entry in the genre, Black Samson, released in 1974. He went on to direct episodes of several TV series including CHiPs, Knight Rider and Dragnet.
The original trailer is on YouTube.
Fade to Black, a 1980 slasher film, focuses on a shy film geek who goes on a killing spree against those who bully him using reenactments of his favourite film scenes.
You can watch the trailer on YouTube – keep an eye out for a young Mickey Rourke.
