Night of Bloody Horror (1969) Movie Review
Night of Bloody Horror is a 1960s slasher movie. I’m going to start this review by warning you it’s not very good. Fortunately, it only has a runtimes of 90 minutes. So, if you decide to watch it, your night of bloody horror won’t cause you sit in misery for too long a period of time.
Gerald McRaney stars as Wesley Stuart. It was his first starring role and is likely one he would like to forget. He went on to star in many better movies and and is probably best known for playing private detective Rick Simon in the Simon and Simon TV series and Major John D. “Mac” MacGillis in the sitcom Major Dad.
Wesley is a disturbed young man with a long history of mental illness. He has dangerous temper and is strangely reluctant to talk about his father or younger brother. In fact, just thinking about them causes Wes to take a funny turn and begin clutching the side of his head.
Wes’ strange fits are invariably accompanied by an on-screen blue spiral around his head. No doubt the producers felt this unusual display would help illustrate a change in Wesley’s state of mind. Unfortunately, the spiral looks more like something snatched from a Panadol advert. The effect adds no value to movie.
Wes is also unlucky in love. He can find girls easily enough. In fact, they throw themselves at him, but every time he gets close to a girl they get murdered. Wes is always the prime suspect, of course, but the possibility he may be a psycho killer status never appears to hamper his love life for long.
The opening credits of the movie roll against clouds of swirling colour that may not be too unusual for certain 60s movies, but is still a strange way to introduce a slasher movie.
After the credits have finished rolling the viewer finds Wes and his fiancée, Susan (Lisa Dameron), enjoying a spot of fornication under the sheets. After they have finished, Wes rolls out of bed, gets dressed, has one of his blue spiral episodes, and tells Susan, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The following day Susan goes to confession, tells the father she’s sinned by sleeping with her fiancé, and asks for her penance. This proves to be a bad move because the father tells her, “Your Penance is Death!” and stabs a knitting needle into her eyeball.
A year flashes by in a few short scenes and finds Wes sitting in a bar. He’s looking the worse for wear. His drinking buddy is concerned about him and tries to get Wes to go home, but Wes gets nasty and threatens him with a broken bottle. Not surprisinly, his friend decides to leave. Then when the barman tells Wes he has to leave as well, Wes pulls out a huge wad of cash to settle his tab.
Needless to say, such a display of wealth attracts the wrong attention and Wes is attacked before he can climb into his car and drunk drive his way home. Fortunately for Wes, a hot-looking nurse happens to be driving by so, with a little help from the barman, she loads Wes into her car, takes him home, and tucks him up in her bed.
When Wes regains conscious the following morning he has no idea whose bed he is in or why there is busty woman in a negligee parading around in front of him. Nurse Kay (Charlotte White) explains how he ended up in her bed viewers are then treated to a brief insight into their ensuing courtship via a series of still photographs set to music.
Kay is a pretty girl. She and Wes make a nice couple, but their relationship comes to an abrupt end during a late-night visit to the beach. Wes has one of his blue spiral episodes and then wanders off in search of more beer. Unfortunately for all concerned, while he is gone someone places an axe in between two of Kay’s biggest assets.
The police take Wes into custody and play a game of good cop, bad cop; telling him they know he killed Kay—and Susan, but their commanding officer comes in moments later and tells Wes he is free to go.
Wes has barely left the station when a female reporter is inviting him out on a date. (Perhaps Night of Blood Horror would have been better named Earth Girls are Easy.)
Night of Bloody Horror is a hard movie to take seriously. In real life, would a nurse stop her car, scrape a stranger up from the pavement and take him home for some bed rest—and the rest?
It could happen, but it isn’t likely. Would a reporter with a nose for a story have such a head for danger she would throw herself at a possible serial killer the second he was released from police custody?
Again, this is unlikely, but this girl does and her romantic interest in Wes still persists when their date ends with him nearly beating a guy to death.
Night of Bloody Horror is as bad as they come. Even by B movie standards it’s terrible. The script isn’t believable and the acting is pretty poor, but the movie does have some good points. Wes is quite witty at times and some of the camera techniques and transitions are also rather entertaining.
When Kay dies, for instance, Wesley hugs her dead body, the camera zooms in on the bloody sand, and then the shot cuts to the bowl of tomato soup being eaten by Wes’ psychiatrist.
The most notable special effect used in Night of Bloody Horror is the blue spiral used to indicate Wes’ state of mind. Apart from that there are a couple of unrealistic prop corpses and a severed hand.
Night of Bloody Horror is not an unbearable movie to watch, but it’s definitely one that will be best appreciated by bad movie aficionados.
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