Blood and Lace (1971)
Even for a horror movie depending on camp to survive this one is bad. I really wanted to see what Gloria Grahame was up to late in her career, and I suppose in a way she's one of the best part of the movie, but even she was a disappointment--in her case not campy enough. Give Bette Davis a bow for knowing how to let it rip. The plot circles around a barely sketched out orphanage where funny stuff with dead bodies is going on in the meat cooler.
Are we surprised that this is the director's only movie? No, we're more surprised that Grahame got roped into it. She's only 48 here, and yet she seems to have become prematurely stiff and timid. This is well past her prime as an actress (it didn't help that she had botched plastic surgery in the 1950s that left her upper lip paralyzed), but she did later act in in another ten movies, and in lots of television, and if none of it is terrific, this is downright awful. Let's just call it a fluke, a forgettable movie with a thin plot and bad filming and mediocre acting. I wouldn't waste any time with it. Said and done.
Even for a horror movie depending on camp to survive this one is bad. I really wanted to see what Gloria Grahame was up to late in her career, and I suppose in a way she's one of the best part of the movie, but even she was a disappointment--in her case not campy enough. Give Bette Davis a bow for knowing how to let it rip. The plot circles around a barely sketched out orphanage where funny stuff with dead bodies is going on in the meat cooler.
Are we surprised that this is the director's only movie? No, we're more surprised that Grahame got roped into it. She's only 48 here, and yet she seems to have become prematurely stiff and timid. This is well past her prime as an actress (it didn't help that she had botched plastic surgery in the 1950s that left her upper lip paralyzed), but she did later act in in another ten movies, and in lots of television, and if none of it is terrific, this is downright awful. Let's just call it a fluke, a forgettable movie with a thin plot and bad filming and mediocre acting. I wouldn't waste any time with it. Said and done.