A sleazy gang hides out at a remote country house.Unbeknowst for them the family which lives there turns out to be killer cannibals."Blood Massacre" by Don Dohler is an okay low-budget slasher/cannibal yarn.The acting is surprisingly passable and there are some original ideas to be found here,but the photography is weak and there is not enough gore for my liking.However the film manages to be both entertaining and sleazy,so I'm not complaining more.It also offers some nice twists and turns.Don Dohler actually reworked the film as "Harvesters" in 2001 with George Stover now playing the head of the family.So if you enjoyed "Fiend" or "Nightbeast" you can't go wrong with "Blood Massacre".6 out of 10.
11 Reviews
Ehhh...
Chainsaw Slasher15 December 2003
I'm guessing the only thing that got this movie anywhere was it's title. The title is pretty clever. What could be better than the words 'chainsaw' and 'massacre' being in the same title? The words 'blood' and 'massacre' of course. The box art was pretty awesome too, showing a head with some ribs on a platter. How could any horror fan avoid wanting to watch a film called "Blood Massacre" with body parts on a silver platter?
The case and title makes it feel like your picking up either a slasher film or brutal cannibal film. It's niether that. You got this gang of crooks that come across this family in the woods and they end up being cannibals. Sure, cannibalism is beautiful in horror films, but in this film, it wasn't very graphic like the box suggested.
Overall, the film is worth buying for the Slasher Film collector only, merely because of its rarity and its awesome boxart and title. But for entertainment purposes, don't expect much.
The case and title makes it feel like your picking up either a slasher film or brutal cannibal film. It's niether that. You got this gang of crooks that come across this family in the woods and they end up being cannibals. Sure, cannibalism is beautiful in horror films, but in this film, it wasn't very graphic like the box suggested.
Overall, the film is worth buying for the Slasher Film collector only, merely because of its rarity and its awesome boxart and title. But for entertainment purposes, don't expect much.
Not enough massacre for gore fan...
Deliberate_Stranger13 August 2008
Don Dohler was known mostly from his SF/horror movies with bloodthirsty aliens like 'Nightbeast' or 'Alien Factor' 'Blood Massacre' is completely different movie and tells the story of four video store robbers who accidentally killed the owner's daughter. They are hiding in rural house terrorizing local family. What they don't know, all of the family members are sick cannibals who wants their blood and guts for a dinner... 'Blood Massacre' is one of the Don Dohler's last good movies made with good gory taste. The movie itself isn't very gory. We have decapitation, blades in the stomach, stick in the guts and some more, but honestly it's not so much for Don Dohler's earlier standards. The plot is just very similar to 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' but with four thugs instead of teenagers. What I want to say - this movie isn't so disturbing as it should be. Anyway, 'Blood Massacre' is still very fun and easy to watch little flick. The acting is horrible, but who cares? We have some nice gore scenes(although there should be much more blood and gore), pretty nice rock music and finally very nice and surprising twist on the end. If you find this movie, give it a chance. 6 out of 10
A generally fun low-budget home invasion effort
kannibalcorpsegrinder29 November 2021
After committing a series of crimes, a group of deranged criminals hiding out from the police take over a remote house in the countryside from a family living inside, but as they spend time in their presence realize that there's something off about the family and must try to get away from them alive.
For the most part, this one was quite a charming low-budget effort. One of the better features here is the films' rather enjoyable setup that serves as a solid twist to the home invasion genre. With the early part of the film featuring the concurrent build-ups of the gang going on their rampage either through the encounter at the bar or the video-store hold-up as well as getting to see the family's life on the farm, there's a fun sense of who the characters are and the quirkiness to each group that's highly enjoyable. Once the criminals are forced on the run and encountering the daughter which brings them all together at the fateful farmhouse, everything comes together in fine form with the way they overtake the house and start to impose their way on the family all works nicely to the films' benefit. When this one turns around and flips everything around into the psycho family letting their secret loose on the criminals, there's a demented sense of fun to the way everything turns on its head. The full reveal of everything about them, from the way they all act and behave to the rather brutal sense of encounters shown here where the psychotic family is shown to attack and kill off the intruding psychopaths one-by-one in a frenzied final half that's non-stop carnage, this twist provides a lot to like. While it's painfully obvious that there's something off from the start about them, that doesn't stop the chases and means through which they all battle each other to a wild and unexpected finish that provides the goods in terms of shocking reveals and low-budget gore. However, there are still some issues to be had here. The main factor is the films' inherent cheapness which is painfully obvious from the very beginning with the general look of the film giving away its low-budget origins. Granted, some of that is through no fault of the film itself considering the production process it went through but that's still an issue to overcome for some considering the amount of crazy kills on display, the single-location setup, and the production that makes it incredibly difficult to make out night-time shots because of the darkness obscuring everything. The other factor here is that the over-the-top finale, with several strange twists and unexpected reveals that don't connect to what's going on in the rest of the film, which all hold this one down.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
For the most part, this one was quite a charming low-budget effort. One of the better features here is the films' rather enjoyable setup that serves as a solid twist to the home invasion genre. With the early part of the film featuring the concurrent build-ups of the gang going on their rampage either through the encounter at the bar or the video-store hold-up as well as getting to see the family's life on the farm, there's a fun sense of who the characters are and the quirkiness to each group that's highly enjoyable. Once the criminals are forced on the run and encountering the daughter which brings them all together at the fateful farmhouse, everything comes together in fine form with the way they overtake the house and start to impose their way on the family all works nicely to the films' benefit. When this one turns around and flips everything around into the psycho family letting their secret loose on the criminals, there's a demented sense of fun to the way everything turns on its head. The full reveal of everything about them, from the way they all act and behave to the rather brutal sense of encounters shown here where the psychotic family is shown to attack and kill off the intruding psychopaths one-by-one in a frenzied final half that's non-stop carnage, this twist provides a lot to like. While it's painfully obvious that there's something off from the start about them, that doesn't stop the chases and means through which they all battle each other to a wild and unexpected finish that provides the goods in terms of shocking reveals and low-budget gore. However, there are still some issues to be had here. The main factor is the films' inherent cheapness which is painfully obvious from the very beginning with the general look of the film giving away its low-budget origins. Granted, some of that is through no fault of the film itself considering the production process it went through but that's still an issue to overcome for some considering the amount of crazy kills on display, the single-location setup, and the production that makes it incredibly difficult to make out night-time shots because of the darkness obscuring everything. The other factor here is that the over-the-top finale, with several strange twists and unexpected reveals that don't connect to what's going on in the rest of the film, which all hold this one down.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.
GREAT TRASH CINEMA
MADMANMARZ21 August 1999
Warning: Spoilers
From start to finish D.Dohler (Night Beast) delivers the goods in Blood Massacre. A group of 4 thugs (ncluding Rizzo a total psychopath)invade a family home. The family turns out to be a bunch of Cannibals. The nice old Mom and Pa slash up a local cop. They decapitate and slash the robbers , and severely mutilate Rizzo. The family turns out to be sick looking aliens too!!! A wacky film. I liked Dohler's NIGHT BEAST but i Love BLOOD MASSACRE. Note in the video store scene that someone is looking at the video tape box of NIGHT BEAST. Nice touch there !! Love this cheap silly gore film !!
Pure Don Dohler magic
Sandcooler14 May 2019
First of all, what an amazing title. B-movie titles never really get subtle, but Don Dohler is playing in a whole different ballpark here. A blood massacre, that's the best kind there is!
Don Dohler is mainly known for making the same movie over and over again: an alien lands on Earth (usually a forest, as it is free to shoot there), gets into all kinds of PG-rated havoc, rednecks fire guns, the end. That synopsis fits "Alien Factor", "Nightbeast", "Galaxy Invader" and uhm... "Alien Factor 2". "Blood Massacre" however, is something completely different you don't exactly associate with Dohler. It's an ultra-violent horror movie where most of the cast members die horrible, gory deaths.
The plot is almost non-existent. A group of violent criminals (led by Dohler regular George Stover)goes from town to town robbing and occasionally murdering people. With the police (well, one inspector) hot on their trail they lay low in a farmhouse, but it's a horror movie so naturally the nice, friendly family inside turns out to be cannibals.
As limited a filmmaker as Don Dohler was, I've got to say this is one of his best movies. The suspense is actually build up pretty well, with the old farmhouse gradually revealing its secrets. It helps that Robin London (who, sure enough, only has one credit) gives a genuinely creepy performance as the family's insane daughter. Her bizarre sex scene with Stover is the highlight or the low point of this movie, I haven't decided yet. The minute you see her smirk at the main characters, you know they're in a heap of trouble.
The final act is obviously a battle between both groups, like "The Hills Have Eyes" with a budget of three dollars. Sadly, it's almost impossible to follow. For most of it the screen is almost completely dark, so you really have to squint to figure out which character you're looking at and whether or not they're being killed. The editing is also very confusing, most of the time you don't know when or where the action is supposedly happening. I do really like the random ending though, which borrows more than a few things from "Evil Dead".
Don Dohler wasn't very happy with this movie, which was released four years after shooting had wrapped up. He had to reshoot a lot of stuff at the distributors' request, which made him quit film-making altogether for nearly a decade. With that said, I really have a sweet spot for this movie in all it's micro-budget glory. It's a charming mom&pop-style slasher, just don't expect anything more than that.
Don Dohler is mainly known for making the same movie over and over again: an alien lands on Earth (usually a forest, as it is free to shoot there), gets into all kinds of PG-rated havoc, rednecks fire guns, the end. That synopsis fits "Alien Factor", "Nightbeast", "Galaxy Invader" and uhm... "Alien Factor 2". "Blood Massacre" however, is something completely different you don't exactly associate with Dohler. It's an ultra-violent horror movie where most of the cast members die horrible, gory deaths.
The plot is almost non-existent. A group of violent criminals (led by Dohler regular George Stover)goes from town to town robbing and occasionally murdering people. With the police (well, one inspector) hot on their trail they lay low in a farmhouse, but it's a horror movie so naturally the nice, friendly family inside turns out to be cannibals.
As limited a filmmaker as Don Dohler was, I've got to say this is one of his best movies. The suspense is actually build up pretty well, with the old farmhouse gradually revealing its secrets. It helps that Robin London (who, sure enough, only has one credit) gives a genuinely creepy performance as the family's insane daughter. Her bizarre sex scene with Stover is the highlight or the low point of this movie, I haven't decided yet. The minute you see her smirk at the main characters, you know they're in a heap of trouble.
The final act is obviously a battle between both groups, like "The Hills Have Eyes" with a budget of three dollars. Sadly, it's almost impossible to follow. For most of it the screen is almost completely dark, so you really have to squint to figure out which character you're looking at and whether or not they're being killed. The editing is also very confusing, most of the time you don't know when or where the action is supposedly happening. I do really like the random ending though, which borrows more than a few things from "Evil Dead".
Don Dohler wasn't very happy with this movie, which was released four years after shooting had wrapped up. He had to reshoot a lot of stuff at the distributors' request, which made him quit film-making altogether for nearly a decade. With that said, I really have a sweet spot for this movie in all it's micro-budget glory. It's a charming mom&pop-style slasher, just don't expect anything more than that.
Almost worth watching just for its baffling twist ending.
Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki30 October 2017
This long shelved ( filmed sometime in the mid 1980s ) shot-on-video horror begins with Cinemagic Visual Effects logo staying on screen seemingly endlessly, while mashing down random keys on a low quality synthesiser, before crummy 80s music from no-name bar band. Everything in this opening scene in the bar is filmed in close-up, and with a fog machine being used to simulate smoky atmosphere, making it difficult to follow what is going on, or to notice the cash register, which is seemingly left over from an old western from the 1940s. Lead guy then orders " Beer ". Not, for example, a Heineken ( my preference ) , he just orders a beer. I love it when a movie does this, as though there is only one single type of beer on Earth.
" 🍺 "
After drinking his * beer * , bar guy kills people, later meets up with a trio of thugs, they debate what to do next. " I don't give a f***, let's just do something! ". Indeed.
So, they rob a video store! While wearing their Kim Carnes '81 Tour shirts, with a Freddy Krueger standee watching, these morons rob a mom and pop video store, and kill one person in the process. The entire robbery sequence is silent, with more terrible, almost comical, music dubbed in.
Later, a witness by the name of Captain Obvious tells police, the killers are " gonna hurt somebody! " , after they've already committed murder.
The Last House On The Left plot elements kick in, as the quartet of killers hold up in farmhouse with a family held hostage, but the hostages turn out to be cannibalistic killers, more dangerous than the original quartet of killers, and the family hunts them down and kills them one by one, in slightly gory fashion.
Film then switches gears, and becomes a wilderness survival horror in final fifteen minutes, as the original killer bar guy is the only survivor, ( making the presence of the other three villain characters completely pointless ) and he must fight for his life in the woods, against this cannibal family.
This film then features one of the most baffling, " What the f***? " plot twists I've ever seen, as the cannibal family peels their flesh off, to reveal not only are they cannibalistic killers, but also unkillable skeletal aliens!
* speechless *
" 🍺 "
After drinking his * beer * , bar guy kills people, later meets up with a trio of thugs, they debate what to do next. " I don't give a f***, let's just do something! ". Indeed.
So, they rob a video store! While wearing their Kim Carnes '81 Tour shirts, with a Freddy Krueger standee watching, these morons rob a mom and pop video store, and kill one person in the process. The entire robbery sequence is silent, with more terrible, almost comical, music dubbed in.
Later, a witness by the name of Captain Obvious tells police, the killers are " gonna hurt somebody! " , after they've already committed murder.
The Last House On The Left plot elements kick in, as the quartet of killers hold up in farmhouse with a family held hostage, but the hostages turn out to be cannibalistic killers, more dangerous than the original quartet of killers, and the family hunts them down and kills them one by one, in slightly gory fashion.
Film then switches gears, and becomes a wilderness survival horror in final fifteen minutes, as the original killer bar guy is the only survivor, ( making the presence of the other three villain characters completely pointless ) and he must fight for his life in the woods, against this cannibal family.
This film then features one of the most baffling, " What the f***? " plot twists I've ever seen, as the cannibal family peels their flesh off, to reveal not only are they cannibalistic killers, but also unkillable skeletal aliens!
* speechless *
More great Don Dohler madness.
b_kite30 November 2019
Decent Slasher
Michael_Elliott24 October 2017
Blood Massacre (1991)
** (out of 4)
Four punks rob a video store (hey kids, remember them?) and kill the owner's daughter. They decide to hide out in a farm house but they don't realize these farmers are actually blood thirsty cannibals.
Director Don Dohler made some interesting science fiction films in his career. He's certainly a rather interesting director but this film here is completely different than his earlier ones. What is most interesting about this film is the various production issues, which you can read about on various sites. There were basically two different movies shot, one sold illegally and then the director released what he had on his own.
As far as the film itself goes, there are elements of both THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT as well as THE Texas CHAIN SAW MACCARE. The director was obviously trying to cash in on the success of the slasher boom but by 1991 the boom was already dead so this was being released to a rather empty market. The film does have a few memorable moments that keep it from being a total waste but at the same time there's just nothing here original enough or fresh enough to hold the viewers interest.
I will say that I enjoyed the setting of the picture and the low- budget nature actually worked well with the story itself. Another plus is that there was a good finale with some nice gore but there's no question that the film needed more of it. The criminals were all rather annoying but the cannibal family were slightly interesting. As you can see, the film has some good but some bad as well and in the end it's a decent watch but that's about it.
** (out of 4)
Four punks rob a video store (hey kids, remember them?) and kill the owner's daughter. They decide to hide out in a farm house but they don't realize these farmers are actually blood thirsty cannibals.
Director Don Dohler made some interesting science fiction films in his career. He's certainly a rather interesting director but this film here is completely different than his earlier ones. What is most interesting about this film is the various production issues, which you can read about on various sites. There were basically two different movies shot, one sold illegally and then the director released what he had on his own.
As far as the film itself goes, there are elements of both THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT as well as THE Texas CHAIN SAW MACCARE. The director was obviously trying to cash in on the success of the slasher boom but by 1991 the boom was already dead so this was being released to a rather empty market. The film does have a few memorable moments that keep it from being a total waste but at the same time there's just nothing here original enough or fresh enough to hold the viewers interest.
I will say that I enjoyed the setting of the picture and the low- budget nature actually worked well with the story itself. Another plus is that there was a good finale with some nice gore but there's no question that the film needed more of it. The criminals were all rather annoying but the cannibal family were slightly interesting. As you can see, the film has some good but some bad as well and in the end it's a decent watch but that's about it.
Blood Massacre (1987)
jonahstewartvaughan13 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Son of Shocktober 1. Blood Massacre (1987)
(8/10): Honestly, for a low budget affair, this one was quite enjoyable.
Courtesy of DIY Filmmaker Don Dohler, who I believe has had one or two of his films appear on Mystery Science Theatre, yeah he's made movies that bad, but regardless he has made some that are quite entertaining despite their lack of quality, and this one is my favourite of his so far.
Blood Massacre is a neat little low budge horror film that has a gang on the run after robbing a video store and one of the party members might not be as mentally stable as he appears to be.
After picking up a hitchhiking girl and having her take them back to her house while they recoup from their robbery an unexpected turn of events happens that results in many bodies piling up.
So this one threw me through a bit of a loop and in order to say why I need to dive into SPOILER territory.
It starts off simply enough a kidnapping that turns into a home invasion film but then it's revealed that they aren't actually the ones holding the family hostage but the family is holding them hostage as they are a bunch of deranged killers who have an ongoing open room rental in the house to lure in unsuspecting victims. After having killed them they eat them and then this is where it gets even more interesting, so we started with a kidnapping, then home invasion, then a reversal of the home invasion, then a cannibal element thrown in and now after the single remaining robber is left running through the woods and the family is presumed dead we get pov shots of something moving through the woods and the family comes back to life and it ends on essentially being a evil dead ripoff.
You got all that? Cause I don't know about you but that sounds so crazy that I just can't help but adore it.
When it comes to everything else, it's effects are decent enough, sometimes even pretty good for low budget. The acting is not good but if you really want good acting you're not gonna find it in low budget straight to video horror, I mean you can but it's not necessarily a priority to have.
The music choices were also very interesting, some a bit off kilter but the upbeat tone of some of the music does tonally solidify that it's going for cheesy and tongue in cheek dark humour.
Overall it's a pretty fun flick and for people who like low budget, it's an easy recommendation.
(8/10): Honestly, for a low budget affair, this one was quite enjoyable.
Courtesy of DIY Filmmaker Don Dohler, who I believe has had one or two of his films appear on Mystery Science Theatre, yeah he's made movies that bad, but regardless he has made some that are quite entertaining despite their lack of quality, and this one is my favourite of his so far.
Blood Massacre is a neat little low budge horror film that has a gang on the run after robbing a video store and one of the party members might not be as mentally stable as he appears to be.
After picking up a hitchhiking girl and having her take them back to her house while they recoup from their robbery an unexpected turn of events happens that results in many bodies piling up.
So this one threw me through a bit of a loop and in order to say why I need to dive into SPOILER territory.
It starts off simply enough a kidnapping that turns into a home invasion film but then it's revealed that they aren't actually the ones holding the family hostage but the family is holding them hostage as they are a bunch of deranged killers who have an ongoing open room rental in the house to lure in unsuspecting victims. After having killed them they eat them and then this is where it gets even more interesting, so we started with a kidnapping, then home invasion, then a reversal of the home invasion, then a cannibal element thrown in and now after the single remaining robber is left running through the woods and the family is presumed dead we get pov shots of something moving through the woods and the family comes back to life and it ends on essentially being a evil dead ripoff.
You got all that? Cause I don't know about you but that sounds so crazy that I just can't help but adore it.
When it comes to everything else, it's effects are decent enough, sometimes even pretty good for low budget. The acting is not good but if you really want good acting you're not gonna find it in low budget straight to video horror, I mean you can but it's not necessarily a priority to have.
The music choices were also very interesting, some a bit off kilter but the upbeat tone of some of the music does tonally solidify that it's going for cheesy and tongue in cheek dark humour.
Overall it's a pretty fun flick and for people who like low budget, it's an easy recommendation.
'Dohler's maniacal 'Blood Massacre' kicks you in the liver like a triple shot of Lysol!'
Weirdling_Wolf29 January 2021
Don by name, 'the Don' by nature, maverick-minded, luridly inventive, low budget horror impresario, Don Dohler, truly is the Grindhouse gift that just keeps on giving, and I have a powerful yen to express my boundless joy at experiencing his gruesome, George Stover-starring, wickedly gnarly sounding home invasion insanity, 'Blood Massacre' (1991), and such a tantalizingly blunt title could only mean one thing, the entirely welcome reality of yet another gob-smackingly gory instalment of deep backwoods-weirdness that only the diabolical dean of B-Movie delirium, Don Dohler can deliver!
Murderously misanthropic, foul-mouthed ex-Vietnam vet and full-time creep-master, Rizzo (George Stover) is the most vociferously distempered member of a disorganized, douchey crew of ghetto-grungy, unsophisticated freebooters whose last impromptu violent Video Store heist yielded little more gain than the tenacious, wholly unwanted attentions of Detective McGuire (Herb Otter Jr.) and a sudden desperate need for immediate sanctuary!
The far from fortuitous theft of a car, and subsequently bad mojo-inducing kidnapping of a young woman, lickety split leads this querulous, terminally trash-mouthing mob to her remote family home where fulminating tensions within the dismally dysfunctional gang are merely the foul-mouthed prelude to a cannibal-crazed, blissfully bad taste Blood Massacre! Huzzah!!! Even if venerated celluloid shock troopers Wes Craven, John Waters and Andy Milligan had combined their not inconsiderable horror-making idiosyncrasies they still might not have reached the exultant WTF apogee of low budget maestro Don Dohler's cheap-jack, adrenaline-jacked backwoods' skeezoid slasher classic, 'Blood Massacre'.
'Blood Massacre' is another hen's teeth elusive example wherein the conspicuous lack of funds, and rushed, expeditious 'look' of a 'seat-of-the pants approach' to gonzo filmmaking adds a fabulously frantic verisimilitude to the macabre Helter Skelter insanity of maestro, Don Dohler's idiosyncratic insanity, dude!!!
Murderously misanthropic, foul-mouthed ex-Vietnam vet and full-time creep-master, Rizzo (George Stover) is the most vociferously distempered member of a disorganized, douchey crew of ghetto-grungy, unsophisticated freebooters whose last impromptu violent Video Store heist yielded little more gain than the tenacious, wholly unwanted attentions of Detective McGuire (Herb Otter Jr.) and a sudden desperate need for immediate sanctuary!
The far from fortuitous theft of a car, and subsequently bad mojo-inducing kidnapping of a young woman, lickety split leads this querulous, terminally trash-mouthing mob to her remote family home where fulminating tensions within the dismally dysfunctional gang are merely the foul-mouthed prelude to a cannibal-crazed, blissfully bad taste Blood Massacre! Huzzah!!! Even if venerated celluloid shock troopers Wes Craven, John Waters and Andy Milligan had combined their not inconsiderable horror-making idiosyncrasies they still might not have reached the exultant WTF apogee of low budget maestro Don Dohler's cheap-jack, adrenaline-jacked backwoods' skeezoid slasher classic, 'Blood Massacre'.
'Blood Massacre' is another hen's teeth elusive example wherein the conspicuous lack of funds, and rushed, expeditious 'look' of a 'seat-of-the pants approach' to gonzo filmmaking adds a fabulously frantic verisimilitude to the macabre Helter Skelter insanity of maestro, Don Dohler's idiosyncratic insanity, dude!!!
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