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Blood Sabbath (1972)


October 3rd saw the return of "What Movie Wednesday."  I offered up three movies choices, and people voted on which one I would watch, tweet along to, and ultimately review.  The people voted for a movie, whose title sounded interesting and potentially grue filled...

They voted for "Blood Bath"

Having returned home from serving in Vietnam, David seeks to live quietly in the mountains of Mexico- only to have his life turned upside down by the appearance of a beautiful water nymph.  David soon finds himself involved in events that will cost him his soul...

It's not often that I find a movie that, quite frankly, makes me want to nap until the end.  I don't mind movies with a slow pace so long as there is some excitement spread throughout it.  "Blood Sabbath" lacked that excitement, and much more.

The story is a little ridiculous, and put together incoherently.  It really doesn't make much sense- probably because it isn't even really all that well developed while it's being told. From the start to the end, it kinda just mumbles and rambles along as if just putting out random images.  There wasn't much in the way of tension or suspense or chills in this movie either.  Alotta, the witch queen hints at a bargain between her and the Padre, but that hint isn't developed further.  Neither is Alotta's relationship with Lonzo, nor is the relationship between Yyalah and Lonzo.  There was so much that could've been used as material to create an interesting, engaging story... but tossed to the side as if it was irrelevant.

The characters were dull and uninteresting.  David- played by Anthony Geary was weak, and passive, and lifeless.  Lonzo- the hermit, played by Sam Gilman wasn't bad- but wasn't great.  Of the characters, he was the most interesting... which isn't really saying much, to be honest.  The water nymph, Yyalah (Susan Damante in a truly horrible wig) was rather one dimensional as a character and didn't have any REAL importance in the story. I did find the Padre as portrayed by Steve Gravers to be interesting as well- almost as interesting as Lonzo, actually... but felt his character was simply introduced to be fodder to the villians.  Once again, he didn't really have any significant impact on the story.  I'm torn by Alotta- the witch queen played by Dyanne Thorne.  The character could've been interesting, but wound up being a bit of a emotional stereotype of what an evil witch is.  The characters were mostly victims of an underdeveloped story.

Of the acting, it was apparently the most of the women weren't hired for their acting skills.  Thorne, and the other witches spent most of their screen time topless, or fully naked- though I'll admit that Thorne's dancing scene wasn't too bad.  Geary must've taken lessons from Charlton Heston or William Shatner due to his rather exaggerated acting in the role of David.  Damante was beautiful as the water nymph- but needed to lose the really ugly wig they had her wear.  Seriously- it rivals Donald Trump's hair at times.  I felt that Gilman's acting in the role of Lonzo wasn't too bad- by far the best of the lot.  Gravers came in a close second in quality as the Padre.

The less said about the camera work, the better, really.  It wasn't all that creative, or moody, or skillful.  Just bland and blah.

The biggest problem has to do with the grue.  If a movie has "blood" in the title, I'm going to expect some decent bloodshed.  "Blood Sabbath" is a big cheat on the blood.  There's some blood in a couple of flashbacks, and some trickling into a cup after a sacrifice's throat is slit... but that's about it.  There's a beheading, but you DON'T SEE IT HAPPEN!  They cut right before it.  And when they show the head, it doesn't look much like the person it's supposed to.  Just downright disappointing in the grue department.

In the final analysis, I have no problem in giving "Blood Sabbath" a big kick into "The Ugly"

Special Shout Out:

I want to thank everyone that took part in "What Movie Wednesday"- especially the following who voted for "Blood Sabbath":

Jenny Deol
Justine's Halloween
Shawn (from "We Came From the Basement")
Zoey Emily Onyx
Count Matt
Monty Deschanel
John Chance
Simon Franken Stein

The next "What Movie Wednesday" will be October 10th!
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