I Drink Your Blood DVD Review:

Just thinking about I Drink Your blood sends an uncontrollable gag reflex through my body, and I have no doubt that this was the exact reaction writer/director David Durston was hoping for when he set out to outdo George Romero with this extreme gore soaked horror film. Released in 1971, during a time of drug craze and paranoia, I Drink Your Blood releases a nonstop onslaught of horrific images that will either completely disgust audience members, or cause them to stand up and cheer.

When a group of LSD-addicted Satanists begin to wreak havoc in a nearly abandoned town, there is nobody there to stop them. After his sister is attacked and his grandfather drugged, a young boy seeks revenge in his own way by putting blood from a rabid dog in meat pies and feeding them to the group. What the boy doesn’t realize is that the rabies mixed with the LSD turns the group into a bloodthirsty gang of killers. Soon they are running wild through the streets, killing each other and anyone else in their way with an assortment of bloody weapons, mainly machetes. Because they have rabies, they also manage to contaminate a group of construction workers as well, until there are only a few normal people remaining.

Very similar to Night of the Living Dead as far as plot goes, but a completely different film as far as style is concerned, I Drink Your Blood is disturbingly entertaining for those who are prepared. While I will always remain faithful to Romero’s more simplistic film, I can appreciate what Durston was attempting with this horrific tale. I Drink Your Blood was one of the first films to be rated X for violence when it was released in 1971, and although there have been far more graphic films made since then, few have done so with such blatant disregard for the audience’s sensitivity.

Now released with the director’s cut of the film, it has been restored to be seen as it was originally intended. Many cuts of the film were so bad that the film hardly made sense, but fans will be pleased to know that it is finally all available, with plenty of extras to enjoy as well.

The new digital restoration looks and sounds rather good considering when the film was made and its limited budget. While the special effects are bound to make today’s more sophisticated audience laugh, this seems to be one of the purposes of the film anyways. Special features include four deleted scenes, one of which is an alternate ending which was removed due to the graphic nature, interviews with cast members and the director, photo galleries, and audio commentary by Durston and star Bhaskar. The special features are given the treatment that many films deserve but don’t receive in larger companies which release a great deal more titles each month.



Ryan Izay