Blood and Lace
| Blood and Lace | |
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| Directed by | Philip S. Gilbert |
| Produced by | Ed Carlin Gil Lasky Chase Mishkin (associate producer) |
| Written by | Gil Lasky |
| Starring |
Gloria Grahame Melody Patterson Milton Selzer Len Lesser Vic Tayback Dennis Christopher |
| Cinematography | Paul Hipp |
| Edited by | Marcus Tobias |
| Distributed by | American International Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $200,000 |
Blood and Lace is a 1971 American horror film directed by Philip S. Gilbert, and starring Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, Len Lesser, and Milton Selzer. The film follows an orphaned teenager (Patterson) who arrives at a remote orphanage run by a madwoman (Grahame) and her handyman, both sadists and child murderers.
Shot in Los Angeles in 1970 and released theatrically in 1971, Blood and Lace became a frequent billing on the drive-in theater circuit throughout the 1970s. At the time, it was considered to be one of the most gratuitous films to receive a GP rating. It has been cited as a "proto-slasher film."
After her prostitute mother and her john are clobbered to death with a hammer while they are asleep in bed, teenaged Ellie Masters (Melody Patterson) is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere (Gloria Grahame) and her handyman, Tom Kredge (Len Lesser). Taking an avid interest in her welfare is detective Calvin Carruthers (Vic Tayback).
Taking almost no interest at all, is social worker Harold Mullins (Milton Selzer) who is completely under Mrs. Deere's thumb. Unbeknownst to Ellie, Mrs. Deere and Tom are both brutal sadists, who run the orphanage like a concentration camp and the strong possibility that her mother's hammer-wielding killer is now stalking her. The night before Ellie's arrival, Ernest, one of the orphans, attempts to escape, but is chased into the woods by Kredge, who severes his hand and leaves him to bleed to death.
Ellie becomes acquainted with the other orphans, including Bunch (Terri Messina), a sixteen-year-old; Pete (Dennis Christopher); and Walter, whom Ellie is immediately attracted to. While exploring the orphanage, Ellie happens upon an infirmary, but is quickly escorted out. Unbeknownst to her, the bodies in the beds are actually corpses of former residents whom Mrs. Deere and Kredge keep in a freezer in the basement, and have posed in the beds when Mr. Mullins visits for a headcount; Mrs. Deere also keeps the corpse of her dead husband in the freezer, whom she removes on occasion for company.
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