I Drink Your Blood (1970)

Dir: David Durston

Enduring trash classic that anyone interested in exploitation/horror really should consider an essential part of their collection. A nude hippie called Horace Bones proclaims that "Satan is an acidhead" in the first thirty seconds of the movie and it's all downhill from there. Bones and his Manson-esque family of Devil-lovin' misfits roll into a nondescript small town and proceed to assault a local girl and her granddad, even going as far as to dope the old dude up with LSD. As revenge for this, the girl's kid brother injects the hippies' meat pies with rabies which, when coupled with all the acid in their bloodstream, has "unthinkable consequences". These involve foaming at the mouth, nymphomania, a desire to shout "arrrr!" like a pirate and to dismember everybody in sight. Dragging dead goats along the street is also a side-effect. Needless to say, half the town soon gets infected with the virus and all Hell really breaks loose. The production values are low (take a swig when you see a boom in the shot) but this is more than compensated for by some trippy-ass dialogue, enthusiastic performances, gore galore and a sick, imaginative audacity that places the film somewhere between absurd and strangely rather gripping. Either way, this is Grade "A" entertainment on a Grade "Z" budget and highly recommended. Lynn Lowry cameos as a cute mute who wields a mean electric carving knife, just to make this all even better. What are you waiting for? ***1/2