Psychotronic Movie of the Week: I Drink Your Blood (1970)

"Let it be known sons and daughters, that Satan was an acid head. Drink from his cup. pledge yourselves, and together we'll all freak out."

One of the most infamous psychotronic films of all time, I Drink Your Blood is one of those rare gems that just delivers and delivers and delivers, from the very first frame right up until the very last. There's just so much going on in this Satanic cult, post-Manson hippie gore exploitation movie that it would take an essay to fill you in on everything which awaits you. But I'm posting this for those who haven't seen it yet, I don't want to ruin one moment of it, so I'll resist the temptation to list all of the inanity that's packed into these 83 batshit crazy minutes. 

There's really nothing else quite like it. It was released by Jerry Gross' Cinemation Industries and paired up with I Eat Your Skin, an obscure 1964 voodoo zombie film, for the double feature circuit. The result was an ad campaign for the ages. 

There are some stellar performances here, most notably from Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, who plays Horace Bones, the leader of the cult, Jadin Wong as Sue-Lin, and George Patterson as Rollo. Lynn Lowry (The Crazies, Shivers, Score) says nothing but looks beautiful throughout in her film debut. It's really well made, written and directed by David Dunston, who had a brief and otherwise nondescript career in the movies, but what he gave us here is something very special, one of a handful of the greatest psychotronic/grindhouse/drive-in movies of all-time. 

A definitive special edition DVD of I Drink Your Blood was issued by Grindhouse Releasing in the early 2000s which is now out of print, grab it if you can. Until then, dig this DVD rip which is currently residing on YouTube. 

 

Esquerita Awareness Month: Little Richard - "Dew Drop Inn"

Little Richard - "Dew Drop Inn"

     Today's tune, released in Spring 1970 by Little Richard and co-written by "Esqrita," was the first single off of The Rill Thing, his first new album in three years and was the flip side of "Freedom Blues", also co-written by Mr. Reeder, . It was Richard's biggest hit in the post-Specialty era, charting in Billboard at #47, and in Cashbox at #62, which I suppose makes it the best-selling disk that Esquerita was ever involved in.

     While the song is a tribute to the famous New Orleans night spot (located at 2836 LaSalle Street), it also serves as something of a eulogy, since it was at about this same point that the club breathed it's last gasp.  Jeff Hannusch has a good article about it's history at the Iko Iko website that I recommend.

     Esquerita's own version of this tune was recorded in the '60s. but not released until 1991 by the good folks at Norton Records. It can be had either as a 7'' or as a bonus on the CD version of Vintage Voola. Maybe you should just get both, to be safe!

Little Richard - "Dew Drop Inn"