Blood Bath (1966)

This is one of those movies that's been made up of about four totally different productions. Blame Roger Corman. The initial movie, directed by exploitation king Jack Hill, involves a possessed painter whose "red dead nudes" have become critical masterpieces; of course, it transpires that he's under the influence of an evil spirit, and that he murders the women who pose as his subjects. This part of the movie is a bit like the gore flick COLOR ME BLOOD RED and would have benefited from being shot in colour so we could see all the red stuff. It's rather stodgy and dull, lacking in inspiration, aside from the genuinely chilling climax that sees the mutilated, wax-entombed victims of the tagline returning to stage their grubby revenge on the painter.Apparently, ANOTHER film – the unfinished Operation Titian – was being shot in Yugoslavia at the same time and Francis Ford Coppola participated in its production. Anyway, Corman didn't like the result so he hired a director, Stephanie Rothman, to shoot new scenes in which the painter becomes a vampire and chases nubile women around cities and beaches. To add to the confusion, some of the original cast members return, making it harder to spot where the different scenes have been spliced together. Finally, as if this wasn't enough, Corman needed a longer film to show on television, so he added another eleven minutes of random stuff – outtakes, a woman dancing on a beach for what seems like twenty minutes or so, etc. The resulting concoction is a confused mess that will try the patience of even the most hardened B-movie fanatic.This is nothing like DEMENTIA 13, the decent Corman/Coppola movie from a few years before. It's a mess, with many boring and pointless sequences, and even the action bits, the various chases, go on too long and are devoid of interest. This is a vampire who doesn't think twice about jumping in a swimming pool to catch a victim or chasing another into the ocean! A few cast members are familiar. William Campbell, the villain, returns from DEMENTIA 13. I thought I saw Patrick Magee pop up playing the vampire, although he's not credited. One of my favourite actors, Sid Haig, does appear in some of the film's best scenes – comedy filler moments involving a gang of Beatniks trying out a new method of 'quantum' art. These scenes seem to have been left over from A BUCKET OF BLOOD and it's a delight to see Haig on screen, even if only for a few moments. Popular US actress Lori Saunders is the nominal heroine and spends most of the film prancing around in a little bikini. Even half-naked women in the cast and Sid Haig (with HAIR!) can't save this mess of a production.

I must admit I enjoyed this movie when I recently saw it on Comet. The cobblestone roads, the medieval pillars and the clock tower all gave the film a creepy atmosphere.The Beatnik painters gave a touch of comic relief to the grim topic of a vampire artist. William Campbell did a great job as the prowling murderer. The attack on the female victims were very believable and exciting. Seeing the beautiful Sanders romp on the beach in a revealing bikini was also a bonus. I was surprised there were no police on the scene to question the painters or the artist. Not one cop in sight! I was also rather baffled that the vampire only went for the neck of one victim while the others were drowned, strangled or attacked with sharp instrument.

1966's "Track of the Vampire" was first released theatrically at 62 minutes, under the title "Blood Bath," but this review will be of the full 78 minute version issued to television. William Campbell stars as Antonio Sordi, an artist lauded for his paintings of dead nudes, who believes himself to be the reincarnation of an artist ancestor burned at the stake for sorcery after being exposed by his latest model, Miliza, who believed her soul had been captured on canvas. Sordi keeps a portrait of Miliza in his studio, and cannot make love to his newest muse Dorean (Lori Saunders) because of her close resemblance to it. All the new scenes with Campbell were filmed by director Jack Hill, maintaining the name he used in "Portrait in Terror," but whenever the character becomes a blonde haired vampire sporting tiny fangs (!), a different actor was cast by new director Stephanie Rothman, resulting in sporadic chase sequences and a ballet lasting more than 3 minutes. Just over 9 (out of 81) minutes of footage from "Portrait in Terror" were used, recasting an unbilled Patrick Magee as a jealous husband (the exotic dancer now becoming his wife) who winds up covered in wax, like all of Sordi's female victims (the shared sequence between Campbell and Magee has completely new dialogue badly overdubbed). Apparently, he kills them first, paints their nude likenesses, then covers each corpse in wax. Campbell himself doesn't make his first appearance until 22 minutes in, the vampire having already worn out its welcome with a 6 1/2 minute pursuit of a young lass who ends up in the ocean minus most of her clothes, while a middleweight Tor Johnson lookalike acts as temporary lifeguard. The ending didn't make any sense, but probably made the film. Stephanie Rothman did all the vampire stuff, including the subplot featuring Sandra Knight, all of which is self contained (only a single dissolve fuses the artist and the vampire, pretty lame). Jack Hill did all the beatnik scenes, plus the bizarre climax, filming in Venice California. I'd say each director was split fairly even, sharing writing and directing credits, but never working in tandem (the uncredited Roger Corman replaced Hill with Rothman).

Hilarious trash of a movie from Jack Hill blends elements of witchcraft, vampirism, wax murders, and beatniks(?!). Sid Haig, a Jack Hill regular and guest star in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, plays a beatnik. Weird story is about an artist who lures young girls into his studio, turns into a vampire, and dunks them into hot wax, creating his new figures.My favorite parts involve interpretive dance and the origin of quantum painting. This film offers the rare opportunity for a vampire to stalk his victim in broad daylight ( probably a film flaw, and abeit a cute one ). Recommended for trash fiends.