Director/Producer – Hal Freeman, Screenplay – Ted Newsom, Photography – Richard Pepin, Music – Digital Arts, Visual Effects – John Goodwin. Production Company – Hollywood Family Entertainment.
Wendy MacDonald (Dr Barbara Shelley), Tony Montero (Rick), Lisa Loring (Dory), Hank Garrett (Dave Ash), John Clark (Crawford), Lisa Savage (Cassie), Monica Silveria (Jean), Chuck Rhae (Lonnie Talbot)
Psychologist Barbara Shelley takes six patients on a camping trip in an RV in the Mojave Desert so that they can participate in an encounter group. However, as they settle in, someone becomes begins killing members of the group.
Director Hal Freeman (1935-89) is known for making porn films. His output includes titles such as Caught From Behind (1982) and sequels, The Million Dollar Screw (1987), Stiff Magnolias (1990) and some fifty odd other titles. Blood Frenzy was the sole non-adult film that Freeman made.
Blood Frenzy has a fairly simple premise – a group go camping out in the Mojave Desert to hold an encounter group as someone starts killing members of the group. At times, this suggests something of The Hills Have Eyes (1977), but the film never gets that sophisticated and mostly just rehashes the essence of a Slasher Film. At least it is not populated with a line-up of teenagers.
The line-up of characters are moderately interesting. These include Tony Montero as a Vietnam Veteran with PTSD issues; Hank Garrett as an obnoxious loudmouth who fancies himself a ladies’ man; Monica Silveira as a woman who doesn’t like to be touched at all (we never find out why but she suddenly gets over it while being chased); a badly over-acting John Crawford as an alcoholic; and Lisa Savage who will sleep with most about anybody.
The most fascinating face in the cast line-up is Lisa Loring – none other than the original Wednesday in tv’s The Addams Family (1964-6). She’s now grown up, plays a tough-talking lesbian and gets semi-naked at one point. Wendy MacDonald is the psychologist whose character is named Barbara Shelley in perhaps a nod to an actress who appeared in several British horror films – Village of the Damned (1960), The Gorgon (1964), Dracula – Prince of Darkness (1966), Quatermass and the Pit (1967).
Unfortunately, there is nothing terribly interesting to Blood Frenzy. It is mildly amusing watching the tensions and dramatics between the group, but many of the performance are not that good. Hal Freeman’s pace as director is slow. The kills are unexceptional. Indeed, it is less a case of ‘Blood Frenzy’ than it is of ‘Blood Mild Irritation’. That said, the film does get itself together for a suitably deranged climactic showdown with the killer.
There are a number of interesting other names in the credits including a screenplay by Ted Newsom who wrote a number of Hal Freeman’s other adult films, along with directing Evil Spawn (1987), The Alien Within (1990) and quite a number of horror and Hollywood documentaries, including Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994). Cinematographer Richard Pepin later went on to become the director of a series of B-budgeted sf/action hybrids during the 1990s with the likes of CyberTracker (1994), Hologram Man (1995) and The Silencers (1996), among others.
Full film available here