Product: Blood Mania (1970)
Rating: 2.0
Does not live up to its title
Blood Mania (1970) features surprisingly little blood and not a whole lot of mania, either. The film does not even have an opening credits scene, so obviously the title's relevance to the story was not overly important to the filmmakers. There really is not a whole lot to Blood Mania, but to its credit it does manage to throw in a little surprise at the very last minute. We start with a grouchy old man confined to his bed, trading verbal shots with his daughter Victoria, with whom he seems to share a hate-hate relationship. The father's friend, colleague, and personal physician Dr. Cooper finds himself owing $50,000 to a blackmailer for some of his youthful medical indiscretions, and Victoria vows to help him and thereby win the equivalent of his up to now unrequited love. Her plan for getting the money involves claiming some of her inheritance, the only snag being the fact that her father is still alive. Of course, things are never as simple as they seem, especially when prodigal daughters return home after seven years for the reading of a father's will. Basically, we have a set of characters who hold some degree of power over each other in turn, the weakest link in the chain being, of course, Victoria; she adds what little mania there is to the story, while everyone else offers up nothing more impressive than ambivalence if not outright boredom.This film retained my interest throughout, but as I said, there is really nothing special at all about anything that happens. The film looks its age, the plot is unoriginal and by and large predictable, the several nude scenes are just weird and the opposite of erotic, and there is far from enough blood here to qualify this movie for anything resembling its self-proclaimed Blood Mania status. Inconvenient Frustrations might be a more appropriate title.