Blood Song (1982)

Sadly Over-hyped

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Got this in a double feature movie pack the other being "Mausoleum". I am surprised to see this one has the higher score of the two movies as I thought that one was more entertaining though not necessarily a good movie in its own right. This movie starts out showing a boy who witnesses his father killing his mom and her lover and then himself. Well this kind of makes him mental and suffice to say he will grow up to be our killer. They do not really try to hide who he is during the movie as you see him fairly early in the picture. Well a girl with a bad leg sees visions of him doing his killings and he soon goes after her after she witnesses him disposing of one of his victims. There are a couple of good kills in this one, but for the most part the film is rather slow and a lot of times there is not a lot going on. The film will focus on the girl and her relationships with her father and her boyfriend then cut to a scene from time to time of the mental dude killing someone. Then after she sees him face to face the film is just him stalking her before finally going after her in a very prolonged scene. Just not all that entertaining. The psychic link she shares with the killer almost seems pointless after the initial scenes of her seeing visions of his killing and really added no new dimension to the film other than she should have been a bit more ready for him than she was. So all in all have to say this song had no rhythm and runs way to long at the end. I kept thinking to myself near the end "Shouldn't this be over?"

Frankie Avalon is a psycho with a weird connection to a teenage girl in a leg brace. Well made psycho on the loose film is a cut above many other films of a similar type in the production and acting departments. Its clear why Avalon took the role since it allowed him to be more that the fun guy that Annette hung out with. He's a mean and ugly guy here. He's so good it might change your opinion of him. If there is a problem with the film its that it plays out like any number of other films that were made before and since. Granted its much more watchable than any of the other films in the genre, but at the same time it has a much too familiar feel to truly stand out as a great film. The best that I can say its one of the best of a rather weak collection of films, which unfortunately sells this film shorter than I should. Actually if you want to see a good psycho on the loose film see this one.

Donna Wilkes (Jaws 2) stars as Marion, a partially crippled teenage girl who is psychically gifted. Marion begins having visions of a demented man (50s teen idol, Frankie Avalon) randomly murdering people. She also hears him play the flute when no one else does. She soon encounters him in a park burying one of his latest victims. He catches her watching him and a stalk and chase scenario soon ensues as she becomes his next target.Personally, I don't really consider this a slasher. It's more of a Suspense/Thriller. There are maybe four or five deaths, very little gore, and some very brief nudity. Most of the film is padded out to feature Marion's dysfunctional relationship with her abusive alcoholic father and her supportive, but neurotic mother. Her father is probably the biggest jerk I've ever seen in a slasher film. Thankfully, he gets his just desserts.Frankie Avalon was surprisingly dead on with his performance as the psychotic killer who witnessed his father kill his mother and her lover in cold blood as a child. There are a few scenes when watching was truly disturbing. Bravo, Mr. Avalon! The rest of the characters were too underdeveloped to really care about. Marion was nothing but a whiny brat, but it's understandable considering what her father puts her through. Still, I was rooting for Frankie to kill her. The ending was ludicrous and frustrating to watch.Overall, BLOOD SONG a.k.a. DREAM SLAYER (the version I own) is a decent enough suspense/thriller, but it doesn't really work well as a slasher flick. If you are a devoted horror fan, then give it a watch, if only for curiosity's sake.

Yay! Another totally obscure early 80's slasher no one has ever heard of! I often wonder where they keep coming from. Are the 80's still going on in some kind of alternate dimension or something? How else would you explain the never-ending upstream of long lost slashers? Anyway, this one isn't very good, but I can honestly state that I've struggled myself through 80's slashers that are much worse and yet somehow enjoy a mild cult reputation. "Blood Song" only enjoys the status of obscurity, but at least it offers a couple of ingenious gimmicks, an occasionally unsettling atmosphere, some nasty killings, a handful of likable characters and – not to forget – a unique member in the cast of nobodies! Ladies and gentlemen: washed up 50's and early 60's crooner Frankie Avalon! And in all fairness, I also have to admit that the script of "Blood Song" attempts to be slightly more than just a random slasher. The plot tries to spiritually link the female protagonist Marion to a fugitive killer through a blood transfusion, nightmarish POV visions and … flute music! "Blood Song" opens with a typically clichéd horror scene, yet with an unexpected twist at the end of it. A young boy witnesses his father killing the unfaithful wife, her lover and himself. What's a poor kid to do at such a traumatizing and future-determining point in life? Well, play the wooden flute his daddy hand-made for him of course! More than 20 years later he escapes from a mental asylum, still holding on to his wooden flute, and goes on a rampage where he kills everyone who negatively criticizes the music he produces. Meanwhile, Marion witnesses all of his vile acts in visions because the killer once anonymously donated blood to her when she was involved in a car accident. A confrontation between the two is inevitable, but not before the musical killer eliminates some more random victims first! Like often the case in this genre, "Blood Song" is a lot more enjoyable if you don't ask too many questions regarding the plot's plausibility and don't bother about the multiple giant holes. All the ingenious aspects of the plot sadly vanish when the girl and the killer first stand face to face and "Blood Song" then reverts to an ordinary stalk-n-slash flick, albeit with an odd father-daughter relationship sub plot. Frankie Avalon isn't too bad, but he hasn't got many lines and what he says doesn't always make much sense. Funny detail is how the script never explains why they sent little Pauly to a mental institution in the first place. Okay, he witnessed a triple murder and suicide but he didn't commit any acts of insanity at young age himself, at least nothing hints in that direction. Since when is it customary to send traumatized kids to an asylum instead of to foster parents or orphanages? Because now it seems that he only really lost his sanity whilst being committed. A-ah, (unintentional?) food for thought in a mediocre & insignificant 80's horror movie!