Bloodlust! (1961)

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Blistering performances.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Two tourist couples decide to take a trip away from the usual route to a lonely island. They soon find that a mysterious doctor lives there who hunts people for his pleasure. During the war, he explains, he was assigned to duty as a sniper for his steady hand. „What had been an unpleasant duty became a pleasure. Then it developed into a passion, and then into a lust for blood", he openly confesses. He assures his visitors that he has room for more trophies, and soon they are in the dark jungle, prey for the lunatic hunter with a crossbow...Yes, this story is obviously ripped off completely from the classic 'The Most Dangerous Game'. This simple b/w movie is a crude imitation, but nothing more; a forgettable remake attempt you can skip without missing anything.

Two teen couples get stranded on an island presided over by a guy with strange hunting habits.Decent drive-in version of the Most Dangerous Game (1932). Comparing the two, however, is like comparing Pepsi with blended whiskey. This flick was intended for the teen crowd, so judging it by elevated standards is unfair. Instead, it should be compared with its drive-in peers. After all, who goes to see a film titled Bloodlust besides teens of the time. By those lesser standards, it's not bad. I like the nerdy couple (Lora and Persson), a twosome I can identify with. Set decoration too is pretty good at creating atmosphere, while Graff makes an imperiously dislikable villain. What strikes me, however, is hunky Johnny's (Reed) skintight sweater. Usually in these epics, it's the girl who flaunts her body in revealing ways. Not here, instead Betty (Kenny) stays demurely dressed the whole time. Too bad. Anyway, fans expecting a laughably bad movie may be disappointed, because, the results manage a fairly effective drive-in gore-fest.

Yes, the comparison to both "The Most Dangerous Game" and "Island of Lost Souls" (later two "Dr. Moreau" movies) are obvious from the get-go, and the presence of Robert Reed will also create curiosity. But other than that, there's nothing to recommend about this cheaply filmed horror movie where the quality is so low that anything possibly scary about it ends up being lost. Bad photography and sound, poor acting by most and most obviously an insipid screenplay make this one of the most forgettable of low-grade horror films all over the country through drive-ins and underground showings. There are some classics among this genre, but sadly this isn't one of them.Robert Reed does add a touch of class, and it is apparent that as much as he probably hated being in it (being a stage trained actor), he still took it as seriously as he would later do with the squeaky clean Mike Brady. Wilton Graff is the campy villain who resembles assumptive portraits of Lucifer and eats his role up as if he was trying to out-do all of those Tod Slaughter British horror classics of the 30's and any of Bela Lugosi's later works. You half expect him to quote Lugosi from "Bride of the Monster". That would be an improvement over the dialog he is forced to recite.

Bloodlust! (1961) * 1/2 (out of 4) Yet another take off on The Most Dangerous Game but here's a case where you should stick with the original. Four friends go to what they think is a deserted island to have some fun but they are taken hostage by a deranged hunter (Wilton Graff) who plans on stalking them as prey. It's strange but I find the source material to be one of the greatest stories out there and I think it would be very hard to not be able to make a good film out of it. However, that's exactly what's done here as the screenwriter obviously sucked every bit of life out of the story and left us with a dull mess of a film. The most interesting aspect of the story is the hunt between the two sides but that's not the case here as the hunt doesn't happen until the film is pretty much over and even then that so called hunt doesn't go anywhere. It also doesn't help matters that one never fears for any of the main characters as they aren't ever put into any real danger. Graff doesn't make for the best bad guy but while watching the film I couldn't help but wonder what Vincent Price would have been like in the role. Robert Reed from The Brady Bunch plays the main guy and is okay in the film but the rest of the teens are just boring.