INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (1972) Blu-ray
Director: Ed Adlum
Severin Films

"They plant the living and harvest the dead" on Severin Films' Blu-ray of INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS.

A small town where nothing happens is suddenly beset by a series of disappearances, but it is not all that surprising that they locals do not sense the severity of the situation; when Jim Carey who has been missing for a week turns up in the local bar and hemorrhages to death right before their eyes, they blame it on his alcoholism. Pathologist Roy Anderson (Norman Kelley) and his assistant Don Tucker (Bruce Detrick), however, analyze a blood sample from Carey and discover that his blood was and still is undergoing rapid cellular reproduction which caused the man's veins to "explode." When Buster, the pet dog belonging to Anderson's daughter and Don's fiancée Jenny (Tanna Hunter), is found hanging on the doorstep and his blood reveals the same strange symptoms. While Don believes that the cause is something evil and unnatural, Anderson believes it could be beneficial to cancer research if only they could discover a reagent to arrest the growth. In any case, Deputy Shorty is unwilling to comment or even do much in the way of investigation until Chief Spano (Frank Iovieno) gets back from the city. Anderson's and Don's investigation soon involves colleague Kinsky (Richard Erickson) who is actually Sontag, one of the pre-Christian druidic blood-drinking Sangroids who, under the leadership of fey Creton (Paul Craig Jennings), are searching for the perfect host for a blood sacrifice to resurrect their queen Onhorrid (Cynthia Fleming) or forfeit her soul to Satan. So far, their various victims have provided inferior nourishment but have not survived drinking from the Cup of Menanon, and they may very well have missed a good candidate or two because of henchman Egon (Jack Neubeck) who uses the hunt as an excuse to exercise his sadistic impulses; however, it should be quite obvious to even the most naïve horror viewer just who will be the nubile host.

An upstate New York regional flick with an unforgettable title and poster, INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS has some interesting pedigree as the only directorial work of former singer/Cashbox Magazine editor Ed Adlum, with a screenplay by Creem Magazine writer Ed Kelleher – who has a small role as "Tex" – and editing by Michael Findlay (THE ULTIMATE DEGENERATE). Shot in a number of long takes with a handful of inserts and cutaways crudely "inserted," the ineptness of the enterprise is as much a part of its charm as the odd atmosphere it is able to evoke with its chilly, small town setting, its cutrate druids, their garb, and their accoutrements, and scientists whose priorities balancing the severity of the situation and social pleasantries is about as cockeyed as those of the characters in THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH (it is difficult to tell if the acting is just bad or if they performers are trying to evoke 1950s-era science fiction relationships between scientists, their daughters, and love interest assistants/interns) while the law comes in the form of a police chief with a heavy Queens accent who wears sunglasses even when inside. Although tame by today's standards – the raciest it gets is Adlum himself nearly baring all for a shower scene as a newlywed whose skimpy negligee still manages to hide everything – there is plenty of blood, a decapitation, and an eye gouging, the execution of such violent scenes seeming relatively accomplished next to the confusing long-take coverage of the climax. Apart from Findlay, the only other personality of note was assistant cameraman Frederick Elmes who would shoot a number of early David Lynch film up through BLUE VELVET. Adlum and Kelleher would follow up INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS with SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED with Findlay as director and actor Neubeck being killed off early on after performing "Eddie the Yeti." Kelleher would author a handful of horror paperbacks with Henreitte Vidal, two of which would be adapted by Kelleher into films directed Roberta Findlay in LURKERS and PRIME EVIL in the 1980s while the novels "Madonna" and "The School" would be adapted in the nineties as a pair of direct-to-video Canadian flicks MADONNA and VOODOO DOLLS. An uncredited production partner here was Jack Bravman who directed several sexploitation films in the sixties and seventies before trying his hand at horror with ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE and NIGHT OF THE DRIBBLER in the 1980s.

Released in 1973 by NMD Film Distributing (WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO OUR DAUGHTERS?) and then to VHS in the early 1980s by Regal Home Video, INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS came to DVD first from Retromedia in a non-anamorphic letterboxed transfer that was scratchy and dull. This was followed up by a Code Red double feature with SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT that was anamorphic but taken from a worn source print. Severin's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray is derived from the original 35mm camera negatives and looks incredible given the all-too-obvious limitations of the shot-on-short-ends production. Colors, particularly reds, pop throughout while textures of 1970s clothing and rustic settings also aide the chilly upstate atmosphere. The stage blood always looks as such, but now it is all the more apparent just how much clothing, locations, and set dressing it ruined with a lot of actors truly suffering for their craft under it. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track is very clean, exposing the limitations of the mix as well as the dubbed in moans and groans (principally performed by Adlum himself). Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

The Code Red DVD featured a commentary by Adlum moderated by Lee Christian while Severin has commissioned a new track with Adlum and his wife, actress/costume designer Tippel, moderated by Kier-La Janisse (author of "House of Psychotic Women"). The new track is a fun listen with Adlum discussing the roundabout way in which the project originated, his relationship with writer Kelleher, Bravman, and the Findlays (also revealing that Roberta Findlay was not the cinematographer behind the pseudonym "Frederick Douglass" who was actually "pain in the neck" Fred Aronow). Tippel spends a lot of time pointing out things that belonged to them and that she created, but it is appropriate to the degree to which their lives were wrapped up in the production, from the dream kitchen they won on a New York area game show not long before shooting started to items of décor that Tippel still has to this day. Adlum seems at first reluctant to speak of the Findlays, and it first appears to be due to their career in pornography; however, he soon conveys the nature of their "fierce friendship," Findlay's demons, and his devastation at learning of Findlay's death atop the Pan-American building.

"Nothing You’d Show Your Mom: Eddie Adlum’s Journey through Exploitation, Coin-Op & Rock n’ Roll" (22:08) is a video interview with Adlum that provides more background on Adlum's desire to become a musician, forming a group that landed an Atlantic Records contract (even back then Phil Spector was obviously nuts), going to work for Look magazine where he met Bravman, working for Cashbox and his first attempt at a feature film with Kelleher in BLOND ON A BUM TRIP directed by Raf Mauro, a short and skinny man whose desire to be a lead actor was what initially lead to the premise for INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS. He recalls how the film was funded with money from jukebox operators, being introduced by Findlay by Bravman, how his selling SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED which he thought turned out bad lead to the end of his friendship with Findlay, and how he learned of Findlay's death.

"Harvesting the Dead" (11:58) is an interview with actor Neubeck who recalls learning about the film through Kelly who was an opera singer who played Sancho Panza in a Broadway production of MAN OF LA MANCHA in which Neubeck also appeared. He recalls the shoots of BLOOD FARMERS and SHRIEK, memorable scenes like his fight with the dog (doubled by a lamb skin), the Findlays, and the film's 42nd Street premiere. "Painful Memories" (4:43) is a vague interview with camera assistant Elmes, the title referring not necessarily to his feelings about the finished film but his youthful agonizing over how such projects turned out despite his own personal best efforts despite narrowly focusing on his own duties. The film's theatrical trailer (1:54) is also included. It seems highly unlikely anyone else will do better (or would bother). (Eric Cotenas)

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