Blood Freak

What do you get when you cross Thanksgiving with a horror movie, an anti-drug morality play with a biker movie, and some hardcore Christian propaganda thrown in for good measure? You get the 1972 exploitation film Blood Freak, heralded on the cover of the Something Weird DVD cover as "The World's Only Turkey-Monster-Anti-Drug-Pro-Jesus-Gore Film!" This film is so bizarre in fact that even the most jaded cult movie lovers find it mesmerizing in its badness. Shot on a literal shoestring budget by a nudist filmmaker and an ex-Tarzan wannabe in Miami, Florida, Blood Freak is the type of movie that needs to be seen to be believed; a cinematic train wreck of bad acting, bad writing, lighting problems, continuity problems, fake blood, looped audio, and a horrifying, gigantic paper mache turkey head.

The story begins as Herschell (named in honor of another Floridian gore filmmaker, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and played by former muscleman Steve Hawkes) is riding down the road on his chopper. He's a hunky beefcake version of Elvis, with bulging muscles and mutton chops, polished off in a pair of tight 1970's slacks. He notices a young girl stranded on the side of the road (Heather Hughes) and decides to stop and help her. The girl's name is Angel and she takes him back to her house where her sister Anne (Dana Cullivan) and her stoner friends are having a drug party in the living room. Angel immediately admonishes their behavior as ungodly, and she quickly makes it clear to Herschell that she only gets high on the Bible. Anne notices the new meat in the room and tries to get Herschell to join the party. He refuses and Anne, angry at the rejection, plots her revenge.

Meanwhile, in between scenes a narrator (played by director Brad Grinter) appears on the screen, much like an even more low-rent version of Criswell from the Ed Wood films. Grinter looks like he's being filmed sitting at a desk in his wood-paneled basement, reading off a piece of paper, and chain smoking. Grinter provides some food for thought as the plot unravels, giving viewers some spiritual insight to the narrative. As he explains how the human body is a temple and warns against the use of drugs and excessive consumption, he practically chokes to death on his own cigarette!

Soon Angel takes Herschell to see her father, who gives him a job on his turkey farm. As Herschell is now working and living at the house, Anne eventually seduces him into smoking pot and having sex with her. Like in many anti-drug films, Herschell goes crazy after this first drug experience and becomes a full blown addict, desperate for more, more, more. Simultaneously, Herschell meets two co-workers on the turkey farm that offer him drugs in exchange for his participation in an experiment they're conducting: they need someone to eat the chemically altered turkey meat they've created. Being that Herschell needs a fix pretty bad, he agrees to do it. After eating huge man-sized portions of the turkey, Herschell immediately starts twitching in a psychotic spasm. He convulses in the back yard and foams at the mouth until he passes out. One of the doctors discovers him, and thinking he's dead, tries to bury his body in the backyard to cover the evidence. As it turns out, Herschell is not dead...in fact, he's come back a psychotic killer, complete with an enormous turkey head and a craving for the human blood of drug addicts! Who will be his next victim? Can Angel save him or does Anne continue to further his addiction? Does he eventually find God...or will he be the next meal on the dinner table?

Blood Freak is truly a film oddity, a movie with so many insane plot twists and production flaws that some film critics can't believe it even existed. Not much information exists about the actual production and the DVD release from Something Weird Video appears to be the only distribution source for this wacko film (it was never released on home video and director Grinter died in 1993). Any fan of Psychotronic Cinema needs to see this film for themselves as they would never believe anyone else's description of it. It's that freaking unbelievable.

Director: Brad F. Grinter, Steve Hawkes
Screenplay: Brad F. Grinter, Steve Hawkes
Music: Gil Ward
Film Editing: Gil Ward
Sound: Randy Grinter
Cast: Steve Hawkes (Herschell), Dana Cullivan (Anne), Heather Hughes (Angel), Bob Currier, Anne Shearin, Linda Past, Sandy Kneelen, Domink Grutta.
C-86m.

by Millie De Chirico

The financier of Blood Freak backed out, leaving Hawkes and Grinter with an unfinished film. The two scraped up some money and shot the rest of the film in 8mm.

The film was originally rated X for violence.

Hawkes now claims his efforts on Blood Freak were "a sad chapter in my life".

Blood Freak grossed about $170,000 in its initial release.

On the Blood Freak DVD released by Something Weird Video are a few bonus films including a noir-sleaze nudie-cutie starring Hawkes titled The Walls Have Eyes (1964) and the startling "Brad Grinter: Nudist", an excerpt from a 1970's nudie-cutie/sexploitation film. Not only is Grinter completely in the buck during most of the film, so is William Kerwin, star of the Herschell Gordon Lewis classic, Blood Feast [1963].

When Herschell and Anne are seen smoking pot, the director can be heard saying, "Action!"

During Herschell's fight with the drug dealer, the director can be heard saying "Get up slowly" as the dealer is lying on the ground.

The drug dealer whose leg gets sawed off by the turkey monster version of Herschell was an actual amputee.

Compiled by Millie De Chirico

SOURCES:
www.imdb.com
www.allmovie.com
www.fright.com
www.thedailyshow.com
www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/
www.bleedingskull.com
www.thehotspotonline.com
www.dvdverdict.com
www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=73833
Interview with Steve Hawkes, http://www.tarzanmovieguide.com/hawkes.htm
www.grindhousedatabase.com

Director Brad Grinter worked as a part time film instructor and used some of his student's tuition money for his own film projects.

Blood Freak was shot entirely in Florida using student actors from Grinter's film class.

Grinter was a nudist and made several nudist films, frequently called "nudie-cuties," and shot on location at nudist camps in Florida.

Grinter's directorial debut was Flesh Feast [1970], the last movie to star actress Veronica Lake. This other film oddity (about a woman who finds the secret to eternal youth in flesh eating maggots, eventually getting revenge on Adolf Hitler!) was supposed to bring Veronica Lake back to prominence but disappeared quickly after a brief run in grindhouses and the drive-in circuit. And Lake died penniless in 1973.

Grinter was inspired by another Florida gore filmmaker, Herschell Gordon Lewis, to make the film Flesh Feast.

The lead character in Blood Freak is named "Herschell" in tribute to HGL.

Steve Hawkes (born Steve Sipek) is originally from Croatia and came to America to film a series of Spanish language Tarzan movies for the South American market.

Hawkes was a huge Johnny Weissmuller fan, and later would meet him and travel to personal appearance shows with him. Hawkes also claims to be the only person who has a complete collection of all of Weissmuller's films.

Hawkes came in first place in a Mr. Canada contest.

While Hawkes was filming Tarzan and the Brown Prince in Florida in 1972, a fire broke out during a botched special effect that left Hawkes badly burned. (You can see his scarred arms in certain scenes in Blood Freak.) Hawkes claims that a lion actually saved his life by pulling him out of that fire.

The Tarzan crew left the U.S. for South America shortly after the fire incident to avoid legal trouble, leaving Hawkes behind to heal.

Hawkes met Brad Grinter shortly after the accident. Needing money to pay off his medical bills, Hawkes agreed to star in a few "nudie-cuties" with Grinter. The two then collaborated on Blood Freak.

Hawkes currently runs an animal sanctuary in Florida.

On July 13, 2004, Hawkes's pet tiger Bobo escaped from his compound in Loxahatchee, Florida and was shot and killed the next day by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Officer, an incident that attracted national media attention.

On July 19, six days later, Hawkes's house caught on fire. A recently installed air conditioner malfunctioned and sparked the blaze. Fire crews had a hard time getting to the fire because Sipek has electrical fencing to keep his other exotic animals caged in. The fire was eventually extinguished, and all animals on the property were reported in good condition.

Hawkes and his animal sanctuary were featured on The Daily Show in 1999. (http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=122200&title=the-loin-king).

Compiled by Millie De Chirico

SOURCES:
www.imdb.com
www.allmovie.com
www.fright.com
www.thedailyshow.com
www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater/
www.bleedingskull.com
www.thehotspotonline.com
www.dvdverdict.com
www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=73833
Interview with Steve Hawkes, http://www.tarzanmovieguide.com/hawkes.htm
www.grindhousedatabase.com

"Here's a film so mind-numbing that it has become a legend with bad movie buffs."
– www.fright.com

"If I ever met the director of Blood Freak, I don't know whether I'd kick him in the shins, buy him a drink, or flee in abject terror. Incredible."
- The Austin Chronicle, Sept. 10th 1999

"Fashioned with a 'one take only' philosophy that makes Ed Wood look like Stanley Kubrick, Blood Freak is, in a word, in-freakin'-credible. I've seen my share of really bad movies but this one's a stunner. It's undeniably unique: an anti-drug gore film with a pro-Christian message..."
- Eccentric Cinema, www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/blood_freak.htm

"Think you've seen it all? Visited the films of Meyer, Lewis, Wishman, Mahon, and wondering what's left in the cult film genre that still has the power to surprise you? Look no further than BLOOD FREAK! I am still shocked by what I've just seen. Unbelievable in the extreme and guaranteed to leave you wiping your eyes in disbelief..."
- Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In

"Who was this movie made for, and who was it made by? And why was it made at all? These are just a few of the questions you'll contemplate while watching Blood Freak...a film that is truly a cinematic turkey. And I do mean that literally."
- The Agony Booth, http://www.agonybooth.com/articles/Blood_Freak_1972.aspx

"There are bad films out there in that 'so bad its good' category but this one positively takes the cake."
- Chris Mayo, DVD Crypt Review

"Abandon all hope of comprehension and savor the abject carnage unleashed by this turkey-headed dope fiend. Recommended."
- G. Noel Gross, DVD Talk

"What do you get when you cross some retread reefer madness, accidental drug addiction, religious fundamentalism, body building and processed turkey loaf? Well, if you're oddball director Brad Grinter, you end up with Blood Freak, the only film in the entire exploitation canon to be endorsed by The Southern Baptist Convention, the Betty Ford Clinic, and the Butterball Thanksgiving Hotline....The kinetic, freestyle editing, the endless shots of Grinter babbling like an improvising, smut peddling Criswell, and actors who play dead by wincing and wiggling as all the while effects gore dribbles across their face makes Blood Freak a first rate crazed capon caper."
- Judge Bill Gibron, DVD Verdict

"Blood Freak is a film for the kind of folks who use "Psychotronic" in everyday conversation. It's an altogether different kind of bad film, one that must be seen to be comprehended. It is conceivable that it was made as a parody or as a satire, but it really doesn't show. It's just so-bad-its-good - in the most bizarre way imaginable. Gobble, gobble."
- Classic-Horror.com, http://classic-horror.com/reviews/blood_freak_1972

"This movie's a classic. There's terrible acting - you'll never believe the line. "You dumb bastard" could be uttered without any emotion until you watch this movie! Everybody acts so badly, that even when nothing is happening, you're laughing at both the acting and the dialogue the poor actors must utter."
- The Unknown Movies, http://www.badmovieplanet.com/unknownmovies/reviews/rev137.html

Narrator: We live in a world subject to constant change. Every second, of every minute, of every hour, changes take place. These changes are perhaps invisible to us, because our level of awareness is limited. Take for example, how the things we do and say to the people we meet, all these things affect our lives, influence our destiny. And yet there seems to be some kind of fantastic order to the whole thing. We never know how or when we will meet a person who will become a catalyst. Or, who will lead us to one! What is a catalyst? Well, in this case, a catalyst is a person that will bring about changes. They could be good, or bad. But there will be changes. You can meet one almost anywhere, in your everyday life. In a supermarket, drugstore, anywhere. Even riding down the Florida Turnpike. A pretty girl with a problem. Who could resist? Certainly not Herschell.

Anne: "How can such a big hunk of man be such a damn coward?"

Herschell: "I have a feeling I'm hooked!"

Anne: ""It's alright so long as I don't look at you!...Gosh, Herschell, you sure are UGLY!!!"

Scientist: "We are testing the chemical caponization of poultry, but we need a human to eat the meat to see if there are any side effects."
Herschell: "You want me to be a guinea pig?"

Tom: "So why did you take him out and dump him? Don't we have enough trouble in these experiments without taking a chance on a murder charge? All we did was g-g-g-give this guy some turkey."

Anne: "Go ahead, turn into a Bible freak. See who gives a damn!"

Anne: "You're a dumb bastard who doesn't know where it's at!"

Narrator: " There's much to...warn us all...of the trends our destiny's taking. Our scientists agree that the one immutable law of life is change. There's much talk...and protest...about everything. About pollution, about drugs and their abuse. And this has been a story based...partly on fact, partly on probability. But the horrors that occur in the minds of those who allow the indiscriminate use of the human body as a mixing bowl for drugs and chemicals...are as real as the real horror. So when you eat or take into your body any chemical...or drugs... you take a chance on reactions that are untested. Unpredictable. There are government agencies, many responsible groups, fighting the use of chemicals. In the food we eat, in the water we drink. And yet there are far too [coughing] far too many of us, who go right on taking the good way of life for granted. Ignoring the warnings. So let's give a little thought to making our own story have a happy ending!"