gavin6942 After her prostitute mother and her john are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters (Melody Patterson) is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere (Gloria Grahame) and her handyman (Len Lesser).While Melody Patterson is known for being Wrangler Jane in "F Troop", she will now forever be branded in my mind as Ellie Masters. I found this film to be far better than the ratings people assign to it, and Patterson was an excellent choice as the film's star (why she no longer acts is a mystery to me).Perhaps most interesting, from a historical standpoint, is this film's impact on the slasher subgenre. I generally like to think of "Black Christmas" as the first true slasher film, but there were elements here that had "slasher" written all over them. The film in general is not a slasher film, but the opening scene with the "hammer cam"? Heck, it was very much like the beginning of "Halloween". Coincidence or inspiration?

barcardimike Great premise. Troubled teen goes to group home that mistreats children. Disappointingly, the movie has so many scenes that lack realism and common sense that the movie is totally unbelievable. The overriding discrepancy occurs when our heroine, Ellie, finds a girl tied up in the attic who is thirsty and starving. But when she has a chance to tell her detective friend who can help her, Ellie neglects to report that a girl is dying in the attic. This, in spite of the fact that she is rebellious, unhappy, and wants to leave. Instead, she tells the cop she is sure there have been many runaways! That scene alone ruined the movie for me, but there were other discrepancies. For example, after the custodian chops off a runaway's hand, he keeps it in a visible suitcase in a room that the kids have to clean. Also, when the woman who runs the group home finds out about an inspection, she moves 3 dead bodies covered in sheets from a walk-in freezer in order to find a better hiding spot. Of course, an unlocked room is the best spot! The 3 dead kids with dead-white complexion, bleeding gashes, and bloody sheets are laid on beds and not even covered! At one point, our main character, Ellie, walks into this room and proceeds to question the dead corpses; never realizing that they are bloodied stiffs! In another hole in logic, some of the kids during the dinner-table scene speak of the place as if it wasn't so bad. This, in spite of 3 missing "runaways" and hello! ... a girl tied up in the attic! You would think at least one of them would have been close enough to care what happened to the 3 "runaways" or the poor sod in the attic! Of comical value, most of the "kids" in the home are well into their 20's and at the time of the movie, the character Bunch, who was supposed to be 16, was actually 24! Finally, the monster at the end of the movie looks like a guy with a rubber mask over his head. Not scary, just laughable. In conclusion, while some of the acting, the production, and the premise are good, the movie is burdened and ruined by a dumb and totally unbelievable script. 4.5 out of 10

The_Void Despite the fact that it's trash, I have to say that I really enjoyed Blood and Lace. I'm really not sure where the 'lace' part of the title comes from (perhaps a rip-off of Bava's masterpiece Blood and Black Lace?), but there's a bit of blood and plenty of other sickness as this film features a sadistic orphanage, hints of incest and a whole host of older male characters desperate to get it on with the central character - a teenage girl. The plot has a number of different angles springing from the numerous characters that have an interest in the proceedings, and the film starts with a brutal murder of a mother/prostitute and one of her clients, committed with a hammer. This leaves her daughter Ellie without anyone to look after her since nobody knows who her father is, so she is sent to an orphanage. The orphanage is run by a woman named 'Mrs Deere' and a handyman named Tom. There's also a social worker who stops by every so often, and a police officer with an interest in Ellie that goes a little past the call of duty...It would be hard to argue that this is a bona fide 'good' film, but as a piece of seventies exploitation; it's a damn good film! This sort of flick really should just entertain and that's what it does. I imagine that certain themes on display would have been a lot more shocking in 1971 than they are today (though I'm not really sure how shocking considering the other films on offer around the early seventies), but personally I'm pretty much desensitised to being shocked by this sort of film anyway. The acting is pretty much atrocious all round, but lead actress Melody Patterson stands out in spite of her obvious lack of talent for being really cute! Older and more experienced performers Len Lesser, Gloria Grahame and Milton Selzer manage to impress a little more, but clearly this isn't an actor's film. The opening hammer murder sequence is the goriest and most brutal part of the film; from there the shocks are delivered by the male actors lusting after the teenaged lead, though the film doesn't feature any sex or nudity. The plot is always entertaining enough, and the ending revs up the stupidity to an irresistible level. Overall, Blood and Lace is pure trash and I really mean that in the nicest possible way! This film comes very much recommended to all the right people.

Coventry This odd and twisted 70's exploitation gem is incredibly hard to find these days, but definitely worth tracking down in case you're a fan of low-budget horror stuff that pioneered in shocking themes and abrupt plot twists. "Blood and Lace" was extremely ahead of its time back in 1971, with its story lines about child-abuse inside the walls of an orphanage, POV murder-sequences and incestuous relationships. The film is also quite explicit, as it displays – albeit with cheap make-up effects – the brutal murder of a sleeping couple with the sharp end of a hammer! And this right at the beginning of the film, so how's that for an intro? The woman who gets murdered is the prostitute-mother of the young and beautiful Ellie Masters. Since she never knew her real father, Ellie is sent to an orphanage ran by the corrupt Mrs. Deere and her sadistic handyman Tom. They have the nasty habit of torturing disobedient residents and even killing the ones that try to run away before storing their bodies in the basement freezer. If that isn't enough yet, there's a horribly deformed killing lurking around the orphanage with a meat cleaver. A police inspector whose interest in her is more than just professional closely follows Ellie's every move and proposes a strange offer in exchange for her rescue… "Blood & Lace" benefices from an incredibly creepy atmosphere and the overall nihilistic tone often makes the film very disturbing. This is a genuine American drive-in exploitation flick, so you can expect the most offensive and politically incorrect situations imaginable! The acting performances also contribute a great deal to the film's power. Particularly Gloria Grahame (as Mrs. Deere) and Len Lesser (Tom) portray nightmarish characters you certainly don't want to interfere with. Naturally, the budget was far too low for one-time director Philip Gilbert to play with imaginative camera angles or visual tricks, but that's okay, since "Blood and Lace" purely relies on shocks and cruelty. You won't believe your eyes and ears on more than just one occasion! Highly recommended super B-trash of the seventies!