Bloodlust Reviews

The behind-the-scenes debut of smalltime actor Ralph Brooke, whose directing career extended only as far as two subsequent shorts, this low-rent, uncredited riff on Richard Connell's much-adapted The Most Dangerous Game features a curious cast of low-profile veterans and oddly assorted up-and-comers, notably future Brady Bunch patriarch Robert Reed. Two young couples -- Johnny (Reed) and Betty (June Kenny) and Pete (Eugene Persson) and Jeanne (Joan Lora) -- charter a small boat for some wholesome weekend fun. After drunken Captain Tony (Troy Patterson) passes out at the wheel, they impulsively take the ship's dinghy and set out for the apparently uninhabited island they can see from the deck. Unfortunately, they've blundered onto the private game park of deranged hunting enthusiast Dr. Albert Balleau (TV veteran Wilton Graff), who gets his sick thrills by hunting humans and stuffing their corpses for his macabre trophy room. The young people put their faith in Balleau's unhappy wife (Lilyann Chauvin) and her secret lover, Dean (Walter Brooke, who earned his movie-history niche by uttering THE GRADUATE's famous line, "Ben, I have just one word for you… just one word: Plastics"), who have a plan to escape the island. But Ballaeu and his henchman, Jondor (Bob by Hall) thwart their efforts to escape, leaving the frightened couples to fend for themselves. If far from a good film, BLOODLUST! is not without modest ambitions and features a couple of striking scenes interspersed with long, long static sequences. The French-born Chauvin's career ranges from a 1950 episode of the acclaimed series Kraft Television Theater to Ugly Betty, while one-time child actor Persson, whose early credits include a handful MA AND PA KETTLE pictures, went on to a solid career as a theatrical producer. Briefly married to noted actress Shirley Knight, his credits include several early works by radical playwright LeRoi Jones -- later Amiri Baraka -- and he had a hit with You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.