| Bloodsucking Freaks (1978) |
| Directed by Joel.M.Reid . Starring Seamus O'Brian, Luis De'Jesus, Niles McMaster, Viju Krim, Allan Dellay, Dan Fauci, and Ernie Peysher. |
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| This is the first , and easily the best movie that Troma ever distributed. It has been condemned by most as being one of the worst movies of all time, which is extremely unfair when movies like Miss Congeniality, and Bring it on exist. Bloodsucking Freaks is about a tiny theater called Sardu's Theater of the Macabre, which is just off Broadway in Manhattan. Actually, it's more off-off the world-renowned show-biz strip. But business is on the up and up. |
| The master of the theatre is a guy named Sardu ( Seamus O'Brian), and along with a Puerto Rican midget named Ralphus ( Luis DeJesus) he performs acts of theatrical torture on stage. It is an extremely convincing show, because Sardu and Ralphus are in fact actually torturing and killing these young naked women on stage for real ! The whole thing is a front for a white slavery racket. Sardu tortures and brainwashes innocent young starlets to sell to his wealthy arab freinds. He says "You can't say I'm not doing my bit for foreign relations". A critic at one of his shows makes the fatal error of refusing to review his show because he says that "Even if I review your show poorly, a portion of my readers may still come out of curiosity". So Sardu orders Ralphus to kidnap him. Like all tortured artists however, Sardu eventually lets his ego get the better of him and makes the mistake of kidnapping a prominent ballerina to brainwash into performing in his latest production. Her very wooden boyfreind hires a cop that looks a lot like Danny DeVito to find her. |
| This is a regular beer and pizza movie for my freinds and I. It's kind of like The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets I Spit On Your Grave. The characters are great. Sardu is the quintessential poncy villain. Seamus O'Brian really managed to pull off this role with flying colours. The world lost a great character actor when he was stabbed to death in a home invasion on May the 14th, 1977. It would have been an almost comical scene to see him wrestling with a burglar. Luis DeJesus, who played Ralphus was always either underacting in this, or overacting like an idiot. Still, he's one of the most entertaining screen villains ever. Joel Reed cast him after he noticed him in a porno called The Anal Dwarf. After Bloodsucking Freaks, his most notable role was as an ewok in Return of the Jedi. He died of a heart attack in 1988. This movie was shot guerilla style between midnight, and six in the morning. If you take it seriously, it's probably easy to get repelled by all the torture, and general violence. But this is a satire. It is basically ridiculing the arts community, and tells us that the line between art and shit is a thin one. In a self parody, Sardu even tells the audience that the public can't digest sadism alone, but if you add a story and some dancing, it becomes art. It's a hell of a lot more thoughtful than any of todays movies, and has been very unfairly criticised. As I said before, the characters are great...in fact they are one of the best ensembles of characters ever. This is incredibly watchable, and has cheesy, yet endearing gore effects. Don't take this one too seriously, and you'll have a great time with it. R.I.P Ralphus, and Sardu....... |
| Entertainment : 4 out of 4 |
| Watchability : 4 out of 4 |
| Overall : 4 out of 4 |
| Reviewed by Blake |
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| Ralphus and Sardu... surely the Gilbert & Sullivan of Sadomasochism!!! |