Watch Blood and Lace For Free

How sad is this?

Good idea lost in the noise

An action-packed slog

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

"The Baby" from 1973 kind of takes the cake for the most twisted movie to ever get a PG rating (that this viewer has seen, anyway). But "Blood and Lace" would have to rank as a strong contender for that title. Its final revelations elevate it (or lower it, depending on your sensibilities) to something truly special.It can boast a stylish opening murder set piece. Done mostly from the killers' perspective (with some cuts here and there), it actually predates sequences from both "Black Christmas" and "Halloween". It's got a cast of familiar faces, with the lovely Melody Patterson of 'F Troop' starring, screen legend / Oscar winner Gloria Grahame as a nasty antagonist, Len Lesser (Uncle Leo from 'Seinfeld') as her handyman / henchman, Vic Tayback (Mel from 'Alice') as police detective Calvin Carruthers, and TV veteran Milton Selzer as a social worker.Ellie Masters (Patterson) is a teen whose mother, the extremely busy town whore, is murdered along with one of her johns. So Ellie is shipped off by Mr. Mullins (Selzer) to an orphanage, a den of corruption where uncooperative kids meet cruel fates. And not only will Ellie yearn to escape, she'll fall in lust with hunky resident Walter (Ronald Taft, "Night of the Witches"), compete with Lolita-like character Bunch (Terri Messina, "Single Room Furnished"), and a mysterious goon in a hideous mask will prowl around the premises.Some buffs may cringe seeing Ms. Grahame in this kind of exploitation fare, but she does a solid job. Lesser, Tayback, and Selzer are all good as well. Patterson and Messina, despite clearly being substantially older than their characters, are appealing. That's a young Dennis Christopher ("Breaking Away", "Django Unchained") as orphanage resident Pete, and none other than June Foray can be heard as the voice of Ellie in her first scene in the hospital.Strikingly violent, definitely melodramatic, and offbeat enough to be amusing, "Blood and Lace" is a shocker that ought to satisfy curiosity seekers.Seven out of 10.

***SPOILERS*** With her hooker mom Edna, Louise Sherrial, and customer or John, John Durkins, bludgeoned to death with a hammer by an unseen assailant Ellie Masters, Melody Patterson, completely flipped out and ended up in the care of Mrs. Deere, Gloria Grahame, who runs an orphanage for mentally challenged & abused teenagers. In trying to get her head back together Ellie soon escapes from the orphanage only to be tracked and brought back by the understanding and kindly Det. Calvin Carruthers, Vic Taybeck. It's Det. Carruthers who takes a strong liking towards her and the problems, being an orphan who's father deserted her at childbirth, and tries to help her beyond the call of duty as a policeman or even social worker.It's back at the orphanage that Ellie runs into fellow inmate, the place is run by Mrs. Deere like a prison, Bunch, Terri Messina, who got the hots for one the boys or inmates there Walter, Ronald Taft, and feels that Ellie is trying to take the big hunk away from her. Walter for his part is secretly having an affair with Mrs. Deere who uses him to do all the heavy work, while sweaty and shirtless, at the orphanage that she provides for him. It's soon that Ellie discovers that the place is being used as a cash cow for Mrs. Deere in getting community money, at $150.00 apiece, for every orphan that's there. It's also used by her and her creepy handyman Tom, Len Lesser, in experimenting Nazi & KGB style with the orphans there in some kind of life after death on ice experiments.****MAJOR SPOILERS**** It's when too many of the orphans at the place end up missing in them being kept on ice in the orphanage meat freezer that corrupt social worker Mr. Mullins, Milton Salzer, in order to save his hide, in not noticing what was happening there in the first place, plans to have the place inspected to find out what exactly in going on there. This is a fatal mistake on Mr. Mullins part who ends up dead, with a butcher knife in his back, by handyman Tom who in return gets his from Mrs. Deere whom he was blackmailing. Now back to the star of the flick Ellie she's now targeted by Mrs. Deere in knowing too much in what's going on and has to be terminated before she can get the truth out. That's until this masked psycho shows up out of nowhere to protect her from any violence by Mrs. Deere and handyman Tom. The ending of the movie has Ellie's greatest fears realized in how her mother was killed and by whom. And even far worse the reason that the kindly and understanding Det. Carruthers was so interested in her and why he acted as her guardian angel throughout the entire movie. And even worse the blackmail scheme he dreamed up in order to keep her all too himself in not bringing up her past that she tried so hard to forget and keep secret!

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?

After her whore of a mother is murdered by a hammer-wielding nutjob, teen Ellie Masters is sent to live at the rural Deere Orphanage. She immediately begins plotting her getaway, as she wishes to track down the father she never knew. What she doesn't realize is that Mrs. Deere and her handyman, Tom Kredge, won't let anyone leave under any circumstances. If it comes down to murder, so be it. As she deals with this sadistic twosome, Ellie also realizes that she's being stalked by a masked creep with a claw hammer.Often referred to as the sickest PG film ever, I had wanted to see this for years. After finally happening upon a VHS copy, I was disappointed when I quickly came to the realization that it was a cut print. The opening hammer murder wasn't as explicit as I'd heard, and the scene where Bunch seduces Walter in the barn was really chopped up. Thankfully, not only does the print on Netflix look incredible, but it's also fully intact. This is such a great, truly warped little nasty. The twists just keep on coming, getting sicker and more twisted as the film progresses. The ending is a real kick in the balls.Gloria Grahame and Len Lesser own the film as the pair of crazies who will get those welfare checks at any cost. Melody Patterson is an arrogant bitch as Ellie, so I never felt much sympathy for her. Vic Tayback is the perverted detective who takes more than a passing interest in Ellie's predicament. His character made my skin crawl."Blood and Lace" is pure, untarnished nihilism on film. There's nary a sympathetic character in sight as the sleaze and melodrama run rampant. One also has to wonder if Wes Craven was inspired by this film's masked freak when he came up with the look of Freddy Krueger. The only thing I don't care for here is the music. It's overwrought in several places where something more subdued would have added to the overall effect. This is a gem that deserves a stronger reputation.