Night of Bloody Horror Blu Ray Review (Shoreline Entertainment)

Night of Bloody Horror is a 1969 slasher film co-written, produced, and directed by Joy N. Houck Jr. (Women and Bloody Terror, Creature from Black Lake, The St. Tammany Miracle, The Brain Machine, and The Night of the Strangler). It was co-written and shot by cinematographer Robert A. Weaver (Women and Bloody Terror, The Brain Machine, Keep Off My Grass!, and The Night of the Strangler). It was executive produced by Albert J. Salzer (Deal, The Big Easy, Malpractice, The Dukes of Hazzard, Blind Vengeance, and The Night of the Strangler). As an ambitious promotional gimmick, the families of theater patrons were offered $1,000 if any relatives died watching the film. Loner Wesley Stuart (played by: Gerald McRaney from Simon and Simon, Major Dad, Deadwood, Jericho, House of Cards, 24: Legacy, Promised Land, Focus, and The A-Team) after being released from the mental hospital goes out on a nasty killing spree. He’s a little too close to his domineering mother Agatha Stuart (played by: Evelyn Hendricks from Women and Bloody Terror) which makes things even worse. He continues to experience the disturbing nightmares of his brother that was murdered 13 years ago while committing unspeakable crimes!!!! Night of Bloody Horror is heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. It follows a troubled man that caused a death in his family. He is finally released back into society after serving time in the local asylum. He just wants to live a normal life but he’s haunted by his violent past. His mother is a consistent problem and she triggers his anger which leads to a bad streak of murders. Joy N. Houck Jr. was a veteran to these no budget efforts so he’s does a solid job behind the camera here. Television veteran Gerald McRaney is the lead in this as the psychotic Wesley Stuart. He is someone that’s on the edge and everyone around him keeps pushes his buttons so he ends up snapping. He gets headaches that literally drive him crazy. He starts to have some luck with the ladies but he still can’t control himself so it turns into a terrifying scenario. This is a really early performance from Gerald McRaney, he’s very young and slim in Night of Bloody Horror so he looks a little different than usual. He proves that he had the skills in this lower budget effort and he does his best to elevate it. The rest of the supporting cast includes Evelyn Hendricks, Gaye Yellen, Lisa Dameron, Herbert Nelson (The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid), Charlotte White (2069 A.D.), Nick Krieger (Obsession), Bert Roberts (Dead Man’s Walk), Gordon Ogden (The Player), and Michael Anthony (Women and Bloody Terror). The local community bullies and treats Wesley Stuart like crap so it’s no shocker that he turns out to be a maniac after everything. It has a little violence but not as much as expected. For being a slasher and having the title of Night of Bloody Horror, it’s not packed with gruesome moments or brutal kills like others in the sub-genre. It focuses more on tension, suspense, and character development. It has a genuine creepy atmosphere to it and it still manages to do a lot on a shoestring budget. It has a strange flow and pacing to it so it feels longer than it actually is. This kinda flew under the radar and it got buried after it’s original drive-in run. It’s a decent character study on someone losing her mind but it honestly had so much more potential. This would have been so much better with some additional gore and more sleaze. Night of Bloody Horror is mainly known for being on public domain sets but it’s worth being released on it’s own. Shoreline Entertainment finally gives the 60’s horror feature it’s own Blu Ray disc after all these years. As you can see with the screen grabs, it’s on the rougher side. I’ve experienced this slasher on a variety of home video releases and it’s about the same as the previous ones. It’s possible that’s it’s the only existing visual material from this obscure movie. I’ll take it over nothing because it’s still physical media but keep your expectations low with this. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now including Moviezyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!