Blood Sucking Freaks

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Blood Sucking Freaks
Movie poster for Blood Sucking Freaks
Directed by	Joel M. Reed
Produced by	Alan C. Margolin
Written by	Joel M. Reed
Starring	Seamus O'Brien Viju Krem Niles McMaster Dan Fauci Alphonso DeNoble Ernie Pysher
Music by	Michael Sahl
Cinematography	Ron Dorfman
Editing by	Joel R. Herson Victor Kanefsky
Distributed by	Troma Entertainment
Release date(s)	1976
Running time	91 min.
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Blood Sucking Freaks is a 1976 horror film, sometimes considered an exploitation film.

Shot under the title Sardu: Master of the Screaming Virgins, it was retitled The Incredible Torture Show during its original theatrical run. Film distributor Troma Entertainment retitled the film Blood Sucking Freaks (sometimes spelled Bloodsucking Freaks) upon their acquisition of it. The film based on the Wizard of Gore from Herschell Gordon Lewis.

It was featured in the 2004 documentary The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.

As the film was controversial and violent, the group Women Against Pornography convinced the MPAA to refuse to rate Blood Sucking Freaks. It was later cut to receive an R-rating but distributor Troma decided to slip the original unrated cut to theaters as if it were the R-rated version. When the MPAA discovered this they sued for misuse of their rated R trademark.

The plot centers on an S&M/Grand Guignol-style theatre run by Master Sardu and his midget assistant, Ralphus. In keeping with the Grand Guignol-style, the theatre puts on grotesque shows about torture and murder. What neither the audiences nor the critics know is that the shows are not staged but real. Moreover the naked women who appear to be tortured, dismembered and even killed during the performances are not actresses but kidnap victims who are made into slaves.

Theatre critic, Creasy Silo, incurs Sardu's wrath by mocking his pretensions of art. Sardu responds by kidnapping and torturing Silo in the hopes that he will give the show a positive review, and by kidnapping ballerina Natasha DeNatalie in order to force her to participate in shows and thereby lend the shows an increased level of artistic legitimacy. This leads to the second major plotline of the film, in which Natasha's football-player boyfriend Tom Maverick and corrupt policeman Detective Tucci try to find Natasha and unravel the mystery of Sardu's operation.

As the film progresses we learn that Sardu is involved in white slavery and keeps a group of naked, almost feral, women in a cage in the basement of the theatre. The film intercuts between scenes of Tom Maverick and Detective Tucci attempting to find Natasha DeNatalie and scenes of Sardu and Ralphus torturing their captives and attempting to brainwash DeNatalie and Silo so that they will participate in the theater productions. As is common in the genre, the film ends with Sardu getting his comeuppance at the hands of his former captives.

Though many have criticized writer/director Joel M. Reed for the depravity of the film, the impetus for the film came not from any interest of his own in sadomasochism, but from the fact that patrons of an actual S&M theatre were expressing interest in putting up funding for such a film^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Trivia

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Rapper Necro makes frequent allusions in his lyrics to Blood Sucking Freaks. His song "White Slavery" describes several plot elements from the film. The song's music video also re-enacts some of the film's scenes.
Filmmaker Eli Roth is featured on the commentary track for the Troma DVD of the film. On the commentary track Roth makes a number of seemingly outlandish statements about the film. His statements include the lasting impact of Blood Sucking Freaks on other filmmakers, explaining the significance of characters' wardrobes, and the acting skills of actors who break the Fourth Wall.
The role of Ralphus was originally meant to be filled by Hervé Villechaize.
There is a reference to this movie on hip-hop group De La Soul's debut album 3 Feet High and Rising in the mock game show that makes up the album's intro. One of the contestants states that his favorite drama movie is "Bloodsucking Freaks....just like yo mamma."
Chicken was utilized in the cannibalism scenes.
LA based standup comedian Tim Chizmar talks about the movie and in particular the Anniversary Edition DVD where there was an interview with an eldery woman whose proud claim to fame is she ate the "cold cock sandwich" at the end of the film. Tim goes on about what it is like to be one of her grandkids.
WCW wrestler Chris Jericho named his sidekick "Ralphus", after Sardu's sidekick in the film.
Dan Fauci's feature film debut.
Three of the principal cast members died very untimely deaths. Seamus O'Brien, who played Sardu, was stabbed to death by a burglar in his apartment one year after the film's release, Viju Krem, who played Natasha, was accidentally shot on a hunting trip, and Luis de Jesus died of a heart attack in his thirties, though this wasn't quite as strange, especially considering his condition.