Blood Song

Blood Song (1982) is a slasher about a man who escapes from a mental institution and tracks down a disabled girl who got a blood transfusion from him.

The moral being "Don't get blood transfusions."

Fun Fact: you can make any movie, no matter how trashy, seem deep if you put a Tennyson quote in front of it.

The opening shot of an airplane landing proves that this movie puts more effort into lighting than B.J. Lang Presents (1971)

Portland, Oregon 1955. A man carries a stuffed monkey into a house. Given the premise of this movie, it could be a reference to AIDS.

A scream from the bedroom and two shots as the camera focuses on a piano. I'm assuming that the movie has a motif of associating music with death, hence the title, and this isn't just a way to avoid showing the deaths.

After killing the two people in bed, the man points his gun into his mouth and shoots. The son watches and begins to play a song on his recorder.

So I was right about associating music with death.

Also, Childhood Trauma of slasher villian established in under four minutes.

Flash forwards to Stanford Bay, 1982.  A girl sleeps. Her eyes open and we go...into her mind.

The effect probably looked a lot cooler in the director's head.

The girl sees the inside of a mental institution. A doctor comes to tell Paul, the boy from the beginning of the movie, not to play the titular Blood Song. Paul kills him and escapes.

That took a long time for me to figure out. First of all, I thought the girl was a boy (Paul) at first, and we were seeing a traumatic flashback. But that would mean that Paul hadn't aged in 27 years.

The lighting is so bad...

I'm at the point where "being able to see what is on screen" is a compliment for a movie.

The girl's alarm rings and she puts on her leg brace.

The girl, Marion, goes downstairs to her unsupportive parents. The sad thing is that I thought "oh, she kind of looks actually high-school aged." Then I looked the actress up. She is Donna Wilkes, best known for Jaws 2 (1978), and was 23 in Blood Song. Marion's father is upset that Marion is seeing a boy called Joey. Damn it, Joey.

Marion gets on the bus with the other 23 year-old high-school students. She tells her friend Cathy that she told her father that she was at the pizza house with her instead of with Joey.


Joey works at the docks. Just like in Midnight Sun (2018) and Midnight Sun (2003). Except Blood Song is less exploitative.

Joey tells Marion that he has to go to Portland to take an aptitude test in order to get a job. Portland is the place where Paul escaped. Hey, this movie is making sense.

Marion casually mentions that she has recurring nightmares of a guy killing people and Joey kisses her. Okay.

Marion walks home. The camera shakes and the music turns suspenseful. I wasn't sure if the camera shaking was to build suspense or because the production value is so low.

A car "suddenly" comes and Marion leaps onto the grass.

By "suddenly," I mean that one hears the screeching tires a full ten seconds before Marion leaps.

Marion bangs her leg brace a few times, establishes her leg is still there, then picks up her things and goes inside.

Back to Marion in bed and the odd transition to her visions.

Why thought that using an orange circle would represent her psychic connection to a killer in Oregon?

Paul goes to a gas station and a guy offers to give him a ride to California, because Paul is going to San Francisco. Is this how 1982 worked? Paul goes into the shop. Marion's father yells and we flash back to Marion.

Marion's father interrupts the visions whenever it might reveal too much of the plot.

Speaking of revealing the plot, Marion's family appear to fight every morning over exposition. Marion's father dislikes Joey because Joey's father tried to seduce Marion's mother.

Marion's father doesn't want her going to the doctor aboout her knee or sneaking out to see Joey. Marion reveals that her father crippled her when he was drunk driving.

"Can't we just have a single breakfast
without an exposition dump?"

Marion goes to the docks at night time and cries. The movie tries to play with the lighting as she tosses stones into the lake.

I love trashy movie that attempt to be artistic.

She has another vision of her post-accident getting a blood transfusion. The doctor says that she has O+ blood type, which is rough to come by. The only O+ blood they have is from a patient at the state mental hospital.

Okay, pause. People with O+ blood can also receive O- blood.

Furthermore, do patients from the state mental hospital often give blood donations? Or was this before he was committed? If so, would the hospital have that on record?

Finally, the plot of this movie is that two people have a psychic connection due to a blood transfusion. Does this happen with all transfusion or only if one is a mental patient?

Marion tells Joey that she sees visions of the killer and also of the van attempting to run her over. Joey assures her that there's nothing to worry about. Okay.

In class the next day, Marion has yet another vision. Paul is on the the road playing the titular Blood Song on his recorder, frustrating the driver. The driver pulls over and Paul kills him with a stick.

The schoolbell rings, snapping Marion out of the vision.

Marion goes to the doctor and gets great news: she gets to take her leg brace off! But she has to use a cane.

Her doctor warns her not to do anything risky, like jumping out of the way of vans. If she hallucinates a van, she should just stay put. (?)

In the next scene, Blood Song (1982) offers some biting political commentary : Police are incompetent.

The sheriff enters and asks Betty for a cup of coffee. Of course Betty is in charge of the coffee.

Sheriff

I've got the biggest head in history. I got a hang-over that would make King-Kong climb a wall.

Just more clever dialogue from Blood Song (1982)

Wilkins lists the news in order of importance: Mrs. Evans called about two dogs on her lawn, someone stole a van, there was a fight, and a mental patient killed a guard and escaped.

The sherriff goes to sleep.

Blonde Woman hitches a ride to San Francisco with Paul in the windowless, black van. Hasn't she seen The Candy Snatchers (1973)? It's a classic.

She asks if she can play an eight-track and touches the recorder. Paul grabs the recorder and says his father made it.

Joey can't make it to some school party. Joey tells Marion to take Cathy and help her find a date. Marion says her father won't let her go. Meanwhile, the ominous black van parks outside and Paul gets out.

I'm still struggling with the concept of a blood transfusion giving two people a psychic connection. Does this happen all the time, or only if the donor is clinically insane?

Joey drives Marion home and they kiss. Marion promises to see him off to Portland tomorrow, which means she definitely won't be there.

Marion goes upstairs and changes. Frank returns and finds the brace in the trash.

The shot of her changing is kind of baffling. It's like they wanted gratuitous female nudity but not enough to bother lighting it.

Frank goes up to his daughter's room and has a tender moment. I know it's supposed to be tender because of the music. Marion's mother checks in.

Marion has another vision. Paul is sleeping with Blonde Woman in a motel. He says he has a surprise and tells her to close her eyes.

I don't know if the nudity is tastefully done or if the lighting is so bad that I can't see anything.

Blonde Woman closes her eyes and Frank gives her a necklace,

She puts it on. Paul plays his recorder and Blonde Woman asks him to "stop playing that damn thing."

This logically causes Paul to FLIP OUT AND STRANGLE HER WITH THE NECKLACE

Let's look at the physics.

She is leaning backwards and he is pulling forwards. So the string is around the back of her neck, yet this somehow strangles her.

I always thought that you had to put pressure on the throat to strangle someone, not the back of the neck. But maybe I'm wrong, because Blonde Woman dies.

Marion wakes up screaming that "he killed her" and "he's going to kill me next"

The sherriff gets a report that Blonde Woman disappeared.

At the docks, Joey assures Marion that her dreams are just dreams and leaves on a boat.

Then this grindhouse movie turns into a mix of arthouse and mainstream tearjerker.



Yeah, a 1982 song tells the audience to be sad.

It's called "All in Your Mind" by Lainie Kazan

 Meanwhile, Marion is walking along the beach and some shots feel like it's accidentally from a pretentious student film.


There's a place
You've never been
And a face
You've never seen

The vision is quite clear
And you watch it disappear
All in your mind. 

There's a song
No one can hear
And a scream
No one is near

The dreams that you see
That you should never say
All in your mind
All in your mind

It goes on. This song is honestly amazing.

I respect this movie so much.

Immediately after, Blood Song (1982) remembers its genre and Marion follows a man (Paul) to his van. Paul is busy burying the Blonde Woman. Paul approaches Marion,

One of the least threatening ways to hold an ax.

Marion runs away.

WITHOUT HER CRUTCH

The doctor JUST SAID not to do anything strenuous and Marion had to go and almost be murdered.

Marion runs into Stock '80s Nerds.

You know this because they wear glasses. Stock '80s Nerds often go hunting. (?)

Norman, the main nerd, takes her home. The others report that they don't see a van.

Matrion enters the house and calls for her father. This movie's idea of suspense is to not let the audience see what is happening.

Paul goes to yet another gas station and asks the attendent where the high-school is. The attendent sees nothing wrong with a strange man in a black van asking where the high-school is.

Officer Gibbons pulls up and asks if he can looks inside the van because he wants to camp out in it. He opens the door, declares he can't hide, and shuts the door.

I think that was supposed to be suspenseful.

Marion is at school and sees the van outside. She runs out and it is gone. Cathy deduces that she is acting strange because she is pregnant. They walk away.

Then Marion hears the titular Blood Song and walks away. The van pulls up.

Blood Song: How Not To Build Suspense (1982)

Joey comes back and Marion tells him about the strange man. Again.

Joey says it is all in her imagination. Again.


The next day, Marion tells Joey to come to the beach and see the body.  She's assuming that Paul would keep the body there after someone saw him.

Joey digs and finds the garbage bag. It is full of garbage.

Clearly, Paul went back to the location, dug up the garbage bag

Also, there are no marks on the ground indicating that a van was there.

Clearly, Paul drove away, then walked back and landscaped the entire path to hide his tracks.

The police find the corpse on the side of the road. Then...Marion and Joey pull up right in the front of the investigation and make out.

I've seen enough '80s movies to know not to do that in front of police cars. Even if they have a corpse problem.

Turns out I was wrong. See, the movie cuts from one dark, barely visible section of road to another dark, barely visible section of road. This is in front of Marion's house.


Paul watches from the van.

Joey and Marion talk about running away together. Marion gets out of the car and walks to her house. Without the cane.

I guess she forgot about that.

Frank grabs Marion as she enters the house. he claims to have seen her and Joey making out.

I doubt it. The lighting in the movie is too poor.

Frank says he will skip a PTA meeting to make sure Joey won't come back. Marion goes upstairs and her mother says the following to Frank.

Mother

Frank, she's your only daughter. Your only child. Can't you see what you're doing to her?

Frank looks sad. This is his emotional arc. He ascends the stairs to take to Marion. Marion blasts the radio. 1983?

Marion is still climbing stairs despite losing her cane. Just saying.

Frank goes downstairs and drinks. He turns on his radio.

So...this is a passive-agressive 1983 music playing feud.

Marion hears something outside. Two kids play frisbee. It gets too dark and they go to one of their houses. Paul watches from the shadows.

If they don't die, this scene will have been a waste.

Paul gets into the house through the window and kills Frank with his ax. The gory wounds looks suspiciously clean.

Marion witnesses her father's murder. She won the passive-aggressive music feud, I guess. Frank yells at her to run before he dies.

But I thought she should refrain from strenuous activity.

Marion gets to a payphone, but the black van chases after her. She continues running until the movie runs out of sets.

Okay, how she able to run up the stairs when she just got off her brace?

Yes, that blurry picture is Marion running up the stairs.

She makes it to another phone in a sawmill, but it is dead. The titular Blood Song plays.

A saw mill sounds like a great arena for the climax of a slasher movie. It would be even better if I could see what was happening.

Marion climbs up to the rafters and tosses a barrel down. Paul presses a switch and a machine starts. Marion jumps down and attempts to bust through a door.

All of this is probably really bad for her leg.

Marion grabs a bladed tool and thrusts it into Paul's side. She runs.

Paul

You hurt me. Really hurt me.

Paul chases Marion, clutching his side.

If there was any lighting, this might be suspenseful.

Marion hides in a tube. Paul attempts to do a creepy villain monologue, calling Marion a pretty girl and asking her to come out.

Paul

Peek-a-boo, I see you.

Mario stabs his hand and runs away.

Cut to the police at Marion's house, investigating her father's death.

I thought the next scene was Marion hiding outside, but it is really Marion hiding in another part of the mill. That's how bad the lighting is

A saw mill worker enters the mill and turns off the machine. Marion yells for help. Paul jumps in a forklift and runs him over

The music is telling me this is suspenseful.

Paul tries to run over Marion, but Marion climbs on a stack of boxes. Paul uses the forklift to pick up the boxes.

So...why is he trying to kill Marion? Because she has his blood? This premise gets dumber the more I think about i.

Marin jumps off the box into the forklift and hits Paul. She jumps off and Paul and the forklift plunge in the water.

Cut to the police bringing Marion in. In shock, Marion tells the police that she killed Paul because he killed all those people.

The police retrieve the forklift and the dead worker, Bill.

Paul hitches a ride with Joey to Portland. He survived?

Marion screams as some doctors restrain her. She is in the institution where Paul was.

A doctor comes to check on Marion. it's Paul!

That makes sense?

I thought the institution was a couple counties over. Didn't they have somewhere closer?

Blood Song (1982) has a great ending and a terrible hour and twenty-five minutes. It's no going to put anyone off blood donation.

Positive representation of blood donations is pointless. Everyone knows blood donation is good. You know which franchise has done tangible work in increasing blood donation? Saw. One of the silliest franchises ever has done more for people with chronic illnesses than any amount of pure representation.