Dolls and Blood (Private Parts), Paul Bartel's acclaimed debut film, is a grotesque comedy that veers into horror.
Debtor to Psycho by Hitchcock, Dolls and Blood stars Cheryl (Ayn Ruymen), an underage girl who, after running away from home and following a fight with her adventure friend, seeks hospitality from her aunt Marta (Lucille Benson) in Los Angeles. The old woman in fact runs a hotel whose very bizarre clients arouse the girl's curiosity. Strange nocturnal noises prompt Cheryl to delve into the rooms forbidden to her by her aunt, but when the young girl becomes infatuated with photographer George (John Ventantonio), one of the condominiums, the elderly woman will question herself, revealing her true nature.
Dolls and Blood (USA - 1972) is a film that is striking precisely because of the general squalor that constantly prevails. The story (Philip Kearney and Les Rendelstein) in fact has a dark and deviant soul, full of morbid situations and also various perversions in which there is no lack of veiled humor. Thus, in this decaying context very ambiguous characters embodying one or more paraphilias (including also voyeurism and fetishism) come to life.
A sense of location neglect (the sinister hotel with its dingy rooms) and photography (by Andrew Davis) with livid colors, typical of the 1970s, complete this dazzling grotesque picture capable of exerting a strong fascination on the viewer.
The focus of the story of Dolls and blood is sexuality, which in Bartel's film is approached from several angles: the mischievous underage girl who is infatuated with a mysterious man who has a passion for blow-up dolls; the very protective aunt who hates “stuffed-up” girls and easy-going and therefore hostile toward sex; the gay Reverend who is a collector of crucifixes and holy pictures but also of photos of naked muscular boys...
Dolls and blood is thus a successful mix of eroticism, oppression, and sexual deviation. Turbid to the core, it gives a cruel and ironic ending reminiscent, in some ways, The house from the windows laughing (1976) by Pupi Avati.
In the cast: Ayn Ruymen, Lucille Benson, John Ventantonio, Laurie Main, Stanley Livingston, and Charles Woolf.
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The cult film Dolls and blood arrives for the first time in digital format on the Italian market thanks to Sinister Film (for the “Horror d'essai” series) and CG Entertainment. This is an inviting edition with decent audio and video. An unmissable DVD although in the extras there is only the film's original trailer.
Format: DVD
Label: Sinister Film
Video: 16/9 1.78:1
Duration: 82′
Audio: Dolby Digital Dual Mono | Italian, Dolby Digital Dual Mono | English
N. Discs: 1
Subtitles: Italian
EXTRA: movie trailer
