Big fan of Jack Hill so jumped right into this. The funny thing about Blood Bath is how labyrinthine it’s production history is. There are at least four different cuts of this thing with completely different plots, scenes and characters. I decided to watch the cut known as Blood Bath as it is the one featuring the most of Jack Hill’s work.

It’s a rather slight movie but is quite beautifully shot. Bathed in chiaroscuro lighting and extreme angles, the influence of Welles is felt in the visual design but the presence of a pulpy vampire plot sets it apart. It also predicts the cinematography of Spider Babywhich Hill would direct straight after this and have far more success with. There’s undeniable atmosphere in this thing and the film is best experienced as a kind of screen-saver of gothic black and white imagery. As soon as you try to engage with anything else it becomes tedious. The story is nonsensical and the acting adept at best but it’s your typical quickie Roger Corman production made atypical due to it’s schizophrenic mishmash of alternate cuts. An example of a movie with a production history far more fascinating than the film itself.