Blood-A-Rama Triple Frightmare is a Blu-ray release featuring three obscure horror films, Help Me…I’m Possessed, Night of the Strangler, Carnival of Blood. The label AGFA released this trilogy of terror, while Vinegar Syndrome added a limited slipcover to add a little spice to it up.
Bill Greer (Charles in Charge) and Deedy Peters (House Calls) wrote and star in Help Me…I’m Possessed. This features Dr. Arthur Blackwood (Greer) and his wife Diane (Peters) who live and runs a sanitarium in the desert, where his hunchbacked servant (Pierre Agostino, Striker) whips women who are chained in the basement and cuts the legs off bodies, so they’ll fit in the caskets. This is all for an experiment to remove evils from their bodies.
Night of the Strangler is the tale of two brothers Vance (Micky Dolenz, vocalist, and drummer for The Monkees) and Dan (James Rolston, The Terminator), who suddenly learn that their younger sister Denise (Susan McCullough) is pregnant and getting married to Jake, an African American. Dan, a major-league racist is outraged over the interracial marriage to the point where he wants to disown her. But worse, this romance leads to a series of murders. Jake is shot, and Denise is drowned in a tub by a mysterious killer. More murders follow in this racially tense thriller with Vance, a pair of investigators and Father Jessie (Chuck Patterson, Law & Order), the local priest hot on the killer’s trail.
Carnival of Blood stars Dan (Martin Barlosky) who was just engaged to Laura (Judith Resnick), a student artist. She’s a neighbor to Tom (Earle Edgerton, Fleshpot on 42nd Street), who works at a carnival, along with his hunchbacked, deeply scarred assistant Gimpy (Burt Young (under a pseudonym), Rocky). When a murder occurs inside a house of horrors ride inside a tunnel, Dan, also wanting to celebrate his engagement, wants to learn more about it. Along with Laura they plan to have a fun time and investigate the murders which are still happening. It’s always a good idea to go to a carnival where a psychopathic killer is at large brutally murdering women!
I found all three of these films to be decent but dreary. I can see why they are obscurities but those who enjoy supremely low-budget genre films from the seventies will probably get a kick out of this release. My favorite of the three was Night of the Strangler, which oddly enough has no strangulations in it, as this was not the original title for the film. With a bigger budget and better actors, this could have been a much better movie. Help Me…I’m Possessed was about as ridiculous as the come and was in the league of Manos, the Hands of Fate! Carnival of Blood also had potential but the endless scenes at the carnival along with the fortune teller who refuses to tell fortunes made it a tedious viewing. The murder scenes were decent and revolting to an extent!
AGFA releases Blood-A-Rama Triple Frightmare on Blu-ray in a standard edition, minus the slipcover offering from Vinegar Syndrome. The films were given a 2K scan, which didn’t really help much, as they still look lousy. While they are upgrades to DVD quality, the three films all have audio and video issues which adds to the drive-in type of experience AGFA wanted anyway. So, if you are looking for remastered miracle for these movies, you won’t find it here. They are watchable, that’s about it.
Help Me… I’m Possessed used a print that is in rough shape, with long, deep scratches and vertical lines, missing frames, jump cuts and rugged reel changes throughout. Colors are washed out, faded, and generally look bad, but reds, however, look strongest on this release.
The video quality for Night of the Strangler isn’t much to brag about either as this presentation lacks details with faded, muted colors. Reds come in strongest, as the image as a reddish tint to it. The source is full of wear and tear which includes speckling, scratches, and rough frame cuts.
Carnival of Blood is also just as bad with the same issues of faded, muted colors and on top of that, there is plenty of chemical damage is present during the presentation. There is some detail to the scenery, but honestly the image for this movie and the others reminded me of those awful VHS quality days.
All three movies have the same audio, English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0. None of the film’s audio have crisp dialogue which I would say is at best acceptable, and is somewhat clear, but nothing robust or strong. The audio for all three films are filled with all kinds of age-old anomalies such as popping, crackling, and buzzing sounds. English subtitles are available for this Blu-ray release.
This release by AGFA as a few extras.
One feature entitled Drive-In Snipes can be viewed separately from the “Triple Frightmare” viewing option.
Carnival of Blood has a commentary featuring AGFA’s Joseph A. Ziemba and Bleeding Skull’s Annie Choi.
Some trailers are also part of the supplemental package.
Despite the subpar audio and video quality for these releases, The Blood-A-Rama Triple Frightmare release by AGFA should be appreciated by fans of these obscure horrors. At least they are out now in high definition!
Blood-A-Rama Triple Feature (Help Me…I’m Possessed, Night of the Strangler, Carnival of Blood)
Director- Charles Nizet (Help Me…I’m Possessed), Joy N. Houck Jr. (Night of the Stranger), Leonard Kirkman (Carnival of Blood)
Cast- Bill Greer,Deedy Peters( Help Me…I’m Possessed)Mickey Dolenz, James Ralston (Night of the Strangler),Earle Edgerton, Judith Resnick(Carnival of Blood)
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – AGFA
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –12/19/21