BLOOD AND LACE (1971)

Directed by Philip S. Gilbert

Starring Melody Patterson and Vic Tayback

An awesome, sadly forgotten, early `70s horror film, "Blood and Lace" was released by American International, which has seen many of its best fear flicks go out of print, possibly because of disputes over music rights. This film's opening murder must have inspired John Carpenter, who filmed the first killing in "Halloween" in a similar way.

Rated PG when it was released, this would easily get an R today. Patterson plays an orphan whose slutty mother was murdered by a hammer-wielding maniac. Tayback (perhaps best remembered for his role on the hit TV series "Alice") plays a detective who`s investigating.

Concerned that the hammer-wielding killer is on her trail, Patterson nonetheless is sent to an orphanage that presents even greater dangers: The foster mom who owns it slaughters any of the juveniles who try to run away. She then freezes their bodies and tells auditors that they`re "sick," so she can continue collecting money from the state. Talk about abusing the system! When a masked, hammer-wielding killer shows up, things get even more interesting.

"Blood and Lace" is a shocking, nihilistic movie, even for our current times. I caught it on afternoon television as a youth and had trouble finding it, until I ran into an underground videotape of the cult classic. Director Gilbert never made another film, but writer Gil Lasky produced the Jack Hill cult classic "Spider Baby."

Tragically, this flick is damn hard to find. But if you do run into it, make the effort to see it. Not to be confused with the similarly titled Mario Bava film "Blood and Black Lace."

Catch it if you can.