One of my all time favorites.

A Major Disappointment

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I saw this film purely based on the fact that it was on the DPP Video Nasty list, and while I'm glad I saw it because it's now 'another Video Nasty down' - on its own merits, Andy Milligan's film really isn't worth bothering with. There are, of course, far worse films on the infamous list; but that doesn't make the pain of viewing this one any easier. The film was obviously shot on an extremely low budget, and that has translated into the script; as Blood Rites works on an idea often seen in horror cinema, and doesn't do anything new with it. Basically, the plot centres on three couples who find themselves at a house awaiting the results of a will. It's not long before they start getting picked off...blah blah blah. For most of the film, nothing happens; and then when we finally get down to the scenes that justify the movie being banned, they're so amateurish and silly that they're impossible to take seriously on any level. It's a very good thing that this movie doesn't have a very long running time as otherwise it could have been used as a particularly nasty method of torture. It all boils down to a fittingly tedious ending, which also succeeds in being a non-event of epic proportions. Apparently, this movie is still banned here in the UK; but somehow I doubt it's because of its shock value. Basically, Blood Rites isn't worth seeing and I personally can see no reason to recommend it. Unless, of course, you've made it your business to see everything on the Video Nasty list...

Staten Island filmmaker Andy Milligan is well known in the horror community for being an even worse director than Ed Wood. And with this as a dim example of his output I'm apt to agree with them. In "The Ghastly Ones" we basically have three bickering couples traveling to their childhood home (located on a conveniently secluded island) to collect an inheritance. There they are killed off one by one and the events unfold in murder/mystery fashion with a scarred retard hunchback butler added to throw you for a loop. The film is in such bad shape that it looks like someone just ran it through a dishwasher, the sound is terrible, the dialog is otherworldly bad, there's some primitive mannequin gore (plus some dismemberments and guts) and it's technically inept in every possible way it can be inept. But is it enjoyable in a bad movie kind of way? Sort of. It's excruciating to watch but oddly entertaining in a train wreck fashion. Approach with caution. If you're not a fan of horrible movies better deep six this one.

**May Contain Spoilers**A gore opera set in the late 1800s, made by one of the most infamous exploitationers of all time. Three sisters and their husbands convene on Crenshaw Island for the reading of the family will. The tired plot is given new blood–and guts–when a hooded mutilator starts knocking off the heirs with pitchforks, saws and meat cleavers. A real backyard effort, literally, since the $8,000 horror was shot on Staten Island property owned by Milligan at the time. Of course, you're better off filming at home when you set your actors on fire and splatter gore all over the walls. During one nasty murder, Milligan's voice can be heard on the soundtrack as he gives direction. Effects range from fake and obvious to fairly gruesome. These include dismemberment, eyeball-yanking, hanging, bisection, stabbing, evisceration, a cleaver in the skull and a severed head on a turkey platter. Except for Hal Borske's sympathetic portrayal of an abused hunchback, the acting is comically bad. This looney-tune for gorehounds is worth checking out--especially if you want to delight fellow trash-fiends and appall your friends who enjoy normal motion pictures.

The Ghastly Ones (1968) is a shocking film.Still banned in the United Kingdom to this day, the film remains a spectacular horror story. I watched the film many years ago when it was shown on TV, and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.A very gory and horrific, violent film it is, but very enjoyable.I would recommend this film to anyone who is looking for a goodnight scare.