“Let it be known, sons and daughters, that Satan was an acid head. Drink from his cup. Pledge yourselves, and together we’ll all freak out.”

So opens 1970’s gore shocker I Drink Your Blood, with it’s Manson-esque satanic hippie cult—a cult who was written into the picture, after the first draft of the script, to exploit the nation-wide hysteria surrounding the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969.

Allegedly, the first film to receive an “X” rating due to violence rather than sex, I Drink Your Blood is the story of a group of acid-dropping satanists who wreak havoc in a small town until a local boy serves them meat pies he’s injected with rabid dog’s blood in retaliation for the cult raping his sister and dosing his grandfather. Soon the devil-worshiping hippies all become rabid, mouth-foaming, bloodthirsty zombie maniacs and go on a berserk killing spree, infecting everyone in town with rabies.

The movie is just as batshit as that description sounds. How could it not be?
 

 
The film was shot in Sharon Springs, NY which was practically a ghost-town at the time of filming. The production paid $300 for use of a run-down hotel which was scheduled for demolition. The crew ended up doing much of the demolition themselves during the course of the filming. According to the film’s director, David E. Durston, tensions ran high in the small town where the locals seemed to feel as if the actors in the film were actually for-real satanic hippies. These misunderstandings culminated with the locals calling the sheriff after witnessing Durston “motivating” actress Iris Brooks for an emotional scene. Luckily no one was arrested, and filming was allowed to resume, giving us the masterpiece that still shocks to this day.
 

 
Boutique label, Grindhouse Releasing, is issuing a new deluxe Blu-ray version of I Drink Your Blood this week with a bunch of killer extras including one of the best horror movie tie-in gimmicks since the Sinful Dwarf‘s Torben doll.

The limited release of I Drink Your Blood includes a “horror hypo” which you can use to draw out rabid dog’s blood to infect your friends!
 

Dog’s blood rising.
 
In addition to the “horror hypo,” and the HD restoration of the uncut print of I Drink Your Blood, the set includes an informative commentary track with director David Durston and star Bhaskar, four never-before-seen deleted scenes, interviews with Durston, and stars Lynn Lowry, Tyde Kierney, and Jack Damon.

This set also features a stunning print of the not-often-seen I Eat Your Skin, which was famously paired on a double-bill with I Drink Your Blood on the early ‘70s drive-in circuit. I Eat Your Skin is, arguably, a bit of a snoozer, but for me it was cool to see a movie that I had previously only ever read about.
 

 
One of the real treats to Grindhouse’s set is the inclusion of director David Durston’s long-lost X-rated psychedelic thriller, Blue Sextet, which has previously never seen a home video release. Though it’s far from being a masterpiece, Blue Sextet does have its moments of wild imagery, that make it worth viewing.

Grindhouse has provided Dangerous Minds with this exclusive clip:
 

 
I Drink Your Blood remains a shocking and highly unusual film with performances that rise above the film’s low budget and campy storyline. I had the opportunity a few months back to see it in a packed theater, with about three-quarters of the audience having never previously seen it. People were screaming. It’s a testament to the theory that the only bad movies are boring movies.

And I Drink Your Blood is ANYTHING but boring.

This trailer should serve as evidence: