Movie From the Past - I Drink Your Blood - 1971

I Drink Your Blood is a 1971 American exploitation horror film written and directed by David E. Durston, produced by Jerry Gross, and starring Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, and Lynn Lowry. The film centers on a small town that is overrun by rabies-infected members of a Satanic hippie cult after a revenge plot goes horribly wrong.

The story was inspired by reports of an incident in a mountain village in Iran in which a pack of rabid wolves attacked a schoolhouse, infecting people with rabies. Further inspiration came from coverage of the trial of Charles Manson. Principal photography took place in Sharon Springs, New York over eight weeks, with the cast consisting of mostly unknown and amateur actors.

I Drink Your Blood was marketed and released as a double feature with Del Tenney's previously unreleased 1964 film Zombies, which Gross had acquired and retitled I Eat Your Skin. I Drink Your Blood was one of the first films to receive an X-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America based on violence rather than on nudity. Since its initial release, the film has received generally mixed-to-positive reviews; some critics praised Chowdhury's performance and the film's ability to shock, while others have criticized its explicit violence. I Drink Your Blood has garnered a cult following and is widely cited as a classic exploitation film.