Blood Bath | 1976 | USA | Joel M. Reed

An anthology horror movie in the style of many Amicus productions, Blood Bath takes from a variety of exploitation styles to pad out its collection of short tales with varying degrees of success. Peter, a successful director and actor, invites some high class moviemakers to an intimate dinner party, where they each regale tales of the occult, supernatural and paranormal. A round-robin of narratives ensues, including an assassin who tastes karma in the most poetic way, a magic talisman that grants wishes in the most deadly fashion, a miserly banker who dances with death and finally, a greedy martial artist who fails to learn the most important lesson of all. Peter however, has possibly the most shocking story of them all. Surprisingly mild and subdued for the director of Bloodsucking Freaks, the film has some interesting people in it such as Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) and P.J. Soles (Halloween), but seemed to be snatched up by the police for having the misfortune of sharing a release title with Mario Bava’s film, one of the legitimate video nasties.