Sangre azul

That's the question butler Oliver Reed asks of aristocrat Fiona Lewis in Andrew Sinclair's BLUE BLOOD (1973), one of the oddest movies you'll ever encounter. Novelist Sinclair had just come from doing his interesting but quirky adaptation of Dylan Thomas' UNDER MILK WOOD with Richard Burton & Peter O'Toole. This time around Sinclair adapted a bizarre story by an English aristocrat who co-wrote and co-produced the film and even allowed his historic estate to be used as the setting. On the surface BLUE BLOOD resembles Joseph Losey's THE SERVANT where Dirk Bogarde begins to dominate his employer.

This time around its Oliver Reed as the sinister butler and he employs one of the strangest accents ever heard. The story starts with an unflattering portrayal of the British upper class and then progresses from domination by domestics to possible Satanic goings on. BLUE BLOOD is incomprehensible at times and positively revels in its weirdness plus you get to see a lot of the young Derek Jacobi and Fiona Lewis as the aristocratic couple. Too bad there are no subtitles with the DVD as some of the accents and dialogue (primarily Reed's) are very difficult to understand. Worth seeing for the people involved and for the incredible house and grounds...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

An outstanding acting by the good old and never enough recognized Derek Jacobi and of course, Ollie Reed that here makes the perfect butler, stiff, stone-faced, confident and knowledgeable. I would've welcomed subtitles when he spoke Geordie dialect though. The setting is sublime and the environs perfect for a bunch of lunatics trying to fit in the social expectations of the time. We even get a most wonderful song to a nanny! If you are a nanny you will be proud of this beautiful rendering. As always British use in their films sophisticated cars that I very much enjoy seeing. All in all another masterpiece of British film making even if the Director only started (and ended) his career with this film.

This one really BOMBED! After watching most of Reed's films and his horror films being my most favorite I decided to watch this flop. What a big disappointment this was. Reed stars as a snobbish butler with an accent that changes like a bad ventriloquist dummy that is supposed to be the leader of a Satanic cult gathered in the mansion of it's rich owner with two bratty kids that have to be looked after by a strange and dumb maid because his wife is to busy singing and he's to busy sleeping with his girlfriend on the side and meanwhile the butler sends strange images to the maid and owner of Reed in the worst makeup job I have ever seen but what makes him look worse is the room in which he practices his worship is all red and you can barely see him anyway. This movie isn't at all Satanic in any way except for the few glimpses of Reed tormenting people and he gets blamed for all the misuse of the children and the things that go on with the house. This movie is boring from beginning to end, very slow dialogue and false advertisement of the point of the title. This movie isn't even a horror movie, it's a boring drama! Avoid it! Watch "Burnt Offerings" and "The Brood" thats Reeds strangest and his best in horror.

Despite the presence of the late, great Oliver Reed, this is a slow moving Pinteresque drama which fails to grab the attention.

Derek Jacobi is okay as the wimpy lord of the manor who finds his servants are actually devil worshippers - or something. The plot is obviously inspired by a mix of Upstairs Downstairs and Rosemary's Baby and there's the odd, bizarre flash frame to keep you interested.

Worth a look only for the stunning Fiona Lewis who has rarely been more gorgeous. Watch it for her brief scenes alone and it will be a worthwhile experience.

Two questions remain unanswered after finishing "Blue Blood". What the hell is it? And why was it ever made? Now, I don't know what other people seek in movies, but to me those answers are crucial. Initially, I was quite excited - and mildly surprised - to find this title on Netflix. A psychedelic British horror/cult movie from 1974 and starring one of my all-time favorite actors (Oliver Reed) is an unusual find in their streaming offer, to say the least. "Blue Blood" turns out a massive disappointment, because the storyline is thin & senseless, the whole thing is boring beyond words, and Reed does not only act bizarre, but he also talks bizarrely.

The story - or lack thereof - entirely takes place in a massive mansion on a large country estate that is also a sort of zoo/safari park. The owner is a Lord (Derek Jacobi) who's only interested in having sons to continue the family legacy, and the most powerful person in the house is the head servant Tom (Oliver Reed). Tom uses drugs and black magic to manipulate everyone on the estate, also including the Lord's wife and mistress, and the newly arrived well-mannered German nanny.

Sounds interesting, and I'm convinced it could have been with a more gifted director and a slightly more elaborated script, but it's just slow, uneventful, dull, and irritating. Oliver Reed is the type of actor who gave stellar performances when he himself believed the film was great ("The Devils", "Revolver"), but when he didn't like it - like clearly the case here - he is arrogant and passive.

Now that I have reviewed approximately 5,500 horror & cult movies, I must admit I've had a few minor panic attacks about "running out". Not running out of titles to watch, because there are literally thousands of horror titles out there and new ones are being released on an almost daily basis. No, I'm worried about running out of GOOD movies from my favorite decades: the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Lately, when discovering obscure titles from these eras, they all turn out to be major disappointments. Like "Blue Blood", in fact.