Craig Rettig.com

“Exactly. I hunted them. And shall I tell you why? I’d been a scholar all my life. I was curator of a large museum. And the war began. I who had never killed anything in my life assigned to duty as a sniper — a sharpshooter — because of my steady hand and keen eyesight. (chuckles) It amuses me now that I found it distasteful at first. And as time went by I adjusted my new activity. For what had been an unpleasant duty became a pleasure then it developed into a passion and then into a lust. A lust for blood! A lust that has grown with the years! And one that I spend my entire life trying to satisfy.”

— Dr. Albert Balleau (Wilton Graff)

Bloodlust, much like The Corpse Vanishes, is another hybrid movie, this time combining the teen slasher genre with Richard Connell’s novella The Most Dangerous Game. Two teen couples out for a joyride on a boat decide to explore an island they’ve never seen before. While looking for stuff for a clambake, they become the unwilling “guests” of Dr. Balleau. It isn’t long before they find out his real passion as well as his sinister intentions toward them.

The movie itself is true ’50s horror camp, with Wilton Graff doing his darnedest to channel Vincent Price through an Orson Welles filter. Also of note is that the “leader” of the teen quartet is none other than Robert Reed, who later became the father on The Brady Bunch. It’s by far not one of the greatest movies of the genre, but it’s fun watching nonetheless.

UPDATE: I just found out you can watch this for free online at Classic Cinema Online.