{ "id": "ep972h26ah", "slug": "i-drink-your-blood", "title": "I Drink Your Blood", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.exploitation-and-extreme-horror-films", "label": "Exploitation and extreme horror films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.exploitation-and-extreme-horror-films" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror", "label": "Horror films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror" } ] } ], "excerpt": "I Drink Your Blood: 1970 American grindhouse horror film by David E. Durston, also known by working title Phobia; rabid-dog-blood meat pies infect a Satanic hippie cult; first MPAA X rating for violence alone.", "snippet": "I Drink Your Blood: 1970 American grindhouse horror film by David E. Durston, also known by working title Phobia; rabid-dog-blood meat pies infect a Satanic hippie cult; first MPAA X rating for violence alone.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.horror.exploitation-and-extreme-horror-films", "markdown": "# I Drink Your Blood\n\n**I Drink Your Blood** is a 1970 American exploitation horror film directed and written by David E. Durston, in which a boy takes revenge on a Satanic hippie cult by feeding it meat pies injected with the blood of a rabid dog, turning the cultists rabid and setting them on a murderous rampage through a small town.[1](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/I_Drink_Your_Blood) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_drink_your_blood) Produced by Jerry Gross and distributed by Cinemation Industries, it is remembered chiefly as the first film the MPAA rated X for violence alone, and for its long afterlife on home video and in grindhouse (theater showing low-budget exploitation films; central to article) revival culture.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/trivia/) • [4](https://grindhousereleasing.com/grindhouse-releasing-announces-i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / writer | David E. Durston[1](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/I_Drink_Your_Blood) |\n| Production / distribution | Jerry Gross Productions; Cinemation Industries[1](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/I_Drink_Your_Blood) |\n| US release | January 20, 1971 (limited)[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/releaseinfo/) |\n| Working title | *Phobia*, changed so the film could be double-billed with *I Eat Your Skin*[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337) |\n| Rating history | Initially rated X for excessive violence; changed to R after cuts and additions[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337) |\n| Filming location | A ghost town near Sharon Springs, upstate New York, over eight days in 1970[7](https://mountaineagle.net/articles/display/filmed-locally-i-drink-your-blood/) |\n| Notable cast | Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury, Jadine Wong, Rhonda Fultz, George Patterson, Riley Mills, and Lynn Lowry in her first film role[1](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/I_Drink_Your_Blood) • [8](https://www.genregrinder.com/post/i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray-review-originally-published-2016) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nA group of Satan-worshipping hippies arrives in a fading small town when their bus breaks down, terrorizes the residents, and takes over an abandoned hotel. They rape a local girl and dose her grandfather with LSD. Her young brother, seeking revenge, shoots a rabid dog, draws its blood with a syringe, and injects it into meat pies from the town bakery, which he then sells to the cult. The infected cultists descend into a rabid, murderous frenzy, killing and infecting others, including workers at a nearby dam.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_drink_your_blood) • [9](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/i-drink-your-blood)\n\nDespite the title, no one drinks blood in the film; the name came from an advertising executive's idea for a double feature pairing, *I Drink Your Blood* and *I Eat Your Skin*.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/trivia/)\n\n## Production\n\nDurston wrote the screenplay under the working title *Phobia*. According to his audio commentary on the 2002 director's cut DVD, distributor Cinemation Industries changed the title because it wanted to pair the film with *I Eat Your Skin*, a 1964 zombie film, in a joint release.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337) Durston stated that he partially based the story on [Charles Manson](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-manson), whose cult's crimes were then recent news.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337)\n\nThe film was shot on location in a ghost town near Sharon Springs in upstate New York over eight days in 1970; locations included the old Roosevelt Hotel on Washington Street, which was torn down in 1976.[7](https://mountaineagle.net/articles/display/filmed-locally-i-drink-your-blood/) Durston himself stepped in to play the town doctor at the last minute after an actor dropped out.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/trivia/) The cast includes the dancer and choreographer Bhaskar Roy Chowdhury as cult leader Horace Bones, a performance critics have singled out as the film's strongest element, and a young Lynn Lowry, uncredited and mute, in her first screen appearance.[9](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/i-drink-your-blood) • [8](https://www.genregrinder.com/post/i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray-review-originally-published-2016)\n\n## Censorship and ratings\n\nAccording to a February 1971 *Hollywood Reporter* news item, the film was initially assigned an [X rating](https://www.edgepedia.org/x-rating) because of excessive violence, and the rating was changed to R after cuts and additions were made.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337) IMDb trivia and the distributor Grindhouse Releasing both describe it as the first film rated X by the MPAA on the basis of violence alone.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/trivia/) • [4](https://grindhousereleasing.com/grindhouse-releasing-announces-i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray/)\n\nThe film's release history is tangled. IMDb's alternate-versions entry states that the original 73-minute cut received the X rating and that the film was re-edited, with scenes added, to an R-rated 83 minutes, while the AFI Catalog lists the running time as 80 or 82 to 83 minutes.[10](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/alternateversions/) • [6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337) Durston said that when theaters threatened to pull the film over the X rating, the distributor allowed them to edit their own prints, producing hundreds of different versions in circulation.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/trivia/) One excised sequence, restored on the 2002 DVD, shows the character Rollo stabbing Shelley twelve times in the chest and cutting off his leg with a hatchet.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film was, by Grindhouse Releasing's account, a big grossing hit at drive-ins and grindhouse theaters despite the censorship, and it has since been described as one of the most infamous movies in the history of exploitation films.[4](https://grindhousereleasing.com/grindhouse-releasing-announces-i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray/) Contemporary critical opinion is mixed: on Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 60% Tomatometer score from four reviews, with critics such as Scott Weinberg calling it a looser, sillier cousin of *Night of the Living Dead* while conceding that it moves fast.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_drink_your_blood) Reviewers have noted its practical gore effects, its minimalist electronic score by Clay Pitts, and its place in the short-lived \"evil hippie\" cycle of early 1970s horror.[8](https://www.genregrinder.com/post/i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray-review-originally-published-2016) • [11](https://silverscreenriot.com/the-deepest-cuts-i-drink-your-blood-1970/)\n\nThe film was not copyrighted at the time of release; a videocassette version was copyrighted by Valiant International Pictures on April 5, 1995.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337) Grindhouse Releasing issued an authorized special edition DVD in 2002, restoring long-lost scenes with Durston's participation, and in November 2016 a deluxe two-disc Blu-ray presenting the uncut director's cut in high definition alongside *I Eat Your Skin* and Durston's *Blue Sextet* (1969).[12](https://grindhousereleasing.com/i-drink-your-blood/) • [4](https://grindhousereleasing.com/grindhouse-releasing-announces-i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray/) The film has also been featured in documentaries and retrospectives on grindhouse cinema, including *American Grindhouse* and the \"Video Nasties\" guide.[1](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/I_Drink_Your_Blood)\n\n## References\n\n1. [I Drink Your Blood, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/I_Drink_Your_Blood)\n2. [I Drink Your Blood, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_drink_your_blood)\n3. [I Drink Your Blood (1971) Trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/trivia/)\n4. [Grindhouse Releasing Announces I DRINK YOUR BLOOD Blu-ray!](https://grindhousereleasing.com/grindhouse-releasing-announces-i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray/)\n5. [I Drink Your Blood (1971) Release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/releaseinfo/)\n6. [I Drink Your Blood (1971), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/54337)\n7. [Filmed Locally: I Drink Your Blood, The Mountain Eagle](https://mountaineagle.net/articles/display/filmed-locally-i-drink-your-blood/)\n8. [I Drink Your Blood Blu-ray Review, GenreGrinder](https://www.genregrinder.com/post/i-drink-your-blood-blu-ray-review-originally-published-2016)\n9. [I Drink Your Blood, Screen Slate](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/i-drink-your-blood)\n10. [I Drink Your Blood (1971) Alternate versions, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067229/alternateversions/)\n11. [The Deepest Cuts: 'I DRINK YOUR BLOOD' (1970), Silver Screen Riot](https://silverscreenriot.com/the-deepest-cuts-i-drink-your-blood-1970/)\n12. [I DRINK YOUR BLOOD, Grindhouse Releasing](https://grindhousereleasing.com/i-drink-your-blood/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Exploitation and extreme horror films*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"I Drink Your Blood\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[I Drink Your Blood](https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood](https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"I Drink Your Blood\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/i-drink-your-blood. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "I Drink Your Blood: 1970 American grindhouse horror film by David E." }