31 Days of Horror Day 11 The Ghastly Ones AKA Blood Rites

TITLE-The Ghastly Ones AKA Blood Rites
FORMAT-Something Weird Video/Image DVD

Before watching this the only Andy Milligan film I had seen all of was Guru the Mad Monk. Which I had obtained on some cheap PD collection of 50 Horror movies.The film was low low budget but entertaining.

I had grown up hearing how bad Milligan's films were. And how they were the worst movies to ever get a theatrical release.Sometime in the late 90s/early 2000s Video Watchdog did a 3 issue long review of all of Milligan's films and peaked my interest in seeing them. Back at that time the only way was to either find long out of print VHS releases or pay 20 bucks and wait 3 weeks for a grey market VHS copy. Thankfully now lots of Milligan's horror films are out from  Something Weird Video and other companies. I think there is even a few of Milligan's films out on Blu Ray.

3 couples go to the wives dead father's house. If they spend 3 nights in sexual harmony they will inherit a bunch of money. But of course there is someone running around  killing people. The killer wears a cloak and puts an X on the victims before killing them in fairly gruesome ways.

The DVD is packed with extras. Trailers for what I assume is most of Milligan's horror output. A commentary on The Ghastly Ones by actor Hal Boske. Then two versions of the film Seeds of Sin. One is a workprint and the other is what got a theatrical release. Plus a trailer that contains scenes that aren't in either print.

The Ghastly Ones gets a B+

Guru the Mad Monk

Guru the Mad Monk
Directed by Andy Milligan
Source-Mill Creek Pure Terror 50 pack

I had never heard of Andy Milligan until years ago Tim Lucas did a 3 issue long article on him in Video Watchdog. This article got me interested into watching some of Milligan's films. Well I managed to see a few of his films,but kept hearing that Guru the Mad Monk was his best horror film. Well a few months back I got the Mill Creek Pure Terror 50 pack for a cheap price.

Guru is about a church in a tiny European village. Guru is the head of the church,and he is in charge of punishing all the criminals. It seems that other villages send their criminals to Guru's church. Well he has 3 main helpers. One is a hunchback ,who Guru treats like shit. Another is a lady who it seems is a vampire. Not sure cause it was never made clear if she is a vampire or just some sick person who loves to drink blood. And lastly we have Carl. He is Guru's main assistant. But Carl's girlfriend gets wrongly convicted of murder. So Guru helps fake her death and hides her out in the tower of the church. To page back Guru for his help Carl has to do all kinds of nasty things. Well it seems the head of all the churches in this country doesn't like Guru. And he shows up one day to replace Guru. Well this causes Guru to flip out and he kills his replacement plus the head of the church. Thanks to some help from the hunchback Carl and his girlfriend manage to escape.

It is obvious this film was made a very limited budget. But IIRC this was the only Andy Milligan film to be filmed on 35mm. Usually Andy filmed on 16mm short ends.The picture is good,and the colors look great. The sound is problematic. Lots of times it is hard to make out what people are saying cause the background noises and music drown out the dialogue. Also this film is kind of short. It is barely an hour. But it works at this length. Guru the Mad Monk gets a B-.