Sinner's Blood (1969) Online

SPOILERS INCLUDED A quite obscure movie, when it does turn up Sinner's Blood tends to be promoted as a biker film, but that only tells part of the story. Where Sinner's Bloods heart lies is lifting the lid off small town America recalling black and white exposes like Unholy Matrimony of the `do you know what your neighbours are really doing right now?' form of sexploitation. Barely released in its original version, Sinner's Blood was brought into the mid Seventies as `Hard Riders' with the plot interjected with explicit sequences from a Rene Bond movie- although seen by few in either variant this was an unhealthy little package to throw to a crowd expecting nominal thrills of the Angels Die Hard variety. Sisters Penny and Patrica leave Chicago for life in a small American town with their Aunt and Uncle after their Mother dies in an horrific car crash. Both the Aunt and Uncle come across as overblown grotesque characters, she is peacock like with buck teeth and a shrieking voice, he is bespectacled, balding and unshaven. Their brood fare no better, Edwina their daughter is a middle aged `girl' dressed in baby doll clothes who appears to be suffering from some mental condition, most outstanding is their son Aubrey a slack jawed backward giant naked save tight shorts and red socks whose nicknamed `the big peek freak'. There is an uncomfortable sexual atmosphere brought about by the sisters arrival, Uncle Clarence `accidently' walks into Penny undressing while Aubrey develops pictures of nude girls in his room. To add to the overbearing sordidness in the household a Peeping Tom is on the loose spying on the girls undressing. On the outskirts of town violence arrives in the form of bikers, who after fighting within their gang in the Grand Canyon, come to town and in a brutal moment chain whip a priest reducing his face to a bloody pulp. The bikers themselves are an oddball bunch portrayed either by gregarious actors you'd expect to see as pot bellied redneck sheriffs or beach bum/Tab Hunter types. Penny falls for a biker of the latter variant called Gentry while Patrica strikes up a friendship with Zak. Thereon in, director Neil Douglas plays the bad sister/good sister cliche card, Penny is seen as such a nymphomaniac to pull her nervous Uncle into the shower and becomes Gentry's hog Mamma, while innocent Patricia is preyed upon by the insane Edwina. Discovering one of the Peeping Tom's holes Aubrey spies upon Edwina and Patricia's amorous rendezvous with Douglas lapping up the melodrama at this point, cutting between the soft focus encounter and Aubrey feigning rage and ripping up his beloved girlie magazines. Already shown to be unnaturally possessive of `Ed', Aubrey bursts in ordering that Patrica should be punished and makes a feeble attempt to rape her. Disgusted by his actions he flees, coming across a biker orgy. In what could pass as the real thing Douglas bluntly films extras comprised of bearded men and stocky women in a unflattering manner that does no-one justice with the audience spared not one cellulite close up either. Amidst the biker action Zak discovers Gentry being intimate with another biker called Chip but when Penny discovers Gentry's sexual nature, as revenge she spikes his drink with acid. One drug fuelled bike ride later and Gentry is no more, leaving Penny in the vengeful company of Gentry's other half Chip- revealed as a ranting scared misogynist `don't touch me...... women are dirty' leading to one of the most strangest endings ever filmed. Sinner's Blood is bleak, everyone in the film is mean, nasty and perverted in one way or another. Its lack of sympathetic characters and seething hate seems genuinely driven by some real trauma involving decent people who are not what they seem. Zak's Priest father telling him he is not worthy of being a man, and his subsequent outpouring to escape to the big city appear animated by real life hurt. The cast of unknowns seem at times too perfectly cast in there roles, the actor playing Uncle Clarence could easily pass for a street hustler or a white slave trader. Chip is a hulking menacing piece of rough trade while John Talt's Aubrey remains one of cinemas great freaks. Although most of the worse acts are implied rather than shown Sinner's Blood is still risky, you are never aware of what plot contrivance or perversion will end up your way, and Sinner's Blood does pull out all the stops- voyeurism, assaults, infantilism and switchblade in the stomach gore all shot in a persistently ugly yet bawdy manner. Technically the film is a real mess, barely more impressive than a coin op loop- for which it draws comparisons with its hand drawn titles, jump cuts and poor photography. Theres no doubt though that Douglas achieves a sordid style that perfectly suits the shot in a day, hard X grinder that Sinner's Blood would eventually would become. Either as Sinner's Blood or Hard Riders, Douglas' rotten egg look at Americana is an inspired psychodrama everybit as sweaty and unpredictable as its protagonists.

A strange and subversive film, SINNER'S BLOOD seems destined for cult fanfare, yet remains slighted four decades after it was first brought forward. What little there is of a structured narrative concerns the corruption of two sisters when they arrive at their Aunt's home in quiet little Anytown, USA. There's evidence of brains and balls beneath the surface of this chiefly garden variety biker picture...the subtle mark of distinction being its illusive, gentle raise of the middle-finger toward ultraconservative American attitudes, and mores fostered by religious guilt.

Some softy sex, psychedlia, and obligatory lesbiana are on-hand to keep things lively, but what...the...HELL is that ending all about?? To spoil it here would be entirely inappropriate, but I will note that it's a quixotic conclusion so random that nobody could ever see it coming...I'm still unresolved on my feelings about it, as it's perched on a frustrating median between unexampled conceptual genius and punishably pretentious hogwash.

6/10...there are *some* who will appreciate it.

"Sinner's Blood" by Neil Douglas is a perfect example of late 60's exploitation trash.The film is loaded with dirt,sleaze and soft-core nudity and features one of the most bizarre and unexpected endings in the history of vintage trash cinema.The action of "Sinner's Blood" takes place in a small American town.Two sisters Penelope and Patricia arrive at their relatives' house when they meet their brother Aubrey.There is also highly unmenacing biker gang which features at least three gay bikers.There are bloody fight scenes,beer drinking,soft-core sleaze and a bit of lesbian sex.The film looks dirty and grainy and there are lots of close-ups.If you enjoyed "Sleazy Rider" or "Wrong Way" give "Sinner's Blood" a look.6 gay bikers out of 10.

This film essentially begins with two young sisters named "Penny" (Nanci Sheldon) and "Patricia" (Crusty Beal) arriving in a small town to live with their aunt and uncle for awhile. Also living in the house are their cousins named "Aubrey" (John Talt) and "Edwina" (Julie Conners) who are both kind of strange. Anyway, one thing leads to another and soon Penny decides to get involved with a guy named "Gentry" (unknown actor) who rides a motorcycle and harbors a secret that he doesn't want anybody to know about. Unfortunately, once the secret becomes known death and destruction quickly follows. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film had me both puzzled and bored very early on and this lasted until the rather bizarre ending. That said, I don't understand the current rating (of 5.5) on IMDb and can only conclude that I must have seen an edited version of this movie because--quite frankly--the acting wasn't good, the plot was jumbled and the picture quality could have used significant improvement as well. In any case, I didn't particularly care much for this movie and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

7.1?? Clearly my fellow IMDb voters have been imbibing something stronger than Ginger Ale, or they're all ex-bikers yearning for the good old days. I LOVE biker movies, and (Mini-Skirt Mob aside) this is the perhaps the worst I've ever seen. These hog riders drink, smoke, have sex, indulge in fisticuffs, and harass the locals at a church social, all to the tune of a very sub-Davie Allen style score. There's an extremely tentative lesbian scene (oh, those predatory lesbians), a voyeur, an LSD trip, and a seven-foot tall maladjusted beanpole, but this is tame stuff, my friends. I just can't imagine any of these mild ones pissing on each other's leather jackets--oh wait, none of them HAVE leather jackets.