Woodyanders Sensitive young Sarah (an appealing portrayal by fetching brunette Claudia Peyton) and her boyfriend Ted (likeable James Fitzgibbons) decide to spend Christmas with Ted's loopy psychic artist mother Cathy (a seriously strange performance by Helen Benton) in rural Wisconsin. Things go dangerously awry when a lethal wacko in a samurai outfit (!) shows up and starts bumping people off.Wtiter/director Fabrice A. Zaphiratos makes nice use of the lovely forest locations, presents an interesting array of colorful oddball characters, and crafts a genuinely disorienting off-kilter spooky atmosphere. Moreover, the glacial pacing, increasingly bizarre narrative (the samurai's attacks are apparently triggered by Sarah's orgasms!), the wonky synthesizer score, lovably low-rent (not so) special effects, and, best of all, these jarring classic music compositions frequently blasting away on the soundtrack during the more intense moments all further enhance this film's considerable outre charm. Vladimir Van Maule's sharp cinematography boasts several freaky stylistic flourishes. A truly peculiar one-of-a-kind oddity.

Michael_Elliott Blood Beat (1983) * 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely bizarre low-budget slasher about a group of people living in the woods of Wisconsin where they hunt deer and do very little else. One of the women begins to see strange things and before long a samurai warrior has her possessed.Fabrice A. Zaphiratos wrote, composed, edited, shot and directed this bizarre film that's not really that good but at the same time if I ever met the man I'd have to shake his hand. I say that because quite often low-budget movies try to cash in on a popular genre while not doing anything original. If you're familiar with the slasher craze that was going on during this period then you know it was basically a bunch of horny teens in a variety of locations being stalked by a killer.What's so interesting about BLOOD BEAT is the fact that the director really did try to do something different. This is a very bizarre movie and it's not one that is easy to write about because it's so darn weird that most people wouldn't believe what you're saying. The possession scenes, if you want to call them that, are being weird in their own right and why a samurai? In fact, why a samurai in Wisconsin of all places? The entire movie was obviously shot on a low-budget so there aren't any good special effects, no real memorable kills or anything like that.The only thing you've got is this really weird idea that plays out about as weird as you could expect. I keep using the words bizarre and weird but there's really not other way to describe this movie. The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this and there's really nothing good here. The budget was way too low for the material to work but once again I tip my hat to the filmmaker for at least trying something different. In doing so he's at least created something you won't forget.

ken-schaefer I quite frankly don't see how anyone who has reviewed this movie has the ability to describe it. The audio is so muddy, and the lighting so poor, that I had absolutely no idea what was going on or why. Some deer hunters and other area yokels are killed by a bright blue light with a sword. Okay, yeah, fine, whatever. I was unsure even what their relationships were. It seemed like they were all related, but then they were sleeping together, so either there was incest, or they call each other brother and sister even though they're married. Maybe a cult? Couldn't tell you and could NOT care less. Avoid unless you are trying to get your Hurter Qual Card punched. It's not worth the time you will spend going "Wait, what?"

unbrokenmetal I was quite surprised by this movie. Obviously it was made with no money at all, but acting, photography, editing and story are well done. Proves once more you can do an entertaining movie with very little. "Blood Beat" owes a bit to "Poltergeist", "Witchboard" and "The Shining" maybe, but has a good storyline of its own about the ghost of evil (dressed up as a samurai warrior, also incarnated in one young lady) against a family whose members seem to have a certain talent for (good) magic. The special FX to show the magic (red powerlines vs blue powerlines) look ridiculous by today's standards, but hey, this is just a cheap little horror movie to waste a Sunday afternoon with, okay? The movie has a couple of memorable scenes (e.g. the samurai slaying the older woman, while the possessed young lady is getting more and more "excited", I thought the rapid cutting was breathtaking). If you see a copy on a probably dusty shelf, give it a try, as the video tape will be cheap I bet.