Early 60's drive-in potboiler is a take-off of the classic Most Dangerous Game with two twenty-something couples (which includes Robert Reed who'd go on to play the father in the cult TV series, The Brady Bunch) heading-off to a remote island only to be taken in by an eccentric millionaire (Wilton Graff, who's no Vincent Price despite the smoking jacket and omnious line delivery) who decides to hunt them in the nearby jungles using a crossbow so he can display them in his underground "trophy room" (where it's discovered he keeps his human prey on display in glass cases).

From there it's all sorts of unsuspenseful jungle scenes, a couple of dips in some quicksand, lots of leeches, a trip into an acid bath for one of the guards, and lots of fairly dull sneaking around.

Bloodlust! is certainly nothing special and the entire thing is pretty silly, but it makes for a mild diversion and running at a mere 68 minutes it doesn't get as tiring as if it was, say. 90 minutes. But it's still a low-scale melodramatic time that contains minimal excitement, the expected "shock" scenes, some dumb dialogue (like Graff's speech about his "bloodlust"), and a finale that actually turns out to be not so bad in a cornball sort of way.

Speaking of Graff, like I mentioned before he seems to be trying to be a poor man's Price - and the movie certainly could have benefited from starring everyone's favourite horror baddie instead of a cheap knock-off. (Chris Hartley, 3/17/05)

Directed By: Ralph Brooke.
Written By: Ralph Brooke.

Starring: Wilton Graff, June Kenny, Walter Brooke, Robert Reed.