Trailer
Plot summary
Ellie Masters lives in a small town where her mother Edna works as a prostitute. Edna and a man sharing her bed are beaten with a hammer and the room is set alight; Ellie wakes screaming from a nightmare of it. Still a minor and a ward of the state, she is placed by the social worker Mullins at the Deere Youth Home, an orphanage in the countryside kept by the widowed Mrs. Deere and her handyman. Mrs. Deere rations meals and puts the children to long hours of labor to pay their way. Ellie wants to find the father she has never met. Calvin Carruthers, the detective investigating her mother's murder, takes an interest in what becomes of her, and she gets to know the other children, among them Bunch, Walter and Pete.
Cast
- Terri Messinaas Bunch
- Ronald Taftas Walter
- Peter Armstrongas Ernest
- Maggie Coreyas Jennifer
- Mary Strawberryas Nurse
- Louise Sherrillas Edna Masters
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Blood and Lace (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Fangoria's Ken Hanley credited Blood and Lace as one of the first American "proto-slasher films," placing it ahead of Halloween, Black Christmas and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, all from 1974 or later.
- Star Melody Patterson fell ill with the flu early in the shoot, which affected her speaking voice, so her voice in the film's opening scene was dubbed in post-production by actress June Foray.
- Louise Sherrill, who plays Ellie's mother in the opening scene, helped secure the Franklin Avenue house used as the Deere Orphanage; the residence stood empty when the film was shot there.
- Because the film's budget was so small, the filmmakers pulled their music and sound effects from free library archives, giving the soundtrack a 1950s and 1960s horror and monster movie feel.
