Bloodsucking Freaks (1976) on Netflix
Sardu's Theater of the Macabre in New York stages torture and dismemberment that audiences take for trickery. He and Ralphus abduct ballerina Natasha Di Natalie to perform in a new show.
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- Netflix1.9/5
- IMDb4.7/106,751 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes29%
Trailer
Plot summary
In New York's SoHo, Master Sardu and his assistant Ralphus stage grotesque sadomasochistic acts at the Theater of the Macabre, using women who have been trafficked. Audiences take the bloodshed for fakery, though the torture and dismemberment are real, and women are held as slaves beneath the theater. The critic Creasy Silo pans the show as pretentious and exploitative, and Sardu has him seized. When the ballerina Natasha Di Natalie attends a performance with her boyfriend Tom, Sardu orders her kidnapped as well, intending her reputation to give the troupe artistic legitimacy and carry the act to Broadway. Tom finds her missing and joins the police officer John Tucci in the search.
Cast
- Dan Faucias Police Sgt. John Tucci
- Alan Dellayas Creasy Silo
- Helen Thompsonas Sardu's Assistant - Curled Hair
- Alphonso DeNobleas Middle Eastern White Slaver
Show all 20 cast
- Joann Sterlingas Human Dartboard
- Jennifer Stockas Girl on Rack
- Illa Howeas Girl on Guillotine
- Ernie Pysheras Doctor
- Carol Mara
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bloodsucking Freaks (1976)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Troma Entertainment released Blood Sucking Freaks with an R-rating label the MPAA had never approved, so the ratings board sued the distributor for copyright infringement; the case was settled when Troma was made to publish a public apology in The Hollywood Reporter.
- The violent deaths of lead actors Seamus O'Brien, stabbed in his apartment by a burglar, and Viju Krem, shot by her husband on a hunting trip, after the film's release also added to its notoriety.
- According to Troma executive Lloyd Kaufman, when the company submitted the film to the MPAA for its 1981 American release, the board approved only 54 minutes of it and refused an R-rating for the full-length cut.
- The Encyclopedia of Horror, which called the film deliberately tacky and in the spirit of Herschell Gordon Lewis, reports that it was the subject of a campaign by Women Against Pornography.
- Professional wrestler Chris Jericho named his bodyguard Ralphus during his time in World Championship Wrestling, borrowing the assistant's name from the film.
