Blue Blood (1973 film)


Blue Blood is a 1973 British-Canadian horror film directed by Andrew Sinclair and starring Oliver Reed, Fiona Lewis, and Derek Jacobi. It was based on the novel The Carry-Cot by Alexander Thynn and was shot on location at Longleat House in Wiltshire.

Premise

A debauched young aristocrat entrusts the running of his country house to Tom, the butler, on whom he depends absolutely. Before long the servant begins to dominate his master, to the alarm of the newly-hired German nanny who senses sinister, demonic intent in Tom's control of the house.

Cast

In a contemporary review, Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin described Blue Blood as a series of "cheap, coarsely-filmed charades" and criticised the film's direction: "... once Sinclair gets down to working out his theme, the skimpiness of his material and the shoddiness of this TV-sketch technique become painfully evident." He added that Reed's performance made the character Tom "one of the most physically repellent of screen villains".