This film is not what I expected. I went in expecting this to be an erotic sci-fi film where an illness would spread causing people to feel super into having sex. Basically I thought it would be more sensual and less violent/rapey. Part of my issue with the story is the rules of the parasite are all over the place. Some people end up eating people others end up just wanting to FUCK. It’s interesting to compare what was considered racy in the 70s versus today. The “orgy’ scenes feature everyone in clothes and seeing a few breasts every once in awhile. I can only imagine what would be filmed if someone like Gaspar Noé made this. Additionally you don’t see many examples of the people in the building loosing it. It is a really strange choice to show a man making out with his daughter and the a little girl kissing a grown man in slow motion as two of the main examples of what is happening in the building when we don’t see a huge variation. What I got was a B-Horror movie in the spirit of NIGHT OF THE CREEPS or a Roger Corman film. A lot of it also feels very inspired by NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, especially when starts eating the guy. This makes sense since the film is low budget and Ivan Reitman was really playing in this area (like he did with CANNIBAL GIRLS) a lot at the time. There are so many little low budget filmmaking things that reminded me to making movies with my friends as a kid that filled me with glee. These usually have to do with the creature and effects shots as well as quick editing to make it feel legitimate. For instance we will see the creature move a little then see a trail of blood going away. It weirdly seems cheesy & stupid but also really effective simultaneously. This is an apt description for the tone of the entire film. The design of the creature actually reminded me a bit of beginning version of the creature John Carpenter’s THE THING. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t looked at as some sort of inspiration. This is also a film that really shows how small a bathtub really is. A lot of times in films they always look so big, but here Barbara Steele barley fits in it. There are other realistic qualities in the film that fits in this way — such as how the majority of the people are average or below average looking instead of everyone being models and really good looking — like what we would see in the 80s slasher scene. The acting wasn’t the best in the film, which fits with the type of genre is, but I liked Lynn Lowry as the nurse.
