Directed by: Philip Gilbert
Stars: Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, Milton Selzer, Len Lesser, Terri Messina
Language: English
Country: Usa | Imdb Info

Also known as: The Blood Secret

Description: When sixteen-year-old Ellie Masters survives the brutal murder of her mother and the fiery destruction of her home, she is sent to an isolated orphanage in the woods—rumoured to be more prison than refuge. There, the stern Mrs. Deere and her cruel handyman run the place with iron rules, exploiting the vulnerable children under a cover of charity and counting unsuspecting welfare dollars.

At the orphanage, the children are forced into relentless labour while hidden horrors mount behind locked doors and frozen bodies are concealed in a basement cold-room. Ellie senses the danger around her: disappearances, anguished cries in the night, and a masked figure roaming the corridors with a hammer in hand. As she scrambles to escape, the lines between innocence and complicity begin to blur. In the shocking climax, Ellie confronts the orphanage’s darkest secret—only to realise that the face of evil might be the one meant to protect her.

A seminal piece of late-70s American exploitation horror, Blood and Lace blends orphanage-house nightmare, masked-killer dread and camp-drive-in atmosphere—earning a cult reputation as a proto-slasher classic.