Blood And Lace (1971)

After her mother (Louise Sherrill) is beaten to death with a hammer, a young girl (Melody Patterson) is sent to live in an orphanage run by a money hungry and sadistic woman (Gloria Grahame). This low budget ($200,000) exploitation horror film is barely competent. With the exception of Grahame who manages to retain her dignity (such as it is), the acting is bottom of the barrel. The heroine played by Patterson is an unpleasant piece of goods so there goes the empathy factor. There's just nobody to root for and even the detective (Vic Tayback) investigating her mother's murder has a creepy yen for the underage nymphet. The film remains distasteful right down to the closing credits. For a slasher film, the killings are relatively blind and there's no real suspense. Inexplicably, the film has a cult following among horror movie buffs. Although there is blood in the movie, I didn't see any lace. Directed by Philip S. Gilbert. With Dennis Christopher, Milton Slezer, Len Lesser and Ronald Taft (who retired from acting to marry Lesley Ann Warren).