BLOOD AND CARPET (2015)

Annie Burkin as Ruby in Blood and Carpet

Set in a mostly unswinging East London, Blood and Carpet is a new black and white kitchen-sink 60s B-movie Mod horror film. What's not to like, eh?

Written and directed by Graham Fletcher-Cook, it was made for a mere £3000 (you'd be hard pressed to buy a decent Lambretta for that) and shot over just ten days. Yet despite its minuscule budget it's still a gripping tale which opens with Ruby (played by Annie Burkin) and Lyle (Billy Wright) attempting to clean blood off their living room carpet and discussing how to dispose of the body plonked in the bathtub upstairs. That's about as much as I'm prepared to give away.

The film is shot in mix of stark light and dark shadows which adds to the sinister atmosphere as the story unfolds with the mystery of the body deepening. The two lead characters are well acted with some great lines (and period words and phrases which made me chuckle) and the introduction of Lyle's slimy brother Melvin (Frank Boyce) adds a creepy weirdness to proceedings. His voice alone is enough to want to give him a bloody good slap.

Although set in '67 no one would mistake this for being made then but that's not an issue here unless you're a complete anorak, the carefully constructed story itself is the main draw. The music though is provided by bands familiar to the various parts of the mod/60s scenes: especially nice to hear The Magnetic Mind play over the end credits; whilst The Petty Hoodlums, who appear in a pub scene, add a bit of cheek claiming the Haunted's garage punk classic "1-2-5" as their own. 

For such a modestly produced film Blood and Carpet far exceeded my expectations. It's out on Blu-Ray and available to stream online for the price of a bowl of jellied eels from 16th February 2015. To preorder and for more details check the  Blood and Carpet page. Here's the trailer.