Blood Freak is a 1972 American horror film directed by Brad F. Ginter and starring Steve Hawkes, Dana Cullivan, Heather Hughes, and Bob Currier. The plot concerns a Vietnam War veteran named Herschel (Hawkes) who is introduced to marijuana by a young woman named Angel (Hughes), before finding work as a taste tester at a local turkey farm where scientists are treating the meat with experimental hormones. The hormones in the meat react with the drugs in Herschel's bloodstream to transform him into a vampiric bird-man feeding on the blood of drug addicts.
This film provides examples of the following tropes:
- All Just a Dream: The entire sequence of events involving Herschel's transformation into a vampiric bird-man turns out to be merely a hallucination intended to show him the error of his drug-using ways.
- An Arm and a Leg: Herschel chops the left leg off of one of his victims with a table saw and drinks his blood.
- Bird People: Herschel is transformed into a being with a turkey's head in place of his own.
- Drugs Are Bad: The moment Herschel tries weed, he's instantly hooked. Later, the combination of drugs and experimental hormones turns him into a monster who can only get high by drinking the blood of other drug users.
- Gorn: A lot of the kills are quite visceral and explicit despite the low budget.
- Heel–Faith Turn: In the end, a reformed Herschel is saved by his faith in Christ.
- Nightmare Face: There are a few moments where Herschel manages to be quite terrifying with just an angry facial expression alone.
- Our Vampires Are Different: This one not only has a turkey's head in place of the original but can only consume the blood of drug addicts.
- Slashed Throat: Herschel hangs a woman upside down, slits her throat, and cups his hands beneath her to drink her blood.
