Blood Symbol is a real rarity if you're trying to find it on VHS (forget DVD). It was put out by a distributor called Atlas Entertainment Corp. out of New Jersey. The only reason I know anything about it is because I worked for 12 years in video stores and saw lots of obscure tapes I could check out for free.
It's a mostly forgettable film, but there's one scene in the movie that does it for me every time. The scene runs about 3 minutes long and there's not a wasted shot in it. A young pretty brunette wearing jeans and striped shirt (sorry, no nudity) is hanging suspended upside down by her ankles in a darkened basement. Her hands are tied behind her and she is well-gagged with a thick white cleave gag. Below her are several newspapers spread out across the floor as well as multiple candles. There's also a goblet directly beneath her. She spins around helplessly, and there are even point-of-view shots where the director mounted the camera to her bound figure and you see her in the foreground and the room spinning down below her.
The killer approaches and you see various shots of her wildly struggling and writhing as she tries helplessly to get free. It's extremely well-directed and really plays up the bondage and her fearful responses. The killer takes a huge knife and slashes her throat as the blood flows into the goblet below her. There's even a closeup of one of the drops of blood snuffing out one of the candles, which Eli Roth totally ripped off in his famous scene with Heather Matarazzo in Hostel: Part 2. In fact, except for the nudity, the two scenes are incredibly similar. And to compare the two, I much prefer the earlier version in Blood Symbol. It's much better directed and the girl is a lot cuter, plus she's gagged the entire time.
There's not a whole lot available online about the movie or the scene (Brian's Page doesn't even have it listed) and the only still I have is this tiny one, which shows the gore but none of the fun suspension bondage that precedes it. Like I mentioned before, I think it's a real hidden gem, an outstanding scene in a movie that few have ever seen or even heard of. I would love to have some caps from it to show you guys.
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