{{Short description|1971 American horror film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Blood Shack | image = File:Blood Shack (1971) VHS cover.jpg | alt = | caption = VHS cover | director = Ray Dennis Steckler | producer = | writer = Ray Dennis Steckler | screenplay = | story = | starring = Carolyn Brandt<br>Ron Haydock | narrator = | music = | cinematography = | editing = | studio = | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1971}} | runtime = {{Plainlist| * 70 minutes {{Small|(theatrical)}} * 55 minutes {{Small|(home video)}} }} | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Blood Shack''''' (also known as '''''The Chooper''''' and '''''Curse of the Evil Spirit''''')<ref name="Sykes 2018, 126">{{cite book|last=Sykes|first=Brad|date=2018|title=Terror in the Desert: Dark Cinema of the American Southwest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5hUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA134|publisher=McFarland & Company|page=126|isbn=978-1476672410}}</ref> is a 1971 American horror film written and directed by Ray Dennis Steckler (under the pseudonym Wolfgang Schmidt),<ref>{{cite book|last=Lentz III|first=Harris M.|year=1994|title=Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits, Supplement 2: Through 1993|volume=4|publisher=McFarland & Company|page=367|isbn=0-89950-927-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Quarles|first=Mike|date=2010|title=Down and Dirty: Hollywood's Exploitation Filmmakers and Their Movies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5iRMlzjbSEC&pg=PA22|publisher=McFarland & Company|page=22|isbn=978-0786411429}}</ref> and starring Steckler's then-wife Carolyn Brandt<ref name="Sykes 2018, 126" /> alongside Ron Haydock.

==Cast== {{Cast list| * Carolyn Brandt as Carol * Ron Haydock as Tim * Jason Wayne as Daniel * Laurel Spring as Connie * John Bates as Charlie * Steve Edwards as Constable * Linda Steckler as Margie * Laura Steckler as Barbra }}

==Production== The film was produced on a budget of "five hundred dollars tops".<ref name="Sykes 2018, 126" /> Filming took place in Pahrump, Nevada,<ref name="Sykes 2018, 126" /> and according to Steckler, the furnishings of the titular shack were property that had been left behind by a previous tenant.<ref name="Sykes 2018, 126" /> The black suit worn by the "Chooper", which was too small for Haydock,<ref name="Rausch 2013">{{cite book|editor-last=Rausch|editor-first=Andrew J.|date=2013|title=Gods of Grindhouse: Interviews with Exploitation Filmmakers|publisher=BearManor Media|isbn=978-1593937348}}</ref> was recycled from a previous Steckler production, ''Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters''.<ref name="Sykes 2018, 126" /> The killer was called the "Chooper" after the repetitive "choop" sounds made by the suit's wearer during the "Green Grasshopper" segment of ''The Lemon Grove Kids''.<ref name="Rausch 2013" />

==Release== Under the title ''The Chooper'', the film received a limited theatrical release,<ref name="Ziemba 2020">{{cite web|url=http://bleedingskull.com/blood-shack-1971/|title=Blood Shack (1971)|last=Ziemba|first=Joseph A.|date=July 26, 2020|website=Bleeding Skull!|access-date=February 16, 2021}}</ref> playing in one theater in Denver, Colorado. It was also released on VHS under this title.<ref name="Rausch 2013" /> For home video, the film was cut down from 70 minutes to 55 minutes, then re-scored and retitled ''Blood Shack''.<ref name="Ziemba 2020" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0066846|title=Blood Shack}}

{{Ray Dennis Steckler}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood Shack}} Category:1970s exploitation films Category:1971 horror films Category:1971 films Category:American exploitation films Category:1971 English-language films Category:1971 American films Category:English-language horror films