What was the first X-rated horror movie?
The horror genre has changed significantly since the early days of cinema, and the initial pioneers of the scary movie would likely quiver in fear if they watched some of the terrifying and stomach-turning titles that have emerged in the years since.
Long before the era of graphic gore and the most unthinkable acts you can imagine being acted out on screen, horror films were much more preoccupied with fun camera trickery that explored the haunting world of ghosts and ghouls. Double exposure and other new editing techniques served to create illusions that brought ideas popularised in gothic literature to life.
Over the coming years, audiences could watch various retellings of their favourite classic stories, such as Frankenstein or Dracula, with censorship laws and societal taboos making these films rather accessible. It wasn’t until the 1960s that horror truly took a unique turn, with exploitation and B-movie markets producing some pretty controversial titles, from explicit vampire movies to splatter flicks, which revelled in blood and gore.
With the release of several key horror movies in 1960 – Peeping Tom, Black Sunday, and, of course, Psycho – the genre became more violent and daring, and since then, pretty much anything you can imagine has made it into a horror flick. Everything from brutal torture to cannibalism and exorcisms can commonly be found in scary movies, which are now a far cry from men dressed as fanged villains.
When the Hays Code was abolished in 1968, horror was able to thrive now that violence, sex, blasphemy, and other taboos were allowed to be shown in the mainstream. Replaced with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) system, if you wanted to watch a horror movie, you’d likely need to be over the age of 18 to get in.
But what was the first horror movie to receive this new X-rating? Preventing anyone who isn’t an adult from entering the theatre, X-rated films typically feature a large array of images that could potentially scar a child for life, although that hasn’t stopped many teenagers from accessing X-rated movies via other means.
So, what was the first X-rated horror movie?
With the new rating system in place, the first horror movie to receive an X-rating was I Drink Your Blood, an exploitation film released in 1971 that takes a rather gruesome look at hippie culture. Directed by David Durston, the movie took inspiration from the Manson Family cult, which had terrorised Hollywood a few years prior, with the antagonists part of a Satanic cult.
It was the intense levels of violence in I Drink Your Blood, which sees the hippie cult go crazy after they eat rabies-infected pies, that resulted in its X-rating. Made on a low budget, it’s your classic American B-movie mess of nudity and severed heads, and for that reason, it’s a beloved cult favourite. It might not be a masterpiece, but if you’re a fan of cheaply-made exploitation horrors from the 1970s, I Drink Your Blood should probably be on your list.
Yet, after its initial X-rating, some edits were made, and it was eventually released with an R-rating. A 1971 statement about its alteration concluded: “This film has been re-rated R by the Code and Rating Administration, after hearing an appeal at which the film’s distributor, Cinemation Industries, agreed to make certain cuts and insert additional footage at the request of the MPAA.”
