The film stars Carpenter as a doctor whose mistress, an heiress, murders her terminally ill father to help him pay off a debt.
Gail reveals that she has already offered to help Dr. Cooper with his "tax" issues, and Victoria learns of the budding relationship between her lover and her younger sister.
Dr. Cooper soon returns to the house and finds Gail dead, with Victoria stoically painting a canvas in the next room with her sister's blood.
Blood Mania was shot over a period of twelve days in Los Angeles, California; director Robert Vincent O'Neill, originally a props master, had begun directing after working as the props head on Easy Rider (1969), and became involved with the project after the original director dropped out of the production shortly before shooting began.
"[6] According to star Leslie Simms, a year after production had commenced, she was called back to complete re-shoots for an alternate cut of the film intended for television broadcast.
"[7] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times deemed the film a "glum and tedious exercise," though he praised the cinematography for providing a "rich, sensuous look" and also noted the "eerie score.
"[8] Scott Weinberg of eFilmcritic.com gave the film a negative review, calling it "stunningly drab" and noting that it offers "nothing more than three or four gauzy love scenes offset by a nonstop deluge of "Let's kill so and so for his fortune" schpiel.
"[9] Blood Mania was released in super 8 and as a double feature DVD by Code Red, paired with Land of the Minotaur, in 2012.
[10] On January 31, 2017, the film was released as a double feature on DVD and Blu-ray with Point of Terror (1971), also starring Carpenter, by Vinegar Syndrome.