BLOOD
OF THE VAMPIRES (aka CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES) (1970)Director: Gerardo de Leon
Image Entertainment
BLOOD
OF THE VAMPIRES (aka CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES) (1970)Amalia Fuentes and Eddie Garcia ("Dr. Lorca" from the "Blood Island" movies) play brother and sister, returning to their father's mansion on a small island town in the Philippines. They find their father ill and tormented, and learn that their mother, whom they thought was dead for years, is being held prisoner in the basement. Mom is actually a vampire, and it is concluded that there is a curse upon the family.
Garcia visits his mother one evening,
but she attacks him and bites him on the neck, turning him into a bloodsucker
as well. Now completely overcome by evil, Garcia puts the bite on a number of
village girls, murders his own father (due to his staking of the mom), and devises
the death of his sister's new spouse (Romeo Vasquez). He now wants to put the
bite on his sister, who's overly grief-stricken from the loss of her mate, but
the hubby returns as a spiritual ghost to prote
ct
her from her vampiric brother.
Directed by Gerardo de Leon--the father of Philippine horror, starting with TERROR IS A MAN--this is an above average vampire flick with an extended amount of religious symbolism, a tight conflict within the family, and a lot of nice turn-of-the-century atmosphere. Unlike the feature it was co-billed with (or co-buried with if you will), BEAST OF BLOOD--the final chapter of the "Blood Island" trilogy, the film thrives on style and story telling rather than blood and gore (not that blood and gore are a bad thing). Hemisphere Films also released the film in some circuits (and other countries) as "Creatures of Evil."
Image
has retitled CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES to BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (the new onscreen
title is created very convincingly). The new title is most likely to differentiate
it from a prior inferior DVD release of the title from another company, as well
as keep it linked to "The Blood Collection." Picture quality looks
rather nice, with a deep color palette, granting us a nice recreation of de
Leon's impressive lighting schemes and camera setups. There are some print blemishes,
but overall, the full screen transfer looks quite appealing. The mono audio
appears a bit rough at first listen
,
but after the first couple of minutes it is extremely sharp with no distortion.
Extras include a commentary with Sam Sherman which runs under an hour. Since Sherman does not know too much about the production of this film, he uses the time to conclude his all-inclusive history of Hemisphere Pictures. As always, Sam is a pleasure to listen to. Other extras include theatrical trailers for BRIDES OF BLOOD, MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND, THE BLOOD DRINKERS, BEAST OF BLOOD, BRAIN OF BLOOD and BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRES (aka CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES) and the "House of Terror" Live Horror Show Promo; the Eddie Romero video interview; and a still gallery made up of photos and ad art from the first "Blood Island" films as well as shots from several Andy Milligan films and NIGHT OF THE BLOODY APES. Jim Arena writes the liner notes, and rightly deems BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRES "one of Hemisphere's most sophisticated chillers!" (George R. Reis)