BLOODSUCKERS/BLOOD
THIRST (1970/1965)Directors: Robert Hartford-Davis, Newt Arnold
Something Weird Video/Image Entertainment
BLOODSUCKERS/BLOOD
THIRST (1970/1965)There's nothing I like more than a drive-in double feature DVD package with a lot of thought and imagination put into it, and Something Weird is no stranger to this. Well, here's a double feature DVD that actually replicates a drive-in bill that graced theaters in the early 70s. Both features were produced several years before their U.S. release, and an outrageous ad campaign emphasizing the word "blood" could be found in local newspapers to draw thrill-seeking patrons into the theaters.
The first feature, BLOODSUCKERS, is a British film originally called INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED, although this DVD bears the onscreen title "Freedom Seeker" (could you imagine an exploitation film company trying to distribute something with that title?). Based on the novel Doctors Wear Scarlet by Simon Raven, the plot involves Patrick Mower (CRY OF THE BANSHEE) as an Oxford scholar and son of a British Foreign Minister who gets into trouble while doing research in Greece. A party of friends from England comes looking for him, with the help of a British military man (Patrick Macnee--immediately after the run of "The Avengers" TV series). Mower is under the influence of a mysterious woman named Chriseis (played by WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH's Imogen Hassall), and a religious cult which uses drugs to put its followers in a trance-like state.
Although top billed, Macnee's part is rather brief (he, or rather a dummy falls off a cliff early on), and Peter Cushing's role as the stately Walter Goodrich is pretty much a cameo. Edward Woodward (THE WICKER MAN) also does a bit where he makes a speech equating vampirism with sexual perversion! The vampirism aspect is kept completely in the background until the final moments of the film, culminating in the closing shot which embraces the welcomed end credits. The scene involving a drug-induced orgy where a village girl is sacrificed seems to come out of left field, as most of the other proceedings are very pedestrian. Even though he makes nice use of the Greek locations, director Hartford-Davis better handled the chaotic sleaze of films like CORRUPTION and BEWARE OF THE BRETHREN; here he just delivers a sloppily edited and confusing mess that's mainly of interest because of its fine cast.
The second feature on the bill is BLOOD THIRST, a black and white 1965 Filipino horror flick that remained unreleased for years. The story has a number of girls being drained of blood outside a nearby nightclub. A baffled police captain (played by Filipino schlock favorite Vic Diaz) calls upon his old friend from New York, Adam Rourke (not to be confused with the familiar biker film actor), a sex-crimes specialist. Adam (played by Robert Winston) goes undercover as a magazine writer and tries to get to the bottom of things, but what he uncovers is an ancient sun goddess who needs young blood to retain her youthful appearance and stay alive.
BLOOD THIRST starts off very James Bond-like in its execution as the suave Winston smoothly talks his way into the nightclub owner's office, uses a dummy to protect himself from a knife slinger in hotel room, and even has a man on the street (a one-legged guy posing as a bum) turning up whenever there's danger. The horror aspects are kept to a minimum until we see the villain, an actor in a bumpy mess of a facemask that resembles a really bad "Dr. Who" monster. The film is better shot and better acted than most of its type, but this talky effort will have you screaming for the outrageous ineptitude of Filipino chillers like BRIDES OF BLOOD and THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND.
The transfers on both films are indeed very acceptable. Looking far superior to Media's old VHS tape, BLOODSUCKERS was taken from "35mm elements" and the colors are very vivid. The source material is in good shape overall except for some rather nasty blemishes, including a strange black smudge that pervades the middle of the screen every once in a while. BLOOD THIRST was taken from an extremely unblemished film source, and the black and white film appears very crisp, with deep blacks. The mono sound on both titles is also very good, with dialog being extremely clear.
Like several other Something Weird/Image drive-in discs, the "Let's Go to the Drive-In!" feature lets you play the entire disc as one uninterrupted program featuring drive-in promos, trailers, shorts, and the two features. When I tried to do this on my disc, after the first chapter on both feature films, it automatically reverts back to the supplements. If you just play the features individually from the main menu, this doesn't happen, and they play all the way through like they're supposed to.
Aside from the bountiful amount of drive-in intermission shorts and other goodies, there's a number of double feature trailers: THE CRAWLING THING/CREATURE OF EVIL(?), DEVIL WOMAN/DRAGONS NEVER DIE, THE EMBALMER/THE SHE BEAST, NIGHT OF THE WITCHES/DR. FRANKENSTEIN ON CAMPUS, and the "Orgy of the Living Dead" triple feature. There's also an extra trailer (shown at the end of the entire "Let's Go to the Drive-In!" program) for a quartet of horror films from Hemisphere films shown together in one drive-in extravaganza.
There's also two archival short subjects: "Midsummer Nightmare" and "The Horny Vampire." The first short is a shoddy black and white piece that has a sexy witch doing an outdoor striptease, and the second one (apparently directed by Ray Dennis Steckler) has the actor who calls himself Victor Alexander (he was "El Sharif" in ILSA, HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS) as the nephew of Count Dracula trying very hard to get a girl. The gallery of exploitation art is the best ever, this time showing authentic drive in ads for some of the most unbelievable bills of two, three, four, and even five features in one program (such as both "Dr. Phibes" and both "Count Yorga" films playing together in one night!). This is accompanied by recordings of a very friendly southern announcer shouting stuff to drive-in patrons. (George R. Reis)