BLOOD
OF THE VAMPIRES (1971)
aka CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES
Directed By Gerardo De Leon
Reviewed 05.06.05
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
I bet the life of a low budget vampire
isn’t all good stuff like
transforming into rubber bats and
seducing hypnotized maidens. Come
to think of it, I’d wager
that being an honest-to-goodness
b-movie vamp would be a bumpy business
indeed, a regular sentient rollercoaster.
Don’t believe me? Spend an
evening with our main man Eduardo.
Poor, poor Eduardo.
With Blood Of The Vampires,
fab director Gerry De Leon returns
for his second and final atypical
vampire film for Hemisphere Pictures.
Like The
Blood Drinkers (1966),
De Leon presents an offbeat, tropical
take on vampire film conventions,
incorporating a streamlined version
of the artsy color effects that
saturated his previous film and
placing the focus on emotions rather
than bloodshed. While that approach
is certainly welcomed, it doesn’t
always work out to a full-on hit,
at least in this case. On the other
hand, if you let yourself buy into
it, there’s a really swell
concept to think about: If there
was a live vampire roaming around
in “real life,” chances
are his weekend would go something
like this.
Eduardo (Eddie Garcia, Beast
Of Blood) and his sister
Leonor have arrived at their father’s
dank castle in a small Filipino
village. After a ballroom dance
and some curious nighttime shrieks,
dear ol’ Dad, who has suffered
a heart attack, changes his will
and orders that the entire estate
be burned upon his passing. Eduardo
stumbles onto a secret passageway
(of course!) and discovers the reasoning
behind the will redux: Mom is a
vampire! The geriatric vamp puts
the bite on Eduardo, who in turn
joins the fold. Now that
is some bad luck. What follows is
a series of Eduardo’s vampiric
misfortunes, which involve attacking
and taking a bride, killing his
father after the old man stakes
his mum, and lusting after Leonor.
Leonor recruits the help of boyfriend
Daniel, who engages in manly fisticuffs
with the cowardly Eduardo, nearly
killing him. This sets forth a series
of events, leading to ghosts, more
family struggles, and some very
religious torch-bearing villagers.
As you can see, Eduardo has it pretty
rough. On top of all that unwanted
drama, the guy can even see himself
in a mirror! Ouch. Leaning on the
more natural side of things, De
Leon steeps the entire film in reflections
on love, family, and the always
expected battle between religion
and the undead. The ending gets
pretty deep; at least as deep as
you can expect from a cheap vampire
film circa ‘71. Those reasons
alone set this film apart. Unfortunately,
much of the visual flair and atmosphere
seem to be missing this time around.
Despite the colored gel signifiers
(vampire attack, frightened moments),
the photography is rather flat and
the camera rarely leaves the interior
of the castle, save for the last
twenty minutes or so. The result
is a see-saw between a passionate
script and stage-like set pieces,
which not surprisingly, tend to
drag after awhile. Poor, poor Eduardo.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
The full frame print, presented
uncut from the original negative,
is perfectly acceptable, but nothing
extraordinary. The colors are a
bit washed out and white speckles
appear throughout most of the film.
The mono sound was heavy on the
bass distortion, especially where
dialogue is concerned. Sam Sherman
explains the rareness of this uncut
print in his commentary track; it
runs ten minutes longer than any
previous home video version, including
Retromedia’s early disc under
the title Curse Of The Vampires.
Knowing that, the print looks great.
EXTRAS
In addition to the supplements that
appear on all of Image’s Blood
Collection series (Blood Island
still gallery, Eddie Romero interview,
Blood Island trailers, perfect liner
notes by Jim Arena), Sam Sherman
provides his sixth and final commentary
track on the history of the Hemisphere
Pictures legacy. Talk regarding
Blood Of The Vampires is
brief, as Sam focuses on the dissipation
of Hemisphere after founder Kane
Lynn’s passing, the company’s
later focus on softcore films, and
how the Blood Island films were
marketed to television. He also
touches on his first student film,
The Weird Stranger (1958)
and mentions that it may hit DVD
one of these days. Put it out! The
track runs 45 minutes.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you’re looking for something
different, Blood Of The Vampires
just might hit the spot. Casual
viewers of Philippines horror might
not get it, but the film serves
as a nice companion to Gerry De
Leon’s earlier The Blood
Drinkers. |
Lurk in the lair
The bite
Walking with the ghost
About to be vamped
|
