Blood Drinkers

could be crazier
The first few minutes of this flick give you an idea of where you're headed. Some great mist-enshrouded tombs, a great gang of villains (a bald vampire and his slinky bride, both wearing dark glasses, a dwarf, a hunchback and an old lady) and some startling monochrome cinematography are on the plus side. On the minus is some really dopey dialogue, lots of wasted shots of people staring at each other, and clumsy editing that leaves you totally confused as to who is who and what the heck is going on. There's a bizarre music interlude as a gang of guys serenade a woman who we think is the main actress, only she gets bumped off in an unexpolained attack a couple of minutes later. After all of this confusion, we move into the story proper, that has the feeling that they made stuff up as they went along, as nothing seems to flow narratively. OK. I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane here. But I think the big flaw in this film is that it takes itself too seriously. It needed to have the same crazy...

BLOOD DRINKERS EDITED?????
I saw this movie as a child at the drive-in theater with my parents. The scenes of gore as necks were hacked by the sharp gleaming fangs of the undead left an indeleble mark upon me as a child. I recently purchased a copy of the DVD and was shocked to find out that all of the gorey scenes were edited out!!! Why??? This was what made this vampire flick far ahead of it's time. If anyone knows why this is so, please e-mail me. I'd love to get a copy that hasn't been "cut up" so to speak!

The Blood Drinkers (aka The Vampire People)
One of the better Filipino horror films from the 1960s. A family is sort of kept under a vampire's fangish control while he makes it his death's work to revive his lost love. Meanwhile his vampiric servants keep putting the bite on the local populace. Ronald Remy is compelling as the head vampire. The colors are beautiful but sort of confusing as the keep changing tone according to mood and whatever is going on. The DVD transfer is great. This version is the one to get. Recommended to fans of this genre.

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