The Blood Drinkers (1964) User Reviews

I love this movie!

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 4 December 2019]

Gerry de Leon is considered the godfather of Filipino horror and was also the most awarded film director in the history of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences' FAMAS Awards. Pretty good for a guy who was arrested after World War II, charged with treason for making anti-American propaganda films for the occupying Japanese forces and Japanese director Abe Yutaka. He was pardoned when it came out that at the same time he was secretly helping the Filipino resistance.

Throughout the 1960's, he was paid in American money to make some horror films along with Eddie Romero. Terror Is a Man, Curse of the Vampires (AKA Whisper to the Wind), Brides of Blood and Mad Doctor of Blood Island. He was also the director of the Roger Corman produced Women In Cages, which is a movie that Quentin Tarantino brings up quite often.

Otherwise known as Blood is the Color of Night, this movie is all about Dr. Marco, who looks like a Filipino Telly Savalas. He's a vampire who has lost his love and decides to bring her back with the heart of her twin sister (they're both played by Amelia Fuentes). He has an entire group of maniacs to help him, like a somersaulting dwarf, a hunchback and a sexy lady named Tania. And oh yeah - a whole bunch of people he has brought back from the grave.

This is probably the most Catholic horror movie I've ever seen, as it stops dead to explain how the Church is the only way that this horror can be stopped.

Originally entitled Kulay Dugo Ang Gabi, this movie played the U.S. twice, first as The Blood Drinkers on a double bill with The Black Cat before it came back again as The Vampire People along with Beast of Blood.

The reason why I think everyone should watch this is that it starts out sometimes in color - which at the time was really expensive - and then goes to neon-tinted black and white. Throw in some fog and scenes where it goes from blue to red to color and you have the kind of movie that I get so excited about that I bounce all over our movie room. Also, the whole thing is dubbed, so it really feels like it didn't come from another country, but an entirely different plane of existence so far beyond our own.

Some fun ingredients in an otherwise underwhelming Filipino potboiler

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 5 December 2015]

To begin with, let me set this straight: none of the Filipino-made horror films I've seen from the '60s and '70s have been very good. They were local produce through and through, designed to emulate classic pictures coming across from the west on a fraction of the budget. Crudely acted and slowly paced, films such as THE MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND are often laughable by today's standards, employing cheesy scares and an almost total disregard for the likes of pace, plot and characterisation. Yet somehow, in some way, these films have a 'feel' all of their own, something that distinguishes them from western fare or indeed other Asian horror films of the era. Maybe it's the sweaty jungle backdrops or the crude way in which attempts are made to jolt the viewer through marauding beast-men and jarring music on the soundtrack. Once seen, never forgotten is a good way to describe their cumulative effect.

THE BLOOD DRINKERS is no different. I rate films according to how much entertainment they offer me, and this one doesn't offer a great deal. The acting is okay at best, and the pace is almost non-existent, with great long stretches of nothing much happening. The vampire plot is a predictable spin on Dracula, with an anything-goes mentality that incorporates a beautiful vampire henchwoman, a crazed hunchback and a sadistic little dwarf. Apart from the old-meets-new climax, in which the vampires are attacked by a horde of torch-wielding villagers and the gun-toting local police at the same time, there's hardly any action here, other than a protracted fight sequence with the kind of exaggerated posturing you'd find in an early STAR TREK episode.

Even though this is a bad film, there's stuff going for it, mainly in the film's look. Thanks to a low budget, only a handful of sequences are in colour. Director Gerardo De Leon decided to use this to his advantage by tinting the black and white shots with various red or blue filters, each corresponding with the on-screen action. Red signifies the approach of evil, while blue charts the progress of the good characters. It's a clever touch, and one I found greatly enhanced the film no end. Elsewhere, the influences vary from THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN-style paraphernalia in the vampire's lair to the use of spotlights shining on the eyes just like in Lugosi's Dracula, Ronald Remy, who reminded me of Billy Zane, is an nonthreatening vampire, who reminded me a lot of Peter Lorre in MAD LOVE; perhaps that was the intention.

For fans of so-bad-it's-good cinema, there's a scene of a man beating up a dwarf which is fairly amusing, as well as some truly pathetic rubber bats which make the ones in THE SCARS OF Dracula look like the latest animatronic models. Otherwise, THE BLOOD DRINKERS is a film just too dated and too unappealing to be enjoyed by the modern viewer.

Entertaining Filipino vampire schlock.

[Blaise_B · 10 August 2007]

An evil genius vampire whose minions include a hunchback, a midget, a hot chick with sunglasses, and a rubber bat tries to save the life of his vampire lover by transplanting her with the heart of her long, lost sister. The sister, inconveniently, is still alive. Plays at times like an Ed Wood movie, at others like a classic, albeit low-budget, horror film. Made in the Philippines, which lends jungle atmosphere, interesting architecture, and enough catholic iconography to satisfy the Pope. Badly dubbed in English, including the fact that three completely different characters are, evidently, supposed to be mute and make the exact same, "Uhn, uhn, uhn," noises in the exact same voice, which is blissfully confusing. Features one singing cowboy scene, Captain Kirk-style martial arts, and a musical score that sounds like it could be library tracks but nonetheless is very effective. The film is sometimes black and white, sometimes color, and sometimes tinted a garish magenta, which actually works to heighten the atmosphere at least part of the time. Anyone who has read this far and is still interested will not be disappointed.

Well, it could have been worse! Not that that is a glowing endorsement!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 18 August 2012]

"Kulay Dugo Ang Gabi", also known as "The Blood Drinkers" and "Blood is the Color of Night", is a Filipino horror film. And considering how incredibly cheap and awful all the other horror films have been that I've seen from this country, my hopes were not very high!! "Blood is the Color of Night" turned out to be an incompetent film--though significantly better than any of the previous Filipino horror films I saw-such as "Beast of the Yellow Night", "Brides of Blood", "Mad Doctor of Blood Island" and "Beast of Blood". They were so horrible that "Blood is the Color of Night" appears like Shakespeare in comparison!!

The film sometimes actually manages to set an appropriately frightening mood with the fog and the vampire wearing cool wrap-around sunglasses. However, most of the time it just looks like it was made by Ed Wood's brother--with screaming bats on strings, narration to explain WHAT is happening, weird and inexplicably tinted scenes (the pink ones were especially hard on the eyes though they also came in many other colors as well as full color), the bald vampire with a whip, Maura's bad hairdo and some really bad acting and writing.

The plot involves the head vampire (the bald guy) saying that he needs to do a heart transplant on his bride. Now, if she is a vampire or going to become one, I can't see any reason that he should be doing surgery (after all, isn't she supposed to be dead?)! I also wasn't sure why he had to get her sister's heart. And, I have no idea why he repeatedly did NOT take this heart when he had many good opportunities. Of course, the same could be said about the handsome hero. When baldy beat him in a kung fu fight, he could have and should have killed the hero...but he just let him go!! Any vampire this stupid deserves to lose by the end of the film! But, weirdly, the movie has a very, very, very strange and inexplicable ending--one you just have to see to believe (such as the vampire using a gun and the hero using a flare gun)! Overall, a silly but watchable film. Not at all good but considering the source, it could have been a lot worse!!

By the way, can anyone tell me why Mr. Vampire called his henchman 'Gordo' (Spanish for 'Fatso')? The guy was a skinny hunchback! And what's with the name calling? Is this any way to treat your devoted followers? He should remember that it IS hard to get good help.

Good little thriller

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 17 October 2006]

Atmospheric vampire of story about a vampire who comes to a small town in order to secure a heart for the girl he loves. Its an eerie little film, a bit silly at times, but entirely watchable. It won't scare you but it will keep you watching (its more vampire drama than horror film).

Its a stand out little film that has the feel of a specific time and place that is uniquely its own. Set now, we see cars and trucks and guns the film has a decidedly Gothic feel and at times seems to be set in the 1860's rather than the 1960s. There is a religious nature in the film adds more weight to the proceedings. The film builds up a nice sense of good versus evil and of God vs the devil, even though we sympathize with our villain. Few films have a villain as well drawn as this one does, you hate him but you like and understand him.

The most memorable thing about the film, aside from the bald vampire, is that much of the film was shot in black and white and then tinted red or blue depending upon what was happening in the scene. Even though its odd to see at first, it does begin to add something to the film when you realize that the tints actually correspond to certain events in the film, and that people in the film react as if aware of the tinting. I didn't get it when I originally saw the film on TV (which apparently had the wrong scenes tinted) nor did I pick it up on the first go through of the recent Image DVD. It was only after listening to the commentary track that I really was made aware of how the right tints actually help the film seem creepier.

Not a classic, but a its a good little thriller.

Somewhat Lacking

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 18 December 2013]

"Dr. Marco" (Ronald Remy) is a vampire who wants to revive a woman he loves named "Katrina" (Amalia Fuentes) back from the dead. In order to do that he needs to perform a heart transplant and the only acceptable donor is her twin sister "Charito" (also played by Amalia Fuentes). In the meantime, Dr. Marco must keep Katrina alive and so he has people killed so that their blood can be given to her. Naturally, these deaths cause concern among the local populace which makes it quite a bit more difficult for Dr. Marco to complete his operation. Anyway, what I found remarkable about this film was the unique technique of using red-tinted film to signify the presence of vampires. Rather interesting indeed. Likewise, the heavy use of smoke to imitate fog wasn't too bad either. On the other hand, being originally produced in Tagalog and dubbed into English caused the dialogue to seem a bit flat. Additionally, the heavy influence of Roman Catholicism was probably a bit too strong in my opinion. But this was a movie made in the Philippines so perhaps this was customary during this specific time period. In any case, this wasn't a bad movie but the overall production values seemed to be somewhat lacking. That said I rate the movie as slightly below average.

Makes a great case for movies that make no sense

[spetersen-79-962044 · 7/10 · 26 October 2011]

A semi-color Filipino vampire film with lots and lots of amazing vampire action. The lead vampire, played by a bald Ronald Remy, is just fine, particularly because he is ALSO a mad scientist, who must steal the heart of his dying lover's sister to restore her. Plus he is served by a hunchback, a dwarf, another cute girl, and the old mom of the two girls he is involved with.

I call it "semi-color" because many scenes are black-and-white. Some are full-color, and others are tinted blue or pink. It makes no sense either. A completely innocuous scene of some men serenading the heroine is in full-color, while the hunchback attacking and killing two people, which you'd think would be worthy of at least a tint, is normal black and white. Its like a kid who just found out about filters.

The mad scientist, plus the many deformed vampires, all lead to great fun. Sure the movie makes no sense at all but who cares? The giant fake bat (de rigeur in any vampire film) appears to be a fruit bat, rather than a blood-sucking variety, and at least two of the vampires wear sporty shades while flitting around at night. That's a new one.

Lots of low-budget fun. If you haven't encountered 60s Filipino horror - this is as good a place as any to start. It's fun to compare it with, say, Mexican vampire movies. Actually I would argue that The Blood Drinkers holds up against even American vampire movies from the 1960s. Nothing we did until Count Yorga holds a candle to this one. (The British Hammer Dracula films, of course, leave the poor Filipino blood drinkers panting in the dust.) Whether you appreciate this movie for its loony qualities, or for its interesting plot and scenery, it's worth a look. It is NOT cheesy in the classic sense, by the way. The actors play their parts as straight as I've seen, and the monsters are certainly not camping it up. Yeah it's weird that there is a dwarf vampire and such, but if there WERE such a thing, it may as well behave like the one in this movie.

I can't live (with or without you).

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 24 November 2023]

Dr. Marco (Ronald Remy) - a bald, acne-scarred vampire wearing Bono shades - tries to resurrect his dead girlfriend Katrina (Amalia Fuentes), but to do this he needs the heart of her twin sister Charito (also Fuentes). Charito's love interest Victor (Eddie Fernandez) tries to stop the bloodsucker from stealing his woman's heart - literally!

I can't totally hate on a horror film that features a rubber bat with glowing eyes, a hairy-faced hunchback AND an evil dwarf, but The Blood Drinkers is not a good film. Advertised as 'the first color horror picture produced in the Philippines', this is a cheap, shoddily assembled piece of schlock that doesn't even make good on its claim: SOME of the film was shot in colour, but much of it is merely black and white with a colour tint added in post.

The story plods, the acting is terrible (well, the dubbing at least), and Gerardo de Leon's direction is sloppy, the whole thing being somewhat confusing and incredibly cheesy at times (particularly the overuse of a smoke machine to try an add an eerie atmosphere). The worst scene, or the best depending on your point of view, is a fight between Victor and Marco's henchmen (the hunchback and the dwarf), with the little fellow delivering some particularly ineffective punches and being repeatedly thrown to the ground. Sadly, the bulk of the film isn't as funny and proved quite tedious.

3.5/10, generously rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

N. B. Aspiring suitors should never underestimate the aphrodisiacal effect of a water buffalo when serenading a young woman.

Filipino Sumisipsip Sa Leeg

[ferbs54 · 7/10 · 17 June 2014]

Though he had started his career as a medical doctor, Gerardo de Leon went on to become not only a movie director, but the most awarded director in the history of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (seven awards, in all). He helmed film projects in many different genres, but this viewer had, until recently, only been familiar with three of his pictures, all in the horror category. His 1959 effort "Terror Is a Man," generally cited as being the first Filipino horror film, was an excellently done reworking of H. G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau," while the two films he directed with Eddie Romero in 1968, "Brides of Blood" and "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island," had been fun, pulpy schlock exercises. (Romero would go on to direct "Beast of Blood," the third part of the trilogy, in 1971, by himself.) But perhaps the most impressive of all the films that I have seen by de Leon is 1966's "The Blood Drinkers," originally released under its Tagalog title "Kulay Dugo Ang Gabi" ("Blood Is the Color of Night"...a more artful and fitting title, I feel), when its director was 53. One of the most unusual vampire pictures that this viewer has ever seen, the film amply demonstrates (as did the 1967 Pakistani picture "Zinda Laash") that the vampire scourge truly is international in scope.

In the film, which is narrated by the uncredited but unmistakable Filipino mainstay Vic Diaz, playing a country priest, the viewer makes the acquaintance of Marco, a bald, caped, pockmarked vampire who wears wrap-around junkie shades and who is portrayed by Ronald Remy (viewers may remember Remy as the villainous Dr. Lorca in "The Mad Doctor of Blood Island"). When we first encounter Marco, he and his retinue--which includes a hunchback, a hideous-looking little person, a brunette hottie named Tanya, his dead bride (Amalia Fuentes) and his mother-in-law--are gathering in a crypt, using modern-day scientific equipment to bring the deceased, Katrina, back to life. The procedure is successful, but Katrina's hold on life is a tenuous one, and so Marco decides that her twin sister, Charito (Fuentes again), must be found, and that her healthy heart must be placed into the body of his beloved! (The viewer will recall that Dr. Christiaan Barnard only performed the world's first successful heart transplant in 1967, making Marco--who proposes to perform the operation himself--not only a pioneer, but some kind of bona fide medical genius, as well!)

"The Blood Drinkers" is a remarkable film in many ways. Perhaps most memorable is the look of the picture itself. While prosaic shots were shot in standard color, many of the vampire attack sequences were seemingly filmed in B&W and tinted bright orange; nighttime scenes were tinted blue; some scenes begin in color but switch to tinted halfway through, or vice versa; while other scenes, depending on the action on screen, will change tints correspondingly. The effect can be extremely artful; just witness the sight of the vampires strolling at night through a billowing orange mist, or the blue shadows of lace curtains on Charito's pretty face. The setting of the film--the jungles of the Filipino countryside--is an unusual one for a vampire outing, too, and the picture does not shrink from the occasional gross-out moment (such as the sight of a jagged, bloody neck bite). Several scenes cannot fail to impress. In one, Charito's elderly guardians, now turned into zombified vampires, stalk her at night (orange tinted during their attack; blue tinted after Marco whips them off). In another, Charito's boyfriend dukes it out with that hunchback and little person, as well as with Marco himself, who keeps vanishing and reappearing unexpectedly. The film makes good use of that creepiest-sounding of all musical instruments, the theremin (especially during hypnosis sequences) and takes especial pains to mention how important prayer and a belief in Jesus Christ are during times of peril (no surprise, as the Philippines remains largely Roman Catholic to this day). Indeed, not only are Jesus and prayer referenced, but at one point, Charito is exorcised of her hypnotic state by dint of holy water, and the mere prayers of that country priest seem to release Marco and Katrina from vampirism...for a short while, anyway. Another touching element: the depth of Marco's love for Katrina; he even allows her to suck his own neck for sustenance! The picture includes the most ingenious use of a flare gun in the history of the vampire film and, unfortunately, the fakest-looking bat (Basra, Marco's helper) in the history of the vampire film, as well. Also interesting to note: Although Marco's entire entourage is eliminated by the film's end, the main vampire himself (slight spoiler ahead) manages to survive and escape the wrath of the angry villagers. Offhand, I cannot recall another picture in which the diabolical neck nosher lives to suck another day; yet another element that makes "The Blood Drinkers" such a unique viewing experience. Is it possible that a never-too-be-realized Marco sequel was being contemplated?

Further good news regarding the film is that it is available today on a great-looking Image DVD. Among the many fine "extras" on this disc is an interesting commentary by film preserver Sam Sherman; a modern-day interview with Eddie Romero himself (good luck understanding his English!); and 25 minutes' worth of (silent) lost footage, which would have seemingly steered the film in an interesting direction, playing up Tanya's jealousy of Katrina, even to the point of attempted murder. That vampiric love triangle was sadly left on the editing room floor, but what remains is quite fascinating enough, and surely worth the time of any jaded horror fan who is seeking out something different....

Intelligent Treatment of Vampire Legend

[masibindi · 10/10 · 19 October 2002]

Polished performances, outstanding effects, pathos, delicious and powerful antagonist, nod to spirituality, eerie atmosphere, scary moments, moody, and superb. A feast for cerebral viewers. Inclusion of diversely enabled cast members is an ingenious touch.

DRINK UP!

[mmthos · 9/10 · 18 November 2021]

Artful cinema where creativity triumphs handsomely over obviously limited means, presented as a morality play of Good vs Evil, with the mortal Children of God in constant peril from vampire Minions of Satan. Billed as Phillipines' first color vampire picture, it's not a typical color picture, but color film sequences interpolated between single color tinted black and white for economy's sake, yet manages to define a singular style of its own, the tints of the changing hues a visual complement to the rise and fall of the changing moods as the plot unfolds. This over exquisite images, beautifully composed, starkly lit, cleverly angled and expertly edited. Ronald Remy as Dr. Marco creates a distinctive hyper-real villain in the tradition of Karloff and Lugosi, before they became self-caricatures. As the object of his desire, Amalia Fuentes is the epitome of both spiritual innocence and physical sensuality at once. Mary Walter also stands out with the proper hauteur for the character of Dona Marissa. Good acting wins out over poor dubbing overall. Gore effects are restrained, and that much more effective for it. For fun there are the usual monster and dwarf among Marco's retinue, a classic red Oldsmobile convertible to ride around in, and, in stark contrast to the Doctor's scary menace, unintended comic relief from his glaringly phony attack bat. .The climax builds almost 15 minutes, to a frenzy that includes a religious procession of the faithful, an army of cops firing off flares, and a gang of villagers armed with the requisite torches to drive the Evil off the face of the earth and back to its netherworld. Sublime.

A word on the color-sepia-color switching...

[gaby01575 · 28 March 2005]

Sorry to demystify the cinematography but it was a question of COST. Color film stock was prohibitively expensive then and the producers couldn't afford to shoot all the scenes in color. This practice was prevalent in the Philippine film industry in the late 60's/early 70's. I remember a billboard advertising a comedy as "filmed in partly color"(sic). If the visual inconsistencies tended to enhance the narrative and add to the creepy character of the movie, well and good. So, there it is--another mystery gone.

Incidentally, it is not widely known that Gerry De Leon was an MD but never practiced this profession. His family was in the movie business and he promptly went into it after graduating from med school.

These Vampires Wear Their Sunglasses At Night

[BeRightBack · 10/10 · 3 December 2019]

Bring your sense of humor and enjoy the hell out of this Filipino vampire flick.

To be honest, this isn't a bad movie. And it's so colorful!

Stupidly underrated on IMDb

[ebeckstr-1 · 8/10 · 3 July 2023]

I'm late to the game on this one, having just discovered it as referenced on the commentary track for Film Detective / UCLA's The Vampire Bat Blu-ray. Apparently, the producer of the latter had a yen for The Blood Drinkers. As countless others have noted, watching this flick is a visually beautiful, sumptuous experience. If you're a fan of Bava's Planet of the Vampires or Michio Yamamoto's Bloodthirsty Trilogy there's an excellent chance you'll get into Blood Drinkers.

If you're interested in a great review that delves into why this is such a cool flick, check out Bleeding Skull dot com. The low IMDb average indicates that a lot of people just don't get it.