Plot: What’s it about?
Marco (Ronald Remy) is a vampire with a broken heart, as his true love has perished and he misses her to no end. As his poor heart cannot stand much more of this torment, he devises a plan by which to reanimate his lost lover. A small village nearby is his primary feeding ground and it is there that he must obtain his victims, for both his hideous plan and his own needs, as he is a vampire and needs to consume blood. As he preys upon the locals, he takes some of the blood and infuses it into his fallen woman, which he hopes will eventually be enough of a change to revive her, though he can’t be certain the plan will succeed. But as he has little choice at this time, it is either go through with his plan or simply leave his love in the past, which means the plans pushes onward, since he struggles without her presence. The village becomes a feeding frenzy for Marco and his vampire ilk, giving ample red stuff to fuel their appetites, as well as Marco’s experiment. But will it be enough to bring back his ill fated lover?
If you ask me, the realm of vampires has been missing an element that everyone loves, which is bald vampires. We’ve seen a few over the years, but not enough and in The Blood Drinkers, we have one of the all time best bald vampires on showcase. His head might be smooth, but his teeth are razor sharp and he knows how to use them, as Ronald Remy (No Man is an Island, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island) takes on the role of Marco, a vampire in the mold of Dracula himself. The rest of the cast isn’t too memorable, but it is the performances that drive The Blood Drinkers, its the strange storyline and unusual approach by the filmmakers. The film flows kind of like a dream at times, floating between concepts and premises, only to move back and back forth at random times, which sounds bad, but turns out to enhance the experience here. So while not as odd on the entire scale as some of the other Blood Collection movies, The Blood Drinkers is perhaps the most offbeat in terms of storyline and visuals. It has an eerie, sometimes effective atmosphere to it, which you might not expect from such a low budget picture. I can’t say I loved The Blood Drinkers, but it was a decent watch and is recommended to fans of the others films in The Blood Collection.
Video: How does it look?
The Blood Drinkers is presented in a full frame transfer, which seems to be an open matte edition. As I expected, the print here looks worn at times and shows some debris, grain, and marks, but doesn’t look as bad as anticipated. Its hard to gauge the colors here, as some scenes were shot in normal fashion and others used a severe tint, like the kind seen in some silent pictures, an odd visual effort, to be sure. But the hues all seem in order, from the rich tinted sequences to the more natural other scenes, so no worries there. The contrast is a little soft in some scenes, but looks solid enough on the whole, all things considered. As with the other films in The Blood Collection, this one looks about as good as can be expected, which is all we can ask.
Audio: How does it sound?
This movie has a wicked cool vampire with a bald head, but not much in terms of dynamic audio. The included mono option seems up to task most of the time, with minimal age related issues to discuss. A few small instances of distortion can be detected, but again, nothing to be concerned with. The silly sound effects come through without much trouble, as does the nice musical score, although not as full as I’ve become used to. I heard no flaws with the vocals either, as dialogue is sharp and always at a proper volume. In other words, a solid, but unremarkable presentation and that’s good enough in this case.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The main attraction here is an audio commentary with Sam Sherman, though he doesn’t have much to say about the film’s actual production. This is because he served more on the distribution side, as opposed to being a member of the film’s crew. Even so, Sherman talks about the cast & crew, the low budget horror films made in the Philippines, and he touches on Hemisphere, which makes for an interesting listen. This disc also includes some “lost” scenes, an interview with Eddie Romero, some still photos, and the film’s theatrical trailer.
