Blood Thirst (1971)

Best movie of this year hands down!

A lot of fun.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

BLOOD THIRST is an interesting and engaging little horror effort shot in the Philippines by a US crew. It was made in 1965 so it's short and in black and white, although it wasn't given a US release until six years later. I immediately lumped it in with the trashy shockers that Eddie Romero was shooting during the period (like the infamous MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND) but it's a much classier affair. Surprisingly, it has decent production values too, perhaps the best I've seen in a Filipino horror film.The plot is simple enough, yet fun with it. Robert Winston is the imported American, a detective who goes undercover as a writer for reasons that remained obscure to me. He hangs out a lot at a nightclub full of dancing women while at the same time investigating a series of bizarre murders in which lone women are killed on the streets at night, their bodies found strung up and drained of blood. It turns out that a rubber-faced monster with links to the nightclub is responsible. The monster is cheap but cheerful and I personally loved the look of it.BLOOD THIRST is well-shot and quite stylishly directed in places with a good sense of location. It borrows the same style as a Bond movie, with random attacks in hotel rooms, and has a Jess Franco vibe to it to boot. One of the most engaging things about the production is the inimitable Vic Diaz, that stalwart actor of Filipino cinema, getting a chance to play something other than a bad guy for once. Here he's a local cop and he does very well with the role too, bringing plenty of charisma to the part.

This is one of those rare films that seems oddly out-of-date. Although this movie came out in 1971 the black and white film, along with the music played during the picture, made it seem like something out of the late 50's or early 60's. The reason for this was the fact that it was initially produced in 1965 by a developing film industry in the Phillipines and not shown to a world-wide audience until six years later. Even so, this wasn't a bad movie by any means. Essentially, attractive women are being killed and drained of blood on the outskirts of Manila. This has the detective in charge, "Inspector Miguel Ramos" (Vic Diaz) so baffled that he calls a friend of his in America named "Adam Rourke" (Robert Winston) to come and help him with the investigation. Things begin to happen very quickly upon his arrival which further convinces him that he is on the right track to solving the case. But time is of the essence as more and more women are being killed. Anyway, I liked the performance of Robert Winston who vaguely reminded me of George Lazenby in the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". I also appreciated some of the attractive actresses like Katherine Henryk (as "Sylvia Ramos"), Yvonne Nielson ("Serena") and several other uncredited ladies as well. On the other hand, other than possibly Robert Winston, the acting wasn't that great and the special effects for the "bubble-headed monster" were just plain laughable. But all things considered, I still liked it somewhat and therefore have given it an average rating.

I picked this up in a $1 store on a DVD with another film. I really wanted to see the other film ('Castle of Blood' -USA title) on the DVD and only watched 'Blood Thirst' out of curiosity and because my wife said, "lets give it a chance". We figured how can you go wrong buying two films on a DVD for one dollar especially when one of the films('Castle of Blood') is rated highly. The earlier comments here lead me to believe 'Blood Thirst' was going to be a bomb. Instead my wife and I both found it enjoyable maybe even more so than the higher rated film. More than once we were laughing out loud...and the good part is those scenes were supposed TO BE funny. As opposed to scenes that are unintentionally funny in some truly bad films. Also, I thought the dubbing to English was well done as was the transfer to a nice clear DVD image. The film had a great early 60s feel to it and the B/W only made it better. There were some wonderfully off-beat characters and scenes. I also found it hard to believe this was released in 1971 because of the early 60s look and feel.Anyway, I wouldn't let the other comments here keep you from seeing this, it's an enjoyable/offbeat little film with some good acting in it and surprisingly funny scenes. It's worth your time for a fun detective /horror film with a few chills and romance thrown in for good measure. And don't forget to check your local discount stores for it. I'm glad to have it in my DVD collection what a bargain!

Dull dull dull.A bunch of women in the Phillipines have been found drained of blood completely. An American detective named Adam Rourke (Robert Winston) comes to investigate. WARNING!!! SPOILER AHEAD!!! I'm not sure of the plot cause I kept falling asleep! Something about some blonde woman making sacrifices to the sun god to stay immortally young....or something. END SPOILER!!!!They also have this "monster" (a guy in hilarious makeup with gives him a lumpy face) helping drain the girls of blood. This is being passed off as a horror film--don't let that fool you. It's basically a boring PG rated detective story with some horrific elements. There's next to no blood and no gore at all. Also most of the actors are (badly) dubbed--their voices don't even remotely match their features! I'm giving this a 3 for two reasons: 1) Robert Winston--he sure can't act but he's pretty nice-looking and has a lengthy shirtless sequence showing a nice body and 2) there is some beautiful black & white cinematography--MUCH better than this film deserves.But it's basically a dull, stupid, forgettable movie. A sure cure for insomnia!