Blood Thirst (1971)

Please don't spend money on this.

A lot of fun.

A Brilliant Conflict

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

In the Philippines, a strange series of murders have occurred to pretty young ladies. When their bodies were found, they were completely drained of blood and someone or some 'thing' is obviously running amok. For some odd reason, a local police official thinks it's important to contact his American friend and ask for his undercover help. Why this was necessary is beyond me—as was the extremely hostile reaction the policeman's step-sister has towards the American.The look and especially the soundtrack has a strong film noir feel to it. The leading man also, at times, talks like a typical noir character—very cool and self-confident. I especially liked the slapping scene—what a tough guy! However, the movie goes off in a weird direction in the end—one that is very, very unlike noir—and more like a typical cheesy 1950s horror film. In fact, the entire ending was just bizarre to the max!! I've rarely seen a "normal" film that so completely goes off the deep end as this one did at the end—and it was laughably bad to say the least.Overall, a rather dumb film, as the ending just made my brain hurt and the costumes were completely silly. Despite some decent acting and a nice style, a film that only masochists need see.

From the clothes, hairstyles and black and white film grain it looks like Blood Thirst was filmed in the Philippines by an American production company around the mid Sixties, but wasn't released until 1971 on the bottom of a double bill with British vampire movie Bloodsuckers (1970). Even in 1971 Blood Thirst would have seemed like an anachronistic curio – quaint, and for the most part uneventful, until the ludicrous ending's payoff where we see the film's chewed bubblegum-faced monster. Then, and only then, can I say: baby, all is forgiven.Chubby Vic Diaz (and let's face it, it's not a Philippines B film without the seedily lovable Vic) plays Inspector Ramos, a Makati policeman on the trail of missing hostesses from the Barrio Club, a downbeat tourist trap run by the suspicious Senor Calderon. When the girls turn up hanging upside down and drained of blood from cuts on their arms, he sends for his old friend from the States, a cop named Adam Rourke who, as a New Yorker, is obviously used to seeing ritual murders. Posing as an "Ugly American" on a writing assignment, he goes undercover at the Barrio Club, asks one too many questions, cracks jokes like a proto-Arnie while shooting a would-be assassin, and turns out to be an ill-tempered ladies man with his eye on every Caucasian-looking woman in Manila. Just like every sleazy Hawaiian shirted white guy on a Philippines hayride.His eyes settle on both Inspector Ramos' adopted sister Sylvia, who resists Rourke's questionable charms until she can no longer stand it, and on the Barrio Club's featured attraction, the exotic dancer and blond Peruvian bombshell named Serena. It seems her beauty is more than skin-deep: it's vein-deep, and may be the still-beating heart of a blood cult of Mayan or Incan origin – or older, we're never quite sure – in which Golden Goddesses are kept eternally youthful with the blood of club hostesses. The Golden Goddess theory may explain, though not fully, why Serena looks more Swedish than Peruvian, but definitely won't point to where she's stashed her stewardess uniform for Scandinavian Airlines.And so to the "horror" element: a blood cult, a bubblegum faced monster waving a knife at a young girl strapped to an altar. And…that's pretty much it. It's an odd film reminiscent of an undercooked episode of Hawaii Five-O minus the pineapple, that's more interested in its mystery angle than the gore or supernatural elements. It also feels empty, and not just plot-wise – Blood Thirst is the only film I can recall that makes a city of over 10 million people seem uninhabited. Still, it's an interesting 73 minutes, more for what it is than what it does: a cheapo spook-show which predates the John Ashley/Roger Corman deluge of Philippine horrors by several years. And, to be fair, it's not every day you see a monster clobbered to death by an undercover cripple's fake leg.Adam: There's a killer on the loose… a homicidal maniac with delusions of ancient history. Now, can I use your phone?

This is a real textbook case of how to fail to make a chandleresque film in spite of every effort. Use the dialog that is rich with ominous one-liners and full of household clichés and heavily sexual innuendos that are from the bottom of the lowest barrel; be sure the action is full of tough and cool wannabes slapping each other in uncontrollable sexual frenzy; add the soundtrack that suffocates the viewer with loads of sexually sizzling cool jazz and exotic (equally sexually loaded) Latino mambo music. Make sure the lightning is never above dim and shadows are lurking everywhere in this moist, hot jungle of sexual predators. A few exotic dances by a blond sex goddess wouldn't harm, even when the lady is only capable of waving her arms a little - as long as she is oozing sexual promiscuity. Note the frequent use of the word "sexual"? Add some more sexuality, and voilà! there's your rip-off of The Big Sleep multiplied by Double Indemnity. Or, that's what you might think. In gruesome reality, you get Blood Thirst, a ridiculous B programmer that is a parody of itself. For film noir lovers this film is a must - you get the techniques of the genre laid bare before you. Great for studying what film noir is all about - there's much to learn about why the ingredients don't always sum up to what one might expect.

I was pretty startled to find out that this film was made in 1971. It has all the earmarks of a 1950s B-lister - ambiguous horror, randy hero, tons of gorgeous dames, peril, black and white photography. There's barely enough horror in this film to call it such, and what there is, is extremely cheesy, but I found myself loving it nonetheless. The Manila, Phillipines setting is interesting and the strained one-liners of the hero (and his primary love interest) are gold-plated howlers. This is a fine movie to put on and mock, while having a few pina coladas, before watching something actually good (or at least, a genuine 1950s B-movie horror classic). You won't feel bad about not giving it your complete attention, but fulfilled when you do.