Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		2.5

The Blood Drinkers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 30, 2019

Note: This film is also available as part of The Hemisphere Box of Horrors.

For certain lovers of cult cinema, the name Hemisphere Pictures will most likely forever be linked to The Blood Island Collection, and perhaps more generally to Philippine shot outings in general, but as the movies collected in Hemishpere Box of Horrors make clear, this relatively small scale independent “studio” (if it could even be called that) at least attempted to try a few (marginally?) different things through the years. The five films assembled for this set document an approach that might be thought of as part Hammer, part Roger Corman (especially his Poe adaptations), but with a very peculiar, and some may reasonably feel distinctive, air. Part of that is due to the features shot in the Philippines, but there’s a weirdly exotic feel to even the stateside shot, admittedly low budget and often generally lo-fi offerings. One of the fun supplements on some of the Blood Island Collection discs were the reminiscences of Hemisphere marketing guru Samuel S. Sherman, and Sherman is back with more background information here, helping to explain how Hemisphere was seeking some kind of identity on the grindhouse and/or drive-in circuit(s), finding some unexpected success along the way. There's little doubt that any, and indeed probably all, of these films fits rather snugly into the confines of "cult cinema", but even devoted acolytes of this particular cult may need to temper expectations based on the source elements Severin was able to procure.

Dr. Marco (Ronald Remy) is a vampire with a problem — well, a vampire with another problem, anyway, namely the fact that his beautiful wife Katrina (Amalia Fuentes) may be soon joining the ranks of the actually dead, as opposed to the undead. Marco hatches a plan which involves Katrina’s sister Charito (also played by Fuentes), though a number of obstacles (perhaps expectedly) accrue. This is a rather interesting take on the vampire story, with an emphasis on Christian iconography that almost presages some later cinematic versions of a somewhat more famous vampire tale, notably Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The Blood Drinkers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blood Drinkers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Somewhat hilariously, the film has been described as "the first color horror picture produced in the Philippines" (that's its tag line on the IMDb), but as is described in some of the supplements, the cost of actually shooting an entire film in color was prohibitive for Hemisphere, and so as can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, director Gerardo De Leon and cinematographer Felipe Sacdalan opted for long swaths being tinted, typically either in deep blues or reds. The result is actually rather evocative. Severin's back cover states this transfer was "scanned from the only complete 35mm print known to exist", and so has to be accepted on its own merits, which frankly are often variable. The blue tinted material actually features decent detail levels a lot of the time, but the red tinting tends to mask fine detail. The actual color footage appears faded, but has moments of vibrancy. Midrange and wide shots often don't offer much in the way of clarity, but a few passing close-ups have rather good fine detail. The source element is littered with age related wear and tear, with quite a few scratches, nicks, white and black flecks, and other issues like frame instability. There's also pretty bad wobble during the opening credits.

The Blood Drinkers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blood Drinkers features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix that can sound a little brash and even slightly too bright in its upper registers, something that's noticeable during some of the more bombastic scoring choices. The dubbing is what it is, which means (as Arrow is fond of saying) "sync can be loose against the picture". There are recurrent if minor pops and crackles along the way, and an overall boxy sound, along with some minor distortion and clipping in louder moments.

The Blood Drinkers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Manong of the Philippines (1080p; 12:19) is an interview with Dik Trofeo, Script Supervisor and Gerry De Leon's Assistant Director.


• Hemisphere Appreciation by Filmmaker David DeCoteau (1080p; 4:25) is a brief but engaging overview with a very animated DeCoteau. There's a cool (if again, brief) look at the venerable (and now long gone) Broadway Theater in my hometown of Portland.


• Audio Commentary with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger


• Partial Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel S. Sherman


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 26:42) are silent, and play here to music selections from the score.


• Blood Drinkers Trailer (1080p; 1:53)


• Vampire People Trailer (1080p; 1:42)


• Radio Spot (00:59)

The Blood Drinkers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Blood Drinkers may strike some as it struck me, namely that it's probably better than it could and maybe should have been, but it still isn't very good. This is perhaps more interesting from a stylistic perspective than from a story angle. Both video and audio encounter hurdles, but the supplements are well done.