Friday, April 18, 2014

Movie review - "Bloodsuckers" (1970) ** (aka "Incense of the Damned")

Also known as Incense for the Damned this horror flick was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis, British exploitation maestro from the 60s and 70s. He had a decent budget here, resulting in some location shooting in Greece and a cast that includes Peter Cushing, Edward Woodward, Johnny Sekka and Alex Davion.

However it was a troublesome shoot, apparently running out of money mid production; there is some narration and lots of odd cuts, which normally indicates troubled post production. It shouldn't really have been needed because the story boiled down to its essentials is quite simple: a well-connected Oxford don (played by Patrick Mower, whose dark glowering good looks would have made him a sure fire Gainsborough star had he been born a few decades earlier) goes missing in Greece and his friends (including his fiancee) go to retrieve him.

It turns out Mower has fallen in with some Alister Crowley types, led by Imogen Hassall (a cult figure from British films of this period) as a Greek femme fetale, frequently wearing not much. Even though Mower and Hassall make out a lot and participate in an orgy together, Mower can't sleep  with her - he's never slept with her fiance (Madeline Hind). Johnny Sekka is Mower's friend who is quick to claim they don't have a gay relationship but he seems awfully keen on making sure said friend is okay. Davion is a private eye, Edward Woodward has one scene as a nerdy expert, and Macnee a British diplomat.

This is a weird film, with all sorts of stuff in it - Sekka's casting gives it rare racial versatility, Hassall is quite sexy, Mower has charisma,  there are some interesting ideas (mocking the pretentious of academia, the concept of psychological vampires) which are not developed, a ham-fisted attempt to introduce some sexual complexity, some really bad stumbling when it comes to exploiting drama, pretty scenery. It's a mess and it shouldn't have been - it's not a professionally made movie. But there was enough to keep my interest for the most part.

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