Gerardo de Leon had been directing movies since the 1930s and was a revered figure in the local film industry. This is a movie made by a seasoned professional.
Katrina is dead but she’s not going to stay dead. Dr Marco (Ronald Remy) will make sure of that. Dr Marco is a mad scientist but he’s also a vampire which is the first sign that this movie is going to be slightly out of the ordinary. These are vampires who are definitely supernatural but they make use of medical science and technology.
This movie gets major bonus points for not being yet another retread of Dracula. It boldly strikes out in a totally new direction and creates its own distinctive vampire mythology.
And Dr Marco was, and is, madly in love with Katrina. Thanks to his mad scientist apparatus he has revived her but she needs blood. She will also need a new heart. Another interesting angle in this movie is that blood is more nourishing if it comes from a loved one, and a replacement heart needs to come from a close family member. A sister would be ideal.
And Katrina has a sister, Charito (Amalia Fuentes) although Charito doesn’t know this. Their mother is a rich old lady, Doña Marissa (Mary Walter), although nobody knew about this.
Doña Marissa does not like the idea of seeing her daughter’s heart cut out but she isn’t given much choice. Dr Marco is not easy to defy.
Charito has a boyfriend and he is determined to protect her from the vampires who have been active in the district. The old priest is also determined to stop the vampires.
The police are sympathetic but there’s no evidence against Dr Marco.
Dr Marco has a sexy female vampire assistant, Tanya (Celia Rodriguez). He has mind control powers as well,
The first striking thing about this movie is that it continually switches between colour and black-and-white, but tinted black-and-white. When the vampires are active everything gets tinted red. At other times a blue tint is used.
This is obviously a deliberate strategy to emphasis that there are different worlds co-existing. There’s the world of the living and the world of the dead, the world of vampires and the world of non-vampires, the world of good and the world of evil. This is also a very Roman Catholic movie so there’s also the world of the Church and the world of Satan.
And de Leon is not afraid to go all out with the gothic trappings. There’s a lot of fog!
What makes it really interesting however is that these are complex vampires. Dr Marco is scary and evil but his love for Katrina is sincere and overwhelming. He will defy heaven and hell to save her. There is a touch of that “love never dies” angle that Coppola would later push even further in his 1992 Dracula. We cannot help admiring Dr Marco’s resolute determination to save the woman he loves and we cannot help seeing him as, at least to some degree, a tragic figure.
Doña Marissa is complicated also - a mother who can only save one of her two daughters.
And Tanya is more than just a sexy lady vampire sidekick. She obviously loves Dr Marco but is so devoted to him that she will help him to save Katrina even though Katrina is clearly her rival.
And there’s a tantalising hint that redemption may be possible, even for vampires. Unlikely, but possible.
Ronald Remy as Dr Marco is one of the great screen vampires. This guy projects immense amounts of masculine eroticism and he has so much charisma that he makes Christopher Lee look a bit on the bland side.
Mary Walter as Doña Marissa is both creepy and ambiguous. Amalia Fuentes manages to be both sweet and glamorous. The acting from the supporting players is overall pretty good.
The Blood Drinkers is both visually and thematically unusual and interesting and it’s a rather good vampire movie with a nice overheated tropical vibe. Highly recommended.
Severin have released The Blood Drinkers on both DVD and Blu-Ray. There are some extras including an audio commentary.
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