Bloodsuckers (Incense for the Damned) (1972)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Main Menu Audio Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Peter Cushing Trailers
Rating
Year Of Production	1972
Running Time	72:51
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Robert Hartford-Davis
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Patrick Macnee Johnny Sekka Alexander Davion Peter Cushing Edward Woodward Madeleine Hinde Patrick Mower Imogen Hassall William Mervyn David Lodge John Barron
Case	Gatefold
RPI	?	Music	Robert Richards

    A scholar at a swish British college goes missing in Greece. Some of his friends go there looking for him. It turns out he has fallen under the spell of an evil woman, and the friends must rescue him.

    Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, the evil woman Chriseis may in fact be a vampire, the missing man Richard Fountain (Patrick Mower) suffers from impotence and is suspected of a series of murders in Greece and his fiancée is the daughter of the Dean of his college, played by Peter Cushing. And Richard is the son of the Foreign Minister.

    Sound like a mishmash? I cannot imagine that Simon Raven's novel Doctors Wear Scarlet, on which this film is based, is an incoherent, sloppy mess, so something must have gone wrong in the translation to screen. I believe that there was some post-production tampering with the film, but whether that exacerbated the problems with the film or improved it I do not know. In any case it moves along jerkily, with poor editing, worse performances and terrible dialogue. The direction is poor, especially the action sequences which are unconvincing in the extreme. In two different scenes I could clearly see the shadow of a boom microphone on the wall.

    The worst of the acting is by Johnny Sekka as Richard's friend Bob and Madeleine Hinde as Richard's fiancée. But no-one escapes unscathed. A pity, because the cast listing has some promise. Patrick Macnee is top-billed, though he has a relatively small role. Edward Woodward has a cameo as a museum curator. William Mervyn has a small role as a professor, while David Lodge tries to convince as a Greek policeman. But the script and production problems defeat them. Originally titled Incense For the Damned, this film takes up space in the three-disc set Superstars of Horror Volume 1: Peter Cushing, and is not available separately.

Video

    I'm not sure what the original aspect ratio was, but this transfer is in 1.29:1, possibly derived from a TV print.

    It seems sharp, but there is some noticeable edge enhancement and really this is not very good at all. Aliasing is rife and there is some serious moiré at 2:23. Contrast and brightness are okay, and colour is not bad either. However, shadow detail is poor.

    Low level noise is evident. There are plenty of film artefacts, including dirt, white flecks and reel change markings.

    The disc is single-layered and there are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, and if anything is just as bad as the video.

    Dialogue is audible and distinct, but there is serious sibilance here. The audio is a pain to listen to, with high-pitched sounds being quite sharp and piercing.

    The music score by Robert Richards sounds like it comes from a 1970s British TV series, being just generic dramatic music or the sort of music you would hear in a chase sequence in The Professionals, or something similar.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

    The audio is some eerie music from the score.

Deleted Scene (6:45)

    This deleted scene features an orgy ending in violence. There is some nudity and the suggestion that the vampirism thing is some sort of sexual perversion.

Theatrical Trailer (2:09)

    The trailer makes the film seem slightly better than it is.

Trailer-Peter Cushing Trailers (7:25)

    Trailers for Biggles, And Now the Screaming Starts, Shockwaves and The Abominable Snowman, all of which feature our star.

    I'm not sure if this is the same transfer as the US Region 1, but that release does not have the extras of the Region 4. It comes on a single disc with another dud film called Bloodthirst. Call it a draw.

    This is a bad, bad film, which has to be seen to be believed. My advice is - don't try to believe.

    The video quality is poor.

    The audio quality is worse.

    The deleted scene just prolongs the agony. No, I'm just being smart, it is not that bad, and should have been included in the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall