One of my all time favorites.

Excellent but underrated film

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

A hideous monster is on the prowl in Manila, draining the blood of its victims, all young, female employees at the Barrio nightclub. Local police inspector Miguel Ramos (Filipino regular Vic Diaz) calls in his old friend Adam Rourke (Robert Winston), a smarmy, smart-ass sex crimes expert from the U.S., to help him on the case.With a title like Blood Thirst, one might reasonably expect a gory piece of exploitation schlock, but sadly this is not the case. What we get is more like a noir-ish detective flick (complete with shadowy black and white photography and a sleazy jazz soundtrack), albeit with slight horror elements. This means that for much of the time the film is content to follow Rourke as he investigates the mysterious murders, romances Miguel's sister Sylvia (Katherine Henryk), and gets in a few fist fights, all of which proves very dull.The silly climax sees Serena, a dancer at the Barrio, revealed to be a South American Golden Goddess who possesses the secret to everlasting youth. As Miguel and Adam battle Serena's disfigured helper, they interrupt her ritual—which involves human blood, special herbs, and a chair that harnesses the energy of the sun—causing her to rapidly grow old and disintegrate.

This is one of those rare films that seems oddly out-of-date. Although this movie came out in 1971 the black and white film, along with the music played during the picture, made it seem like something out of the late 50's or early 60's. The reason for this was the fact that it was initially produced in 1965 by a developing film industry in the Phillipines and not shown to a world-wide audience until six years later. Even so, this wasn't a bad movie by any means. Essentially, attractive women are being killed and drained of blood on the outskirts of Manila. This has the detective in charge, "Inspector Miguel Ramos" (Vic Diaz) so baffled that he calls a friend of his in America named "Adam Rourke" (Robert Winston) to come and help him with the investigation. Things begin to happen very quickly upon his arrival which further convinces him that he is on the right track to solving the case. But time is of the essence as more and more women are being killed. Anyway, I liked the performance of Robert Winston who vaguely reminded me of George Lazenby in the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". I also appreciated some of the attractive actresses like Katherine Henryk (as "Sylvia Ramos"), Yvonne Nielson ("Serena") and several other uncredited ladies as well. On the other hand, other than possibly Robert Winston, the acting wasn't that great and the special effects for the "bubble-headed monster" were just plain laughable. But all things considered, I still liked it somewhat and therefore have given it an average rating.

Giving this film a 6 out of 10 warrants some explanation, my vote reflects my taste for this genre of film-making; low-budget, disposable, 1960's drive-in films. That said, this particular example is quite distinctive and well worth a look. Made in the Philippines (around '62 or '63, I would guess, despite its official release date of 1971) on an obviously limited budget, the picture is wonderfully well photographed in black and white with some moody, noir touches. The lead, Robert Winston, is quite good-looking, albeit modestly talented. There are a surprising number (for this period) of beefcake shots. I'm assuming that someone recognized that his gifts were not in the acting department. The usual, grinding expository dialogue is graced with some humor, I LIKE the monster, the scenery is interesting and, on the whole, it moves along quite nicely. Shlock filmmakers of the present day (and they are legion) could learn a bit from the the achievements of these frugal talents.

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.