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This is a bad film. Its not a good bad movie, its just a bad movie.

The plot has something to do with the adult children of a family finding out that their mother hasn't really been dead, rather she was changed into a vampire and had been kept locked up by their father in a secret crypt.

I've run across this movie a under a couple of different names and under everyone of them its a turkey. Nothing in this film works. The acting is more like over the top soap opera spoof than any realistic. The aged Grannie who plays the vampire is more laughable than frightening with the result that you may hurt yourself from laughing at it all.

2 out of 10 for the occasional unintentional laugh, otherwise this is a movie to be avoided at all costs.

By imdb standards this is a "bad" film but the riffers at Cinematic Titanic transform it into a real pleasure to watch. To our eyes, the film is so ridiculous that it's the perfect set-up for jokes.

The thing to remember about the original film is that, in lesser-developed nations like the Philippines, unsophisticated people who live in the rural areas would find this film to be both frightening and entertaining. It would have been a big hit with that audience. In that context it is a "good" film.

Patriarch Don Enrique Escudero hides a secret in his crypt: his vampire wife. With such a terrible curse on his family, he forbids his beautiful daughter Leonore (Amalia Fuentes) from marrying her beau, Daniel Castillo (Romeo Vasquez). Soon after, Leonore's brother Eduardo discovers his undead mother in the basement and is bitten (the idiot having thrown away his crucifix). Pretty soon there are vampires everywhere!

After Daniel dies in a coach crash (the brakes sabotaged by Eduardo), he returns as a ghost to strike fear into his killer (who knew that vamps were scared of ghosts?). Daniel's spirit is unable to prevent Leonore from being bitten by her brother, but she is saved from eternal damnation by a stake through the heart. As the Escudero mansion and its undead occupants are engulfed in flames, set alight by torch-bearing locals, Leonore's spirit joins Daniel in the afterlife.

Heavy on the familial melodrama, Curse of the Vampires is more cheesy Filipino soap opera than it is horror; even when the fangs are out, the film delivers little in the way of scares, the lack of chills not helped by a cheap, garish aesthetic achieved in no small part by the terrible use of primary coloured lighting, with the actors followed by spotlights being particularly distracting. Brunette babe Fuentes is very easy on the eye, all heaving bosom and big brown eyes, and makes the going a little less painful, and the ghostly shenanigans are fun. Just try to ignore all of those Filipino extras in blackface playing the Escuderos' servants #awkward.

The patriarch of the Escudero family is in ill health, and has one serious stipulation in his will: burn the family estate to the ground after he's passed away. It turns out that he's been hiding a very big secret from the rest of the family and the community for a long time. This proves to have disastrous consequences for everybody when some of these souls venture into the cellar. Soon, a large percentage of the local populace has been turned into vampires.

Directed by the iconic Filipino exploitation filmmaker Gerardo de Leon, "Curse of the Vampires" is enjoyable provided one doesn't expect too much from it. It has good atmosphere (and lighting; de Leon had obviously studied his Bava). However, it does play like a cross between a soap opera (dialogue and music are melodramatic, the performances cheesy) and a somewhat traditional Gothic horror film. This viewer says "somewhat", since it is a mite bit gorier and sexier than older classics of the genre. The scenario is most amusing the way that things keep going from bad to worse, owing to some stupid character decisions.

The similarly iconic actor of the genre, Eddie Garcia (who only recently passed away), is a hoot as the antagonistic Eduardo. He's such a heel at times that he might as well have been twirling his moustache. Amalia Fuentes has some appeal as the heroine of the piece, Eduardo's sister Leonore. Romeo Vasquez is a hoot as her macho, devoted admirer who wants to have it out with Eduardo since the latter so obviously tries to put a monkey wrench into their happiness. And Mary Walter is memorable as the matriarch of the clan. For whatever reason, the household staff are played by actresses wearing blackface.

Overall, the trashy, sordid plot was pretty entertaining, leading us to a climactic series of confrontations and some unforeseen developments. (Such as Eduardo having a duel with a ghostly version of Daniel.)

Not as much fun as the "Blood Island" series, but enjoyable enough.

Seven out of 10.

I first read about this in Fred Olen Ray's fantastic "The New Poverty Row", so when I saw it for $5 at Grimsby Giant Tiger, I scarfed it up. And damned if it doesn't have Ray himself introducing the thing in a sexist intro that will do nothing for his Irving Thalberg Award campaign. As for the movie itself, well, there's not much to say. It's an example of the era's Filipino horror output - and not one of the best (!!!) either - mom is supposed to be dead but she's locked in the basement and has turned into a vampire, and bites her son, and quite limited action ensues, some involving locals in blackface as happy slaves. Dull and slow and not nearly as tawdry as the scene's rep.