Suceurs de sang

Whilst in Greece researching a book on Greek mythology, a young Oxford Don (Mower), falls under the spell of Chriseis (Hassal), a beautiful but sexually perverted vampire who murders her victims for their blood.

An oddity in the history of the British horror genre. Director Robert Hartford Davies disowned the picture due to never fully explained production problems, although it has been suggested that the low budget ran out and that scheduled re-shoots never happened. As a result the film was pasted together quickly and it's disgruntled director was credited under the pseudonym Michael Burrowes. The film got a trade show in 1972 but it wasn't given a London showing until 1976.

The picture does show a few scars of it's troubled production like when a studio rock is quite clearly seen bouncing off an actor's head without doing him any injury, but it's interpretation of vampirism as a sexual perversion is interesting although there quite clearly wasn't enough time to develop it properly. The location shooting in Greece of Desmond Dickenson is first class and the best performances come from Patrick Macnee (who had just finished The Avengers) as Major Longbarrow, Patrick Mower as the ill-fated scholar and Peter Cushing as Dr Goodrich who put the pressure on Mower academically to such a degree that it made him tempted to join the perverted vampire for excitement.

The film has been reissued on DVD under it's alternative title, "Bloodsuckers", featuring a deleted scene which attempted to add drug addiction to the mixture of sex and vampirism.

Got to say I agree with much of Wayne's comments on this film and the note that the director refused to be associated with the screened version doesn't surprise me. This film was shown on TV in the UK in 2004 and I have to say it has to be the worst quality film I have seen on the box. It seems to be made up of the film shot by the director covering the story, inter-cut with stock travelogue shots of Greece. The lighting is such that the black character's facial features are lost in a lot of scenes. The acting from the supporting cast is wooden and even the stars are on the verge of rabbit-in-headlights unease. Not a pleasant evening's viewing!

An Oxford don (Patrick Mower) goes to Greece to study mythology. Suddenly he disappears and nobody hears from him. A bunch of his friends and fiancée travel there to find him. They discover he is traveling all over Greece--and wherever he goes there's a murder. He's also under the spell of beautiful but deadly Chriseis (Imogen Hassell)...

This DOES have some good points. The initial story is intriguing and there is some beautiful location shooting in Greece and a few exciting fights here and there. Also Peter Cushing and Patrick Macnee are in it--they're not given much to do but they're both very good. Also Mower is pretty good and Hassall is VERY good (and beautiful).

But the plot gets increasingly confusing (and sillier) as it goes on. When they threw in the vampirism it was badly handled and just too ridiculous to take seriously. There were obvious production difficulties--quite a few scenes just have narration. Also Madeleine Hinde is just horrible playing Mowere's fiancée.

Basically though--it's boring! I dozed off a few times...and didn't miss a thing. And, as a horror movie, it just doesn't work. It plays more like an action film or a travelogue of Greece.

Not totally worthless (because of Cushing and Macnee) but not really worth seeing. I give it a 4.

Incense for the Damned is a huge mess. The director, Robert Hartford-Davis changed the name he would be credited as for this movie, and anyone that sees the film will see why he did that.

The movie tries to be a horror movie and a social satire, but it succeeds at being neither; it just can't get away from the fact that it's a trashy load of rubbish. The plot is meandering, and is loosely strung together by a narration, which seems more like a way for the movie to save money from it's poor budget than anything else. It follows the story of Richard, an upper class Oxford University student that has got lost somewhere in Greece. A group of his friends then set out to find him, only to discover that he has come under the spell of a female vampire, and then, believing they have killed her, the group take Richard back to Oxford, unaware that he is now a vampire also.

This movie bills Peter Cushing as one of it's main stars, but in actual fact he appears in the movie for a combined time of about five minutes. Furthermore, Edward Woodward appears in the film, just before he would go on to make the best British horror movie of all time; The Wicker Man. However, his appearance is little more than a cameo. Patrick Mower, who was in The Devil Rides Out, also appears in the film, and he is an actor that will be best known by British people for his role in the rubbish, yet popular soap opera; Emmerdale. The movie also features performances from Patrick Macnee, who would later appear in The Howling and Alexander Davion, who appeared some years earlier in the British horror; Plague of the Zombies. The cast is very much B-movie, but all are somewhat experienced in the horror genre. The fact that the cast is B-grade is evident through the acting if nothing else; which, with the exception of Cushing and Woodward (both of which also aren't great) leaves a lot to be desired.

Overall, Incense for the Damned is a waste of time that manages to be neither memorable nor interesting. I even recommend that Peter Cushing fans skip this one.

One of the worst pieces of film I think any of the stars must have been in. Edward Woodward, and Patrick Macnee should really dissasociate themselves from it completely. Peter Cushing makes a cameo appearance, strong and wonderful as always. The film is a complete pile of nonsense. The script is half-baked and confused, and some of the worst editing ever has gone on as well. I was truly disappointed. Having expected a fine piece of British horror, all I saw was a mess of a film and lots of wobbly bits of flesh in a completely bizarre and unneccesary sex scene. My advice is to avoid it, even if it means your Peter Cushing collection isn't complete without it. On the other hand, if you love it, then try No Secrets from 1982. It makes about as much sense.