There are icons in acting who became the face of their land. The faces of these elite thespians denote a city or country like a natural or man-made landmark. You can’t make a movie in Paris without a shot of the Eiffel Tower. Is your movie really in Arizona without an establishing shot of the Grand Canyon? How can you get away with a Manhattan location without a glimpse of the Empire State Building. When Vic Diaz appeared on the screen, grindhouse audiences automatically knew the film really was shot in Manila. Who is Vic Diaz? The Filipino actor made his big mark as the colorful guard in Pam Grier’s The Big Bird Cage. He’s like the Colm Meaney of the Philippines appearing at least 100 films shot in his homeland. Drive-In Collection: Blood Thirst & The Thirsty Dead and Death Force & Vampire Hookers shows off the scope and depth of Vic’s amazing career. These two double feature sets are a play-at-home version Vic Diaz film festival.
Drive-In Collection: Blood Thirst & The Thirsty Dead will quench your viewing desires. Blood Thirst (1965 – 74 minutes) is a black and white thriller from Manila. Inspector Miguel Ramos (Vic Diaz) is stymied by a killer on the loose that’s murdering ladies from the nightclub district. What’s really concerning about the killings is that the ladies’ bodies are hung upside down and drained of blood. Crime expert Robert Winston (The Double-Barrelled Detective Story‘s Adam Rourke) flies into town to help his old buy Ramos crack the case. The two men waste no time roaming the late night party scene. The clues lead to a tempting Peruvian performer (Yvonne Nielson) who might be involved in an evil ritual. While Blood Thirst was made in 1965, it didn’t get released in America until 1971 which is why no one has a bad perm. The Thirsty Dead (1974 – 88 minutes) is another tale of women vanishing from nightclubs in Manila. A cage dancer and another woman are abducted after hours. Their kidnappers take them out to the jungle. There’s no talk of ransom since this crime is being committed by a cult that believes in eternal life through the drinking of blood. Are the ladies going to be served up? One cop that’s on their trail is Vic Diaz. Although this time Vic’s position isn’t quite as lofty as his previous Thirst film. This film is hilarious in little ways with the cult doing its best to seem normal to their victims.
Another mainstay of Filipino cinema is filmmaker Cirio H. Santiago. The director of Firecracker and TNT Jackson was the Roger Corman on the other side of the Pacific. He was also big in using Vic Diaz. Death Force (1978 – 110 minutes) is an epic tale that goes from Asia to Los Angeles. Doug (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls‘ James Iglehart), Morelli (Night of the Cobra Woman‘s Carmen Argenziano) and McGee (Penitentiary‘s Leon Isaac Kennedy) are old army buddies who have a great get rich quick scheme. They smuggle a coffin full of cocaine to China. Their buyer is Vic Diaz. Money changes everything and the trip home turns the trio into a duo. McGee and Morelli dump an injured Doug overboard. They go back to Los Angeles to take over the underworld with their newly gained cash. McGee immediately makes moves on Doug’s wife (Battlestar Galactica‘s Jayne Kennedy). She thinks she’s a widow. But it turns out Doug is alive. His barely alive body washed up on an island occupied by two Japanese soldiers stuck there since World War II. They reluctantly heal Doug and train the American in the way of the samurai. When he’s finally healthy enough, Doug gets himself to even the score and reunite with his family. It’s a great big battle on the streets since nobody is expecting George to show up wave swords. This is a fine serving of urban action via Manilla. This is the longer cut that went out with the title Vengeance is Mine! Vampire Hookers warns sailors about why they shouldn’t hook up with hookers especially ones that might be undead. Bruce Fairbairn and Trey Wilson are sailors on shore leave in Manila looking for fun. A cabbie turns them onto Karen Stride. She has a fun place to party: a cemetery. Back at the crypt are Katie Dolan and Lenka Novak. They’re eager to welcome the sailors. Turns out they’re hookers. But they are also vampire hookers. Their pimp turns out to be the elderly John Carradine (House of Dracula). His bumbling assistant is Vic Diaz in a comic role. His antics are brilliantly over the top especially when he fakes having fangs. Eventually the sailors need to stop the vampire hookers, but at first they don’t mind enjoying them. This is a goofy and bizarre adventure mixing carnal fun with blood sucking. The theme song is hilarious with the stunning lyrics, “They’re vampire hookers/ Blood isn’t all they suck.”
These four films show Vic Diaz in various roles instead of just evil prison guard. He can play cops, drug kingpins and pansexual vampire assistants The man had no limits when it came to his thespian skills. But no matter the character, Diaz is a welcome to the Philippines sign to viewers. Unfortunately these movies do make people rather nervous about visiting the island nation since most fun nights out end with a kidnapping and a blood draining. This quartet is ultimately a Drive-In tribute to Diaz. He’s an actor who deserves a lifetime honor for being in every Filipino film for decades.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic for all four movies. The transfers have been restored, but there’s a bit of roughness to the quickly shot low budget films. The audio is mono. There’s a lot of ADR in the mix.
Theatrical Trailer for Vampire Hookers (1:51) promises unspeakable horror. John Carradine does the voice over. “Close encounters of a different kind,” is the closing tag. Did anyone skip the Spielberg flick to see Vampire Hookers?
Drive-In Collection: Blood Thirst & The Thirsty Dead and Drive-In Collection: Death Force & Vampire Hookers are two double feature sets that contain four doses of Vic Diaz. He better be treated as a national treasure in the Philippines. Blood Thirst and The Thirsty Dead work well as a double feature with two tales of women being kidnapped and bled. Death Force gives an Asian flavor the black action films that dominated the ’70s. Vampire Hookers is as cheesy as blood suckers can get. What really matters is that this is a chance for people to experience Vic Diaz’s talent.
Vinegar Syndrome presents Drive-In Collection: Blood Thirst & The Thirsty Dead and Drive-In Collection: Death Force & Vampire Hookers. Directed by Newt Arnold, Terry Becker and Cirio H. Santiago. Starring: Vic Diaz, John Carradine, James Iglehart and Jayne Kennedy. Each Boxset Contains: 2 Movies on 1 DVD. Rated: R. Released: September 10, 2013.
