The
Thirsty Dead
AKA Blood
Hunt
AKA The
Blood Cult of Shangri-La
is a 1974 American-Filipino co-production shot on location in the
Philippines. It was directed by Terry Becker, an actor with a few TV
episode directing credits. This was the only movie he directed. The
story was written by Becker and Lou Whitehill (another actor) with
the screenplay by Charles Dennis (another actor, who's done a lot of
voice-over work in recent years).
It
begins with a long establishing shot of a harbor, then a dancer
entertains a bunch of sailors in a sleazy dive bar before her set
ends and she goes back to her dressing room to listen to exposition
radio discuss a rash of women being kidnapped and because this is 70s
schlock, she fantasizes about being taken as a white slave to Hong
Kong. This is Claire (Judith McConnell) and sure enough, she herself
is soon captured by mysterious people in dark robes. After the
credits, another woman, Laura (Jennifer Billingsley) turns down a
marriage proposal and goes home alone so she can be kidnapped by the
same monk-lookin guys. She wakes up half-drugged in a sewer and tries
to get away, doesn't, and is taken by boat into the jungle with
another girl, Ann (Fredricka Myers). They get dropped off with Claire
and a local girl, Bonnie (Chiqui da Rosa) and are then escorted
through the jungle by some bored-looking men in loincloths to a
hidden cult.
The
cult is led by Ranu (Tani Guthrie) with religious services by Baru
(John Considine) and his giant silly collar. They worship a head in a
red plastic box called Raul. At least, I think its Raul. The audio of
the version I watched was terribly muddy and difficult to understand.
Doesn't matter. Raul's only in one scene anyway.
The
four women arrive and Laura is singled out by Baru because Raul
mentioned her name as part of a something-something prophecy and Baru
painted a portrait of her thanks to a prophetic dream he had of her
because he's a lonely weirdo and so they can throw in a weak romance
plot.
An
IMMORTAL lonely weirdo, as it turns out. This cult is kidnapping
attractive young women so that they can harvest their blood and mix
it with leaves from a local jungle plant with remarkable healing
properties and the resulting cocktail extends their life and youth.
Interestingly enough, the cult uses the leaves to heal up their
wounds so they don't die. Those “rejected” by Raul eventually
turn into withered and crazy old people who get locked away in a
cave.
Anyway,
Baru tries to woo Laura over to his side and while she has some
attraction to him, she's horrified by the cult's practices. The
conversation goes “What right do you have?” “We are the chosen
ones.” Rinse. Repeat.
Claire,
on the other hand, likes the idea of being young and immortal and not
being the one who's blood is being drunk. This leads to some
half-assed tension and the four girls escape into the jungle, wander
aimlessly for a while, then get caught and brought back.
Laura
wins Ranu over to her side, and with his help escapes again and frees
the rejected ones, who predictably turn on their masters. Claire
decides she wants to stay, Laura tries to force her into escaping
with the group, Claire tries to run away, takes a wrong turn and
falls down into a spike pit and dies. Good job missing the point of
why forcing people into doing things they don't want to is bad,
Laura.
Anyway,
the three girls escape with Ranu, and he leads them toward the exit,
only they pass the “Ring of Age” which borders the cult's
territory and he rapidly starts aging because we needed fake drama
introduced at the last minute. The slave revolt is put down and the
three women barely escape their pursuers by reaching a road and
flagging down a passing jeep.
The
movie ends with police searching the jungle with helicopters while a
police lieutenant who was investigating the disappearances (Vic Diaz,
who I only mention because he was a prolific actor in the Philippine
horror movie industry of the 70s) tells Laura that they can't find
any trace of settlement on the mountain, not even with helicopters.
Meanwhile, Ranu looks at the futile search through a telescope and
has a good laugh.
The
biggest problem is complete lack of tension in the movie. After
getting captured in the beginning, most scenes revolve around “how
will the girls be able to escape?” and until the finale, the answer
is “they can't.” Everything reverts back to them being captured
without much trouble and more scenes of them talking about escaping.
Bonnie has a deadly snake crawling at her feet! Never mind, it leaves
without any fuss. Ann's bloodletting wound opens up! Never mind,
somebody used one of the magic healing leaves to fix it. Its
dreadfully boring.
The
moral conflict of “We are the chosen ones!” versus “You don't
have the right to do this!” feels like a bad episode of Star Trek.
The cult's silly robes, propensity for interpretive dance, and
soundtrack all add to that feel.
Is
there anything good? Well, its got a talking head in a box. That
counts for something. The character of Claire, while being a
two-dimensional turboslut, is at least entertaining to watch and
McConnell has scene-chewing fun with the role, which can't be said
about the rest of the cast. That's really about it.
Ultimately,
its a boring movie with a paralyzing reluctance to move its own plot
forward.
Absolutely
not recommended.
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