Incense for the Damned, or under it's more common & commercial title of Bloodsuckers, tells the story of Richard Fountain (Patrick Mower) who happens to be the British foreign secretary's son, he is also a brilliant Oxford don & an expert on ancient Greek Minoan rites & mythology. Tony Seymore (Alexander Davion) is contacted by Richard's father & told that he has become involved in weird cults in Greece while doing research for a book he is writing, both the British & Greek governments want to avoid an international scandal so Tony is sent out to Greece to bring Richard back. Tony takes Richard's best friend Bob Kirby (Johnny Sekka) & his girlfriend Penelope Goodrich (Madeleine Hinde) who are also concerned about Richard's well being, once in Athens Tony meets up with his British contact Major Derek Longbow (Patrick Macnee) who says that Richard is involved with a girl named Chriseis (Imogen Hassall) & that they need to find them, meanwhile the dead mutilated body of a girl is discovered & Richard & his cult are the prime suspects...
This British production was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis although he was apparently unhappy with the film claiming it to be unfinished (hard to argue with that) & had his name removed from the credits, in fact the version I watched had a full set of opening credits but they never even listed a director which is very unusual. Anyway, the script by Julian More which takes itself extremely seriously was based upon a novel called 'Doctors Wear Scarlet' by Simon Raven & quite frankly it's a bit of a confused mess, it's something a bit different I suppose but the narrative is poor & it's hard to keep track of what's going on or understand what the bloody thing is all about. A fair amount of Incense for the Damned is narrated & I wonder if that was put in at the last moment to try & explain things & make the film a little clearer, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. The basic premise is about Vampires although it's never made 100% clear whether they were real Vampires or whether it was just in their minds, I'm sure the filmmakers wanted to make a psychological horror film which explored the Vampire myth from another angle unfortunately it doesn't really work & the notion that people who are impotent may drink the blood of other's for a sexual orgasm is just a stupid idea that's poorly executed. The film also tries to have a little dig at the establishment at the end as well just to sidetrack & confuse things even more. Having said that I found it interesting to an extent, I thought it was something different & at only 80 odd minutes it's not too long.
Director Davis does a decent job, I must admit that I love the Greek locations & scenery in Incense for the Damned & they add a really cool look & feel to the film as opposed to if it was totally shot in England. There's not much in the way of scares although there is an orgy sequence at the start with a fair amount of nudity which is at odds with the rest of the film, forget about any gore though as their isn't any worth mentioning. Apparently shot in 1970 but remained unreleased until 1976 according to the IMDb (although I find that hard to believe as the BBFC lists it was passed for theatrical release here in the UK in 1971) & you can definitely understand the change of titles from Incense for the Damned to the somewhat misleading but much better & more exploitative sounding Bloodsuckers.
Technically the film is fine & has that indefinable sleazy 70's atmosphere, it's well made generally speaking & has a few stylish moments in it. The acting isn't the best although there's a good cast here including the always watchable Peter Cushing, Patrick Macnee & Edward Woodward in a cameo role.
Incesne for the Damned is an usual film where the filmmakers probably had the ambition to do something different & meaningful but only succeeded in making a bit of an unwatchable mess. I think I'll end this review by calling Incesne for the Damed an interesting failure although it's not a film I could recommend to anyone really.
This British production was directed by Robert Hartford-Davis although he was apparently unhappy with the film claiming it to be unfinished (hard to argue with that) & had his name removed from the credits, in fact the version I watched had a full set of opening credits but they never even listed a director which is very unusual. Anyway, the script by Julian More which takes itself extremely seriously was based upon a novel called 'Doctors Wear Scarlet' by Simon Raven & quite frankly it's a bit of a confused mess, it's something a bit different I suppose but the narrative is poor & it's hard to keep track of what's going on or understand what the bloody thing is all about. A fair amount of Incense for the Damned is narrated & I wonder if that was put in at the last moment to try & explain things & make the film a little clearer, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. The basic premise is about Vampires although it's never made 100% clear whether they were real Vampires or whether it was just in their minds, I'm sure the filmmakers wanted to make a psychological horror film which explored the Vampire myth from another angle unfortunately it doesn't really work & the notion that people who are impotent may drink the blood of other's for a sexual orgasm is just a stupid idea that's poorly executed. The film also tries to have a little dig at the establishment at the end as well just to sidetrack & confuse things even more. Having said that I found it interesting to an extent, I thought it was something different & at only 80 odd minutes it's not too long.
Director Davis does a decent job, I must admit that I love the Greek locations & scenery in Incense for the Damned & they add a really cool look & feel to the film as opposed to if it was totally shot in England. There's not much in the way of scares although there is an orgy sequence at the start with a fair amount of nudity which is at odds with the rest of the film, forget about any gore though as their isn't any worth mentioning. Apparently shot in 1970 but remained unreleased until 1976 according to the IMDb (although I find that hard to believe as the BBFC lists it was passed for theatrical release here in the UK in 1971) & you can definitely understand the change of titles from Incense for the Damned to the somewhat misleading but much better & more exploitative sounding Bloodsuckers.
Technically the film is fine & has that indefinable sleazy 70's atmosphere, it's well made generally speaking & has a few stylish moments in it. The acting isn't the best although there's a good cast here including the always watchable Peter Cushing, Patrick Macnee & Edward Woodward in a cameo role.
Incesne for the Damned is an usual film where the filmmakers probably had the ambition to do something different & meaningful but only succeeded in making a bit of an unwatchable mess. I think I'll end this review by calling Incesne for the Damed an interesting failure although it's not a film I could recommend to anyone really.