An Oxford scholar (Patrick Mower), doing research in Greece, is abducted by a group of "swingers" who introduce him to LSD, orgies, and other things. The leader of the group (Imogen Hassall) gets him addicted to sex & drugs and has him completely in her power. Two friends join forces with a British colonel (Patrick Macnee) to bring him back and discover that the leader is a modern day vampire. During the rescue attempt, she is killed and Mower is taken back to England where he seems to recuperate.
Peter Cushing plays an academic who wants Mower to marry his daughter and succeed him as head of the college. Also putting in an appearance is Edward Woodward (THE WICKER MAN) as an occult expert who warns the two friends that vampirism is a "sexual perversion" and to "keep your eyes open". The last sequence in the movie features a truly bizarre ending which looks like it was added later.
The tortured history of the movie is a lot more interesting. Shot in 1970 as INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED, the director Robert Hartford-Davis (CORRUPTION) ran out of money, had the film taken out of his hands, and then asked that his name be removed from the credits (it was). It was released in the U. K. two years later as FREEDOM SEEKERS and later retitled for American drive-ins in 1976 as BLOODSUCKERS.
Since it was unfinished it needed to have some voiceover narration to link some segments together. The bulk of the first half takes place on Cyprus with great location shooting while Cushing and Edward Woodward's scenes were shot separately and then edited into the mix. Considering all of this, the film is a lot better than it should be and manages to conjure up a few worthwhile moments. This Redemption DVD is in better shape than the old SOMETHING WEIRD disc but the film probably never looked great to begin with... For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.
POSTSCRIPT: In 2023 a multi-disc box set called CUSHING CURIOSITIES was released. Among the movies included is a restored version of BLOOD SUCKERS (the proper spelling) with extra footage but It's still a mess.
Peter Cushing plays an academic who wants Mower to marry his daughter and succeed him as head of the college. Also putting in an appearance is Edward Woodward (THE WICKER MAN) as an occult expert who warns the two friends that vampirism is a "sexual perversion" and to "keep your eyes open". The last sequence in the movie features a truly bizarre ending which looks like it was added later.
The tortured history of the movie is a lot more interesting. Shot in 1970 as INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED, the director Robert Hartford-Davis (CORRUPTION) ran out of money, had the film taken out of his hands, and then asked that his name be removed from the credits (it was). It was released in the U. K. two years later as FREEDOM SEEKERS and later retitled for American drive-ins in 1976 as BLOODSUCKERS.
Since it was unfinished it needed to have some voiceover narration to link some segments together. The bulk of the first half takes place on Cyprus with great location shooting while Cushing and Edward Woodward's scenes were shot separately and then edited into the mix. Considering all of this, the film is a lot better than it should be and manages to conjure up a few worthwhile moments. This Redemption DVD is in better shape than the old SOMETHING WEIRD disc but the film probably never looked great to begin with... For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.
POSTSCRIPT: In 2023 a multi-disc box set called CUSHING CURIOSITIES was released. Among the movies included is a restored version of BLOOD SUCKERS (the proper spelling) with extra footage but It's still a mess.