Bona-fide film buff here, with long family history in Hollywood (famous cinematographer, script consultant). In short, I know my beans somewhat, and am now going to defend this much-maligned horror film from the Phillipines. Yes, "Curse (or, 'Blood') of the Vampires" is far from sophisticated material. It has no such pretensions but is a product of its time and as such, is of considerable interest to film buffs like me. A sprightly waltz opens the action as a rather sedate family celebration is underway, marking the return of brother and sister to the family fold after some years spent away. They find old love interests and reignite the flame. Something charming in such simple romantic notions as fidelity, chastity and devotion. No drama, no lust, just pure romance until their vampire mother puts the bite on her son. The mood darkens; the reason the siblings were sent away was to protect them from all knowledge of the family curse. The doomed couple, Daniel and Leonore, effectively played by capable Filipino actors and a most attractive pair, are forbidden to marry lest the curse breed on. As the lovers flee together Daniel is killed in a carriage accident, leaving Leonore at the mercy of her now-vampire brother. What's worse, it was her vampire brother Eduardo who sabotaged the carriage, causing the fatal accident. What remains is a ghostly denouement, proving that love is strong as death. The cinematography is at times quite masterly and as has been said the production team were not your typical B-movie ragbag but classically-trained film-makers. The color is variously garish, faded, and overdone, all of which lends an air of unreality. The sound is not pristine by any means, but adequate. The setting is weird- Spain? Phillipines? A Caribbean island?- one never knows exactly, and the happy slaves in black-face confuse the issue further, creating an unsettling air. The way Eduardo's wife submits to him as her master and becomes his willing slave is perhaps the most erotic scene and there are a number of these, but none egregious. So, an oddball film of the genre, essentially much better than one would expect, but you have to be prepared to accept the offbeat and the unusual in order to get the most out of this film. I have watched a good clear copy for the past three nights in succession and my admiration has only grown. Loved it in my twenties and to my great surprise and delight, find I appreciate it even more now than I did in the 1970's.

Patriarch Don Enrique Escudero hides a secret in his crypt: his vampire wife. With such a terrible curse on his family, he forbids his beautiful daughter Leonore (Amalia Fuentes) from marrying her beau, Daniel Castillo (Romeo Vasquez). Soon after, Leonore's brother Eduardo discovers his undead mother in the basement and is bitten (the idiot having thrown away his crucifix). Pretty soon there are vampires everywhere!

After Daniel dies in a coach crash (the brakes sabotaged by Eduardo),he returns as a ghost to strike fear into his killer (who knew that vamps were scared of ghosts?). Daniel's spirit is unable to prevent Leonore from being bitten by her brother, but she is saved from eternal damnation by a stake through the heart. As the Escudero mansion and its undead occupants are engulfed in flames, set alight by torch-bearing locals, Leonore's spirit joins Daniel in the afterlife.

Heavy on the familial melodrama, Curse of the Vampires is more cheesy Filipino soap opera than it is horror; even when the fangs are out, the film delivers little in the way of scares, the lack of chills not helped by a cheap, garish aesthetic achieved in no small part by the terrible use of primary coloured lighting, with the actors followed by spotlights being particularly distracting. Brunette babe Fuentes is very easy on the eye, all heaving bosom and big brown eyes, and makes the going a little less painful, and the ghostly shenanigans are fun. Just try to ignore all of those Filipino extras in blackface playing the Escuderos' servants #awkward.

This is a bad film. Its not a good bad movie, its just a bad movie.

The plot has something to do with the adult children of a family finding out that their mother hasn't really been dead, rather she was changed into a vampire and had been kept locked up by their father in a secret crypt.

I've run across this movie a under a couple of different names and under everyone of them its a turkey. Nothing in this film works. The acting is more like over the top soap opera spoof than any realistic. The aged Grannie who plays the vampire is more laughable than frightening with the result that you may hurt yourself from laughing at it all.

2 out of 10 for the occasional unintentional laugh, otherwise this is a movie to be avoided at all costs.