The Blood Suckers (1967)

Thank goodness for those small islands off of the European coast which are accessible only by irregular boat services and are sufficiently remote that groups of people can be stranded there and menaced by various perils, be it vampires, werewolves, cannibalistic maniacs, aliens, monster mutants or even deadly bees.  In the case of The Blood Suckers (1967), it's blood drinking plants picking off the guests at a castle located on such an island.  Exactly where this island is situated is never clear, although all the indications are that it is somewhere in the Mediterranean, close enough to an unidentified European country for people to make day trips there.  Unfortunately for the tourists featured in this film, they find themselves forced to stay overnight at the castle of Baron von Weser, a mad horticulturist who has been breeding various strains of plants not native to the island - which is otherwise unpopulated as the locals all fled after a 'vampire scare'.  Thus, the stage is set for one of those films where the guests get mysteriously killed one-by-one, their blood drained from their bodies, in between various characters wandering around the spooky old castle, where von Weber has a lab, not to mention a creepy non-speaking servant.

There are, of course, no prizes for guessing that the perpetrator of the blood draining is a perambulating vampiric tree created by von Weber.  Yet, despite all the obvious clues, the characters stranded on the island take virtually the film's entire running length to work this out, instead spending their time accusing each other, before chasing the servant to his death in the local graveyard.  A West German/Spanish co-production, The Blood Suckers was released under a variety of titles, according to market, including Maneater of Hydra and Island of Doom.  Directed by Us ex-pat actor Mel Welles, the film is shot against some very attractive Spanish locations and features some half decent camera work.  It is also patchily atmospheric, particularly in the interior scenes at the castle.  Unfortunately, it is too slackly plotted and sluggishly paced to build up much in the way of suspense or tension.  In its favour, the monstrous plant, if not exactly convincing, is quite impressively realised.  It also boasts, for its era, a surprising amount of gore, particularly at the climax, when the hero inevitably takes an axe to the tree.  The cast give hugely variable performances, which are further compromised by some equally variable dubbing for the English language version.  The most notable performance not surprisingly comes from Cameron Mitchell as von Weber.  Fairly restrained by his standards, he is, nonetheless, enjoyably over-the-top, oozing weirdness and menace in his every scene.  Thanks to the vagaries of dubbing, he seems to have ended up with Edmund Purdom's voice in the English dub, making Mitchell's performance seem even more bizarre and disconcerting.

The film's climax is almost worth sitting through the whole movie for - with the tree oozing blood, mortally wounded by George Martin's axe blows, a distraught Cameron Mitchell rushes to its side, embracing it and wailing about the loss of his beloved plant, which has clearly been the object of his affections.  You are left wondering whether it is only his fingers that are green.  Naturally, in a desperate attempt to save itself, the tree drains the blood from a willing Mitchell - to no avail.  A suitably bizarre ending for the film.  All-in-all, The Blood Suckers is a pretty typical low-budget sixties Euro horror which, despite some striking locations and half decent production values and colour photography, still contrives to look scruffy, hastily shot and roughly assembled.  The perfect sort of late night viewing for lovers of schlock, in fact.