Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

This was made in 1965 but released in 1971 on the US grindhouse circuit - that is why the film "feels" like a 1960s film (some people don't seem to realize this).Grindhouse? Well it's women missing and some found dead... so an American sex-crime specialist has been called in on the case by a detective friend in Manila. It's not overly bloody nor a gore-fest, it's just believed to be sex-crimes and the film was made in the Philippines.It's better than it looks - yes it's a monster that looks like chewed bubblegum that appears at the latter part of the film (you can see that by the poster/video cover) but if you can look past that then you'll find an okay detective crime-horror film. But how does the the blood cult fit into all this? Are they Vampires? Witches? 4/10

From the clothes, hairstyles and black and white film grain it looks like Blood Thirst was filmed in the Philippines by an American production company around the mid Sixties, but wasn't released until 1971 on the bottom of a double bill with British vampire movie Bloodsuckers (1970). Even in 1971 Blood Thirst would have seemed like an anachronistic curio – quaint, and for the most part uneventful, until the ludicrous ending's payoff where we see the film's chewed bubblegum-faced monster. Then, and only then, can I say: baby, all is forgiven.Chubby Vic Diaz (and let's face it, it's not a Philippines B film without the seedily lovable Vic) plays Inspector Ramos, a Makati policeman on the trail of missing hostesses from the Barrio Club, a downbeat tourist trap run by the suspicious Senor Calderon. When the girls turn up hanging upside down and drained of blood from cuts on their arms, he sends for his old friend from the States, a cop named Adam Rourke who, as a New Yorker, is obviously used to seeing ritual murders. Posing as an "Ugly American" on a writing assignment, he goes undercover at the Barrio Club, asks one too many questions, cracks jokes like a proto-Arnie while shooting a would-be assassin, and turns out to be an ill-tempered ladies man with his eye on every Caucasian-looking woman in Manila. Just like every sleazy Hawaiian shirted white guy on a Philippines hayride.His eyes settle on both Inspector Ramos' adopted sister Sylvia, who resists Rourke's questionable charms until she can no longer stand it, and on the Barrio Club's featured attraction, the exotic dancer and blond Peruvian bombshell named Serena. It seems her beauty is more than skin-deep: it's vein-deep, and may be the still-beating heart of a blood cult of Mayan or Incan origin – or older, we're never quite sure – in which Golden Goddesses are kept eternally youthful with the blood of club hostesses. The Golden Goddess theory may explain, though not fully, why Serena looks more Swedish than Peruvian, but definitely won't point to where she's stashed her stewardess uniform for Scandinavian Airlines.And so to the "horror" element: a blood cult, a bubblegum faced monster waving a knife at a young girl strapped to an altar. And…that's pretty much it. It's an odd film reminiscent of an undercooked episode of Hawaii Five-O minus the pineapple, that's more interested in its mystery angle than the gore or supernatural elements. It also feels empty, and not just plot-wise – Blood Thirst is the only film I can recall that makes a city of over 10 million people seem uninhabited. Still, it's an interesting 73 minutes, more for what it is than what it does: a cheapo spook-show which predates the John Ashley/Roger Corman deluge of Philippine horrors by several years. And, to be fair, it's not every day you see a monster clobbered to death by an undercover cripple's fake leg.Adam: There's a killer on the loose… a homicidal maniac with delusions of ancient history. Now, can I use your phone?

This is a real textbook case of how to fail to make a chandleresque film in spite of every effort. Use the dialog that is rich with ominous one-liners and full of household clichés and heavily sexual innuendos that are from the bottom of the lowest barrel; be sure the action is full of tough and cool wannabes slapping each other in uncontrollable sexual frenzy; add the soundtrack that suffocates the viewer with loads of sexually sizzling cool jazz and exotic (equally sexually loaded) Latino mambo music. Make sure the lightning is never above dim and shadows are lurking everywhere in this moist, hot jungle of sexual predators. A few exotic dances by a blond sex goddess wouldn't harm, even when the lady is only capable of waving her arms a little - as long as she is oozing sexual promiscuity. Note the frequent use of the word "sexual"? Add some more sexuality, and voilà! there's your rip-off of The Big Sleep multiplied by Double Indemnity. Or, that's what you might think. In gruesome reality, you get Blood Thirst, a ridiculous B programmer that is a parody of itself. For film noir lovers this film is a must - you get the techniques of the genre laid bare before you. Great for studying what film noir is all about - there's much to learn about why the ingredients don't always sum up to what one might expect.

I picked this up in a $1 store on a DVD with another film. I really wanted to see the other film ('Castle of Blood' -USA title) on the DVD and only watched 'Blood Thirst' out of curiosity and because my wife said, "lets give it a chance". We figured how can you go wrong buying two films on a DVD for one dollar especially when one of the films('Castle of Blood') is rated highly. The earlier comments here lead me to believe 'Blood Thirst' was going to be a bomb. Instead my wife and I both found it enjoyable maybe even more so than the higher rated film. More than once we were laughing out loud...and the good part is those scenes were supposed TO BE funny. As opposed to scenes that are unintentionally funny in some truly bad films. Also, I thought the dubbing to English was well done as was the transfer to a nice clear DVD image. The film had a great early 60s feel to it and the B/W only made it better. There were some wonderfully off-beat characters and scenes. I also found it hard to believe this was released in 1971 because of the early 60s look and feel.Anyway, I wouldn't let the other comments here keep you from seeing this, it's an enjoyable/offbeat little film with some good acting in it and surprisingly funny scenes. It's worth your time for a fun detective /horror film with a few chills and romance thrown in for good measure. And don't forget to check your local discount stores for it. I'm glad to have it in my DVD collection what a bargain!