''Vampire Hookers'' is a 1978

sexploitation A sexploitation film (or sex-exploitation film) is a class of independently produced, Low-budget film, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition o ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Cirio H. Santiago and written by Howard R. Cohen. An international co-production of the Philippines and the United States, the film stars

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later J ...

as a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

named Richmond Reed, who recruits three female vampires who pose as prostitutes in order to lure victims to their lair. The other members of the cast include Bruce Fairbairn,

Trey Wilson Donald Yearnsley "Trey" Wilson III (January 21, 1948 – January 16, 1989) was an American character actor known for playing rural, authoritarian-type characters, most notably in comedies such as ''Raising Arizona'' and ''Bull Durham''. Career D ...

, Karen Stride, Lenka Novak, and Katie Dolan. ''Vampire Hookers'' is also known by a number of other titles, including ''Cemetery Girls'', ''Night of the Bloodsuckers'', ''Sensuous Vampires'', and ''Twice Bitten''. The film has received mixed reviews from critics.

Cast

as Richmond Reed *

Bruce Fairbairn Bruce Earl Fairbairn (December 30, 1949 – May 17, 1999) was a Canadian record producer. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999, and is considered one of the best of his era. His most successful productions are '' Slippery When Wet'' ...

as Tom Buckley *

as Terry Wayne * Karen Stride as Cherish * Lenka Novak as Suzy * Katie Dolan as Marcy * Lex Winter as CPO Taylor *

Leo Martinez Leo Martinez (born March 7, 1945) is a Filipino actor, comedian and director. Martinez also served as Director General of the Film Academy of the Philippines. Personal life He is married to Gina Valenciano (sister of Gary Valenciano), and has chi ...

as Julio *

Vic Diaz Victor Sunico Diaz, popularly known as Vic Diaz, (July 29, 1932 – September 15, 2006) was a Filipino character actor who mostly portrayed villains. He was also the father of Teddy Diaz, the founding guitarist of the Filipino Rock band The D ...

as Pavo

Production

''Vampire Hookers'' was filmed in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, Philippines.

Critical reception

Paula Mejia of ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' included ''Vampire Hookers'' on a list of ten "excellent cheesy horror movies", and wrote that "the one-liners are atrocious, as is the movie's cringeworthy theme song". In his book ''Vampire Films of the 1970s: Dracula to Blacula and Every Fang Between'', writer Gary A. Smith also noted the film's use of one-liners, writing that they "seem positively brilliant when compared with the fart humor which abounds." Smith wrote that the film "defines the term ' grindhouse cinema, and goes on to call it "poorly photographed in 16mm complete with the harsh lighting, post-synched dialogue and generally wretched performances so prevalent in '70s exploitation movies."

Home media

In September 2013, ''Vampire Hookers'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Vinegar Syndrome Vinegar Syndrome is an American home video distribution company which specializes in "protecting and preserving genre films". The company was founded in 2012 in Bridgeport, Connecticut by Joe Rubin and Ryan Emerson, who created it to restore ...

as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with the 1978 film ''

Death Force ''Death Force'' (also known as ''Vengeance Is Mine'') is a 1978 martial arts exploitation film directed by Cirio H. Santiago and written by Howard R. Cohen. The film is an international co-production of the Philippines and the United States, ...

'', which was also directed by Santiago. In August 2018, Vinegar Syndrome released the film on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

as part of their ''5 Films 5 Years Volume #4'' set, a release which also contains four other films. Squanch Games licensed the film to be used in their 2022 video game '' High On Life'', in which the player can view the film in its entirety.

References

External links

* * {{Cirio H. Santiago 1970s exploitation films 1978 horror films 1978 films American exploitation films American sexploitation films Films about Filipino Americans Films about prostitution in the Philippines Films shot in Manila Philippine erotic horror films American vampire films 1970s English-language films Films directed by Cirio H. Santiago Films scored by Jaime Mendoza-Nava 1970s American films English-language horror films