"Kulay Dugo Ang Gabi", also known as "The Blood Drinkers" and "Blood is the Color of Night", is a Filipino horror film. And considering how incredibly cheap and awful all the other horror films have been that I've seen from this country, my hopes were not very high!! "Blood is the Color of Night" turned out to be an incompetent film--though significantly better than any of the previous Filipino horror films I saw-such as "Beast of the Yellow Night", "Brides of Blood", "Mad Doctor of Blood Island" and "Beast of Blood". They were so horrible that "Blood is the Color of Night" appears like Shakespeare in comparison!!The film sometimes actually manages to set an appropriately frightening mood with the fog and the vampire wearing cool wrap-around sunglasses. However, most of the time it just looks like it was made by Ed Wood's brother--with screaming bats on strings, narration to explain WHAT is happening, weird and inexplicably tinted scenes (the pink ones were especially hard on the eyes though they also came in many other colors as well as full color), the bald vampire with a whip, Maura's bad hairdo and some really bad acting and writing.The plot involves the head vampire (the bald guy) saying that he needs to do a heart transplant on his bride. Now, if she is a vampire or going to become one, I can't see any reason that he should be doing surgery (after all, isn't she supposed to be dead?)! I also wasn't sure why he had to get her sister's heart. And, I have no idea why he repeatedly did NOT take this heart when he had many good opportunities. Of course, the same could be said about the handsome hero. When baldy beat him in a kung fu fight, he could have and should have killed the hero...but he just let him go!! Any vampire this stupid deserves to lose by the end of the film! But, weirdly, the movie has a very, very, very strange and inexplicable ending--one you just have to see to believe (such as the vampire using a gun and the hero using a flare gun)! Overall, a silly but watchable film. Not at all good but considering the source, it could have been a lot worse!!By the way, can anyone tell me why Mr. Vampire called his henchman 'Gordo' (Spanish for 'Fatso')? The guy was a skinny hunchback! And what's with the name calling? Is this any way to treat your devoted followers? He should remember that it IS hard to get good help.

An evil genius vampire whose minions include a hunchback, a midget, a hot chick with sunglasses, and a rubber bat tries to save the life of his vampire lover by transplanting her with the heart of her long, lost sister. The sister, inconveniently, is still alive. Plays at times like an Ed Wood movie, at others like a classic, albeit low-budget, horror film. Made in the Philippines, which lends jungle atmosphere, interesting architecture, and enough catholic iconography to satisfy the Pope. Badly dubbed in English, including the fact that three completely different characters are, evidently, supposed to be mute and make the exact same, "Uhn, uhn, uhn," noises in the exact same voice, which is blissfully confusing. Features one singing cowboy scene, Captain Kirk-style martial arts, and a musical score that sounds like it could be library tracks but nonetheless is very effective. The film is sometimes black and white, sometimes color, and sometimes tinted a garish magenta, which actually works to heighten the atmosphere at least part of the time. Anyone who has read this far and is still interested will not be disappointed.

Sorry to demystify the cinematography but it was a question of COST. Color film stock was prohibitively expensive then and the producers couldn't afford to shoot all the scenes in color. This practice was prevalent in the Philippine film industry in the late 60's/early 70's. I remember a billboard advertising a comedy as "filmed in partly color"(sic). If the visual inconsistencies tended to enhance the narrative and add to the creepy character of the movie, well and good. So, there it is--another mystery gone.Incidentally, it is not widely known that Gerry De Leon was an MD but never practiced this profession. His family was in the movie business and he promptly went into it after graduating from med school.

Polished performances, outstanding effects, pathos, delicious and powerful antagonist, nod to spirituality, eerie atmosphere, scary moments, moody, and superb. A feast for cerebral viewers. Inclusion of diversely enabled cast members is an ingenious touch.