BLOOD OF THE CHUPACABRAS (2003) + REVENGE OF THE CHUPACABRAS (2005) DOUBLE-FEATURE
Double Feature Blu-ray includes the shot on video horrors Blood of the Chupacabras (2003) and its sequel Revenge of the Chupacabras (2005). BLOOD: A group of local townsfolk are led by a treasure hunter into a nearby mine in search of gold but encounter a vampiric Chupacabras monster. REVENGE: A detective in search of a missing college student is lured by a madman into the lair of the fabled Chupacabras monster.
BLOOD OF THE CHUPACABRAS (2003)
Label: Visual Vengeance
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 85 Minutes
Region: Region-Free
Audio: English 2.0 Dolby Digital with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1),
Director: Jonathan Mumm
Cast: Dan Leis, Rachel Sense, Loren Taylor, Lenore Sebastian, Roberta Mumm, Elaine Benoit, Mark Halverson, Kim Pomales, Hugh McChord
Directed by local news anchor turned microbudget filmmaker Jonathan Mumm's Blood of the Chupacabras (2003) a/k/a Bloodthirst: Legend of the Chupacabras is a very low-budget (reportedly made for $3000) shot-on-on video cryptid tale set in a small-town somewhere in Arizona. The legendary goatsucker of the title is sadly only seen very briefly, which is a bummer, but I love this sort of shabby DIY productions that are made with love and not much money. In it a group of local town folk and a treasure seeker are in search of a lost mine, complete with a treasure map, that is said to be loaded with an untold fortune in gold, but instead of the desired riches they end up encountering a vampiric Chupacabras monster and his transformed human minions.
Shot-on-Video for peanuts and without much of any style this anemic production barely features the titular cryptid, which is a certainly a knock against it. Apparently the initial idea was to have a full-on man-in-a-monster-suit but due to the super-limited budget the intended full-suit monster was relegated to just a sculpted head, not even a mask, just a bust. For a low-rent flick the head is decent looking enough but it's just barely glimpsed in the finished movie. Now that sort of shortcoming might have shut down production on any other film set, but first-time director Mumm and his crew pushed onward despite this set back, leaving viewers to rely on their imagination and some shitty CGI to get them through it.
You can feel more than actually see first-time director Mumm's love of vintage creature features when watching this, and I say feel it because he is not able to muster that love into a coherent or exciting film. I will say that the amateur cast is pretty fun, and and I liked that there's a gypsy character that's integral to the plot, which gives it a Wolf Man flavor to a tiniest of degrees. The special effects which come into play mostly in the final leg of the film are pretty laughable nearly twenty years later, and they were pretty terrible even for the era it was made, but at least you can tell that Munn put a lot of heart into it, it just doesn't translate all that well up on the screen.
Label: Visual Vengeance
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes
Region: Region-Free
Audio: English 2.0 Dolby Digital (No Subtitles)
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Jonathan Mumm
Cast: Gary Agid, Christa Bella, Jason Michael Fong, Mark Halverson, Hugh McChord, Cheryl McIntire, Bruce Shaw, Megan Welch
The sequel Bloodthirst 2: Revenge of the
Chupacabras is again directed by newsman-turned-director Mumm. In it we have all sorts of crazy local-yokel sub-plots and not a lot of cryptid action, though the finale packs in quite a bit of the creature, for better or worse. This time we have a detective investigating the kidnapping of a college student/cryptozoologist, which is connected to an embezzlement scheme, plus we have crooked happenings at an asylum. We do get more Chupacabras action than the first film, but again it's only at the ass-end of the show. The movie looks quite a bit better than the first as well, the low-budget camerawork is slightly improved and is presented in widescreen no less, with more stable imagery and a slightly more coherent story, and the cast are looking like they're having quite a bit of fun chewing up the scenery.
The Chupacabras creature this time around is seen a lot more as it terrorizes the asylum during the finale, but the bad news is that the cryptid-creature is rendered completely with low-rent, sub-PlayStation 1 digital effects and looks pretty dang terrible. Again, I can feel Mumm's passion for the creature-features of his youth here but it just does not manifest into a "good" film, which is unfortunate. Sure, it's easy for me to armchair this and laugh at it, but it's probably better than I could have mustered at the time (and even now), and the passion behind it bleeds through if you know where to look, but for the average film fan would be considered a shockingly bad. I remember seeing these films at Big Lots a lot a few years back, under the original Bloodthirst titles, I never picked them up, but I bet a lot of folks did, and I'm curious to know how these went down with the general audiences. With that said, I'm a huge fan of these SOV oddities, and if you're a bottom-of-the-barrel cult-film fans these flicks are a hoot, especially if you also have a fascination with regional filmmaking.
Audio/Video: Blood of the Chupacabras (2005) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance in 1080p HD fullscreen (1.33:1), sourced from archival SD master it looks like a raggedy VHS with video tape source issues like scan lines, murkiness and poor colors. The sequel film Revenge of the Chupacabras looks slightly better with a cleaner, but still VHS looking, picture quality, in widescreen (1.78:1), but still suffers from tape-based issues and a general lack of decent lighting and/or style. Audio on both movies comes by way of English Dolby Digital 2.0, with only the main feature having optional English subtitles. Neither are optimal but both are serviceable, but I did miss the subtitles while watching the sequel. There's tape-based noise throughout and poor recording acoustics to deal with, as well as audio levels ramping up and down from scene to scene.
The poor quality of the double-feature aside the Visual Vengeance extras and packaging are top-notch, we get brand new Audio Commentary with director Jonathan Mumm for both films, bloopers, special effects featurettes, film festival and premiere footage, and trailers - it's a pretty packed disc. The single disc release arrives in a clear keepcase we get a Limited Edition Slipcase (first pressing only), and a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork featuring artwork for both Blood of the Chupacabras and Revenge of the Chupacabras. Inside there's a 'Stick Your Own' VHS Sticker Set (the same sheet as was included with all the previous Visual Vengeance releases), plus a Collectible Mini Folded Poster, and an insert with Blu-ray credits and acknowledgments.
Special Features:
- Archival 2003/ 2005 SD masters from original tapes
- Blood of the Chupacabras: New Audio Commentary with director Jonathan Mumm
- Blood of the Chupacabras: Blooper Reel (4 min)
- Blood of the Chupacabras: The New York International Film and Video Festival (2002) (3 min)
- Blood of the Chupacabras: Breaking Down the Special Effects (5 min)
- Blood of the Chupacabras: West Coast Premiere: The Crest Theater (2002) (3 min)
- Blood of the Chupacabras: Trailer (1 min)
- Blood of the Chupacabras: Behind The Scenes Trivia (6 min)
- Bonus Feature Film: Revenge of the Chupacabras (2005)
- Revenge of the Chupacabras: New Director Audio Commentary
- Revenge of the Chupacabras: Archival behind the scenes documentary (13 min)
- Revenge of the Chupacabras: Fleshing Out
The Monster effects featurette (6 min)
- Revenge of the Chupacabras: Blooper Reel (8 min)
- Revenge of the Chupacabras: Theatrical Premiere and cast/crew Q&A (27 min)
- Revenge of the Chupacabras Trailer (1 min)
- Super 8 Short Film: Professor Bloodgood (4 min)
- Visual Vengeance trailers: Repligator (1 min), Saurians (1 min), Suburban Sasquatch (1 min),
Sleeve of Reversible Artwork
- Folded mini-poster
- ‘Stick your own’ video store sticker sheet
- Limited Edition Slipcase — First Pressing Only!
Despite liking a lot of "crap" - just ask my wife, she'll tell you! - The Blood of the Chupacabras double-feature was just not my bag. That's okay though, the extras are pretty terrific and add a lot to the viewing experience. When I hear the filmmakers talking about their love of genre, the fun they had making it, and the trials and tribulations of no-budget movie-making it certainly makes me appreciate even the shittiest flick, but just know what you're getting yourself into, you're diving into the deep end of low-budget filmmaking with this double-feature, it's not for everyone.
Screenshots from the Visual Vengeance Blu-ray:
Blood of the Chupacabras (2003)
Revenge of the Chupacabras (2007)
