Manila Dead

 

THE THIRSTY DEAD-1974-In Manila (where this was filmed) some young women, Bonnie (Chiqui da Rosa), Claire (Meredith McConnell; THE DOLL SQUAD), Laura (Jennifer Billingsley) and Ann (Fredricka Meyers) are kidnapped by some hooded thugs and taken to a remote place. At first they believe they're prisoners of white slavers but then they learn they are captives of an ancient cult lead by Ranu (Tani Gutherie) and Baru (John Considine; a year after DR.DEATH-SEEKER OF SOULS). They have special leaves that when mixed with the blood of young women make a potion that gives "the chosen" eternal life. They all worship a head in a red crystal like stone. They want Laura to join them but she refuses so Baru locks her in a dungeon where some hideous women with long fingernails attack her. They are former victims drained to uselessness. An old woman helps the quartet escape but when they stop in a tiny village they are recaptured. Randu does a dance in front of the head while Baru talks to Laura about life before eternal youth. After the old woman who helped her is killed Baru decides to help them escape. Claire falls to her death but he leads the others through the jungle after letting free the ugly victims as a diversion. Unfortunately he goes beyond the "ring of age" and starts getting old. The girls escape but when Laura brings back the police lead by a grouchy Lieutenant (Vic Diaz) they are unable to find anything. Ken Metcafe (later the male lead in FIRECRACKER) is a helicopter pilot. 

This is the only full length feature directed by actor Terry Becker (Sgt. Sharkey on TV's “Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea”) after many TV credits. He also co-produced it and provided the story.

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https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-from-japan-one-from-philippines.html

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2019/05/dr-death-and-mr-howard.html

Dr. Death and Mr. Howard

DOCTOR DEATH, SEEKER OF SOULS-1973-Fred Sanders (Barry Coe) tries to find a way to bring his wife Laura (Jo Morrow) back from the dead. After consulting a phony medium and meeting a bug eyed old man and the society of the dead, he meets a woman named Tana (QUEEN OF BLOOD'S Florence Marley) who takes him to see Dr. Death (John Considine) who she says can bring back the dead. During a demonstration the doctor he and his assistant Thor (Leon Askin) saw a scarred woman in half (like a magic act) then bring her soul back in another body. Sanders remains unconvinced but after seeing his wife’s apparition and hearing her voice, he agrees to have the doctor bring her back. The doctor then relates how he got the power (in sepia flashback) 1,000 years before (I think his voice changes too). He decides to kill Tana and use her soul but when he attempts the soul transfer it doesn't work. Sanders’ wife refuses it and Sanders decides it's better that way but the doctor has other plans. He and Thor go around killing innocent women, trying to transfer their souls into Mrs. Sanders body. To no avail. Meanwhile Sanders romances his secretary Sandy (Cheryl Miller). When the doctor is stabbed his blood gushes out and disintegrates his attacker. After deciding that the secretary has the strong soul he needs, doc decides to bleed her to death!  The predictable ending has the doctor's soul in Mrs. Sanders body and plotting revenge. 

This movie is very boring in spots and very stupid in others. Considine is ok in the over the top main role spouting a lot of platitudes about singular soul transfer but the rest of the cast isn’t very good. The real reason to see this is for the appearance of Moe Howard as a member of the doctor’s audience! He seems to flub one of his lines. 

This was director Eddie Saeta only full length film however he was assistant director on many films going back to the late 1930's. Former actor Sal Ponti wrote the screenplay. Co-star Barry Coe was in lots of TV show episodes and LOVE ME TENDER (with Elvis). A year after this John Considine made another low budget horror film THE THIRSTY DEAD. His father John W. Considine Jr. was a producer in the 1930's and '40's. His most famous was MAD LOVE in 1935.

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