Incense For the Damned [1971]

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1970
Running Times: 83 mins [UK - theatrical]     87 mins
Length: 7,470 ft [UK - theatrical]     7,794 ft
Format: Eastmancolor     35mm
Ratio:
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Lucinda Films / Titan International
Executive Producer: Peter Newbrook
Producer: Graham Harris
Production Manager: Robert Sterne

SCRIPT
Script: Julian More
Novel: Doctors Wear Scarlet by Simon Raven

DIRECTION
Director: Michael Burrowes (real name: Robert Hartford-Davis)
Assistant Director: David Bracknell

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Desmond Dickinson
Labs: Movielab

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Peter Thornton [uncredited]

MUSIC
Music / Music Director: Bobby Richards

SOUND
Sound Recordists: Tony Dawe, Denis Whitlock

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: George Provis

CAST
Patrick Macnee [Major Derek Longbow]
Johnny Sekka [Bob Kirby]
Alexander Davion [Tony Seymour]
Peter Cushing [Dr Walter Goodrich]
Edward Woodward [Dr Holmstrom]
Madeline Hinde [Penelope]
Patrick Mower [Richard Fountain]
Imogen Hassall [Chriseis]
William Mervyn [Marc Honeydew]
David Lodge [Colonel]
John Baron [diplomat]
Valerie Van Ost [Don's wife]
Theo Moreos [Mayor]
Nick Pandelides [Monk Superior]
Andreas Potanitis [police chief]
Theodesia Elefthreadon [old woman]
Christ Eleftheriades [priest]
Françoise Pascal

An Oxford student, Richard Fountain, disappears while doing research on a Greek island. A group of his friends go in search of him and are alarmed to hear of a string of unexplained murders wherever Fountain has been. When they catch up with him, they find that he has fallen under the spell of a beautiful and unorthodox female vampire...

Despite an excellent cast and a few good ideas positioning vampirism as a form of sexual deviation, Incense For the Damned is a disappointing misfire that misses almost every chance it has to be something worthwhile. Hartford-Davies' direction is ham-fisted, missing no opportunity to show off the film's desperately low budget, and other technical credits lower themselves to the occasion. Quite terrible by Hartford-Davies' standards.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Titan Film Distribution Ltd / Grand National

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Chevron Pictures
Video Distributors: Sinister Cinema, Something Weird Video

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: M

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: X

USA
Rating: GP

1971
November
2: UK - rated X by the BBFC [for theatrical release]

1972
February
16: Sweden - theatrical release

1996
May
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast [on BBC1]

1997
October
15: UK - television broadcast [on BBC1]

1999
July
10: UK - television broadcast [on BBC1]

2 shiver-and-shudder spine tinglers! [US double bill with unidentified second feature]

See the terror! Feel the shock! Live the horror! [US double bill with unidentified second feature]

Unbelievable! Weird! A distorted world comes to life - forbidden secrets sensationally revealed! It's way out!

Sinister! Inhuman! What was the thing that came out of the eerie blackness of night... to satisfy its blood thirst!

Your teeth will chatter and your skin will crawl! ... You'll be shocked to learn that such things can happen!

Notice - we are not responsible for your nightmares when you see this blood-curdling gruesome twosome! [US double bill with unidentified second feature]

HIDEOUS WITCHCRAFT RITUALS cast their spell! [US double bill with Skräcken har 1000 ögon [1971]]

Blodsugarna - Swedish title
Bloed zuigers
Bloodsuckers - US title
Blood Suckers
Bloodsucker
Doctors Wear Scarlet
Freedom Seekers
Incense of the Damned
Suceurs de sang - French title

MAGAZINES

CinemaTV Today no.9976 [15 April 1972] p.20 [USA]
review

The Dark Side no.65 p.24 [UK]
review

Flesh and Blood no.2 pp.20-21 [UK]
credits, synopsis, review

Kine Weekly no.3266 [16 May 1970] p.16
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.39 no.460 [May 1972] p.96 [UK]
credits, synopsis, review

Today's Cinema no.9671 [12 May 1969] p.9
credits

BOOKS

The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide p.78
credits, review

Ten Years of Terror pp. 35-36
illustrated credits, review [by Matthew Coniam, Kim Newman]

KEYWORDS

book into film, greek, islands, vampires, satanism, sex, orgies

Last Updated: 6 March, 2007