The Thirsty Dead

Planet Terror, the second half of the Tarantino/Rodriquez helmed Grindhouse two-biller, hits DVD shelves everywhere today. In celebration of the grindhouse genre and the recent outpouring of undead love, I wanted to highlight some of the best of the worst zombie-related horror flicks I’ve had the privilege of sitting through. First up…


They need a special liquid to stay young. It is red, thick and warm!

The Thirsty Dead (aka Blood Hunt, The Blood Cult of Shangri-La) was released in 1974 and revolves around four young girls who are taken captive in Manila by a cult who drinks “red, thick, and warm” liquid to maintain their immortality. The liquid in question? Um, blood, of course. Obviously, the creative marketing executive who thought up the movie’s tagline felt it would be even creepier not to use the word “blood”.

Yeah.

During the 88-minutes running time, the four girls overact their way through pagan rituals, PG torture scenes, failed escape attempts, and poorly edited attacks by potato sack-cloth wearing zombies.

Quote of note:

Captive girl 1/Claire the stripper: “The girl most likely to be sacrificed to a pagan god. Oh well, think of the honor of it.

Captive girl 2/Laura the heroine/Girl being sacrificed: “I don’t mind.”

Warning: This movie sucks in the best possible way. Subtle scenes of 70’s sexuality, un-graphic gore, and dismal special effects. Do not watch it unless you are a true zombie fanatic, drunk, drinking, or desperate. If you happen to fall into at least two of those categories, you can order your own DVD of The Thirsty Dead right here.

Bernie