Discovery from the dust archives Having shot a picture about the adventures of the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky in 1972, director Jose Maria Sabalsa seems to have decided to forge iron while it is hot and continue the successful start of the horror film series with the help of trouble-free vampires. But this time something went wrong, or rather, money could not be found from the word “at all”. In the absence of funding, the result was so deplorable from the point of view of distributors that it was decided to put the tape somewhere far away, until better times. Such came with the advent of VCRs, which allowed to sell collectors anything under the sauce of “cult”. Then, in the mid-80s, the dust was blown off the reels of "Secrets of Cynthia Bird", they copied them to video tapes, glued a new label: "The Return of the Vampires" - and put on sale.
How many copies were sold and how many are now in private collections – history is silent. But meeting today with this rarity, you clearly understand that Sabalsa’s plan was not at all bad and even original. With proper study and application of a little great effort from this idea could be born something truly cultic and bright. However, there was only a chamber anecdote of minutes so on fifteen screen time by misunderstanding stretched to full-length size.
In fact, the most interesting thing in the whole story is its plot, during which the main character of the film named Bill Moore learns that he and his mistress Cynthia Bird are long dead, and then begins to painfully learn their current essence together with a friend. They do this in the boring interior of a city apartment in the style of philosophical and conversational drama, constantly turning to the images of Goya’s painting “Saturn devouring his son.” Of course, for the viewer who is waiting for the promised nightmares, all these mystic-artistic reasoning can only cause an attack of yawning, but not a state of anxious expectation. And the transformation of a mystical horror into a boring art-house drama could hardly contribute to the popularity of the film, which was reasonably judged by distributors who put this misunderstanding to dust in a dark corner.
Still, I'm sorry it happened. With proper implementation, elaboration of the plot, acceleration of action, thoughtfulness of the finale, everything could be different. Moreover, the career of Simon Andreu, who played the main role, soon after the filming of Cynthia Bird, went uphill, and he became a cult actor of the 70s. He's got all the action here, too, with little support from his co-star Martha Monterrey. Unfortunately, this is not enough for a thriller. Hamlet’s monologues for Bill Moore, the script did not provide, and his reasoning about the mystical background of Goya’s creation is not particularly orginaly. “Black series” of the great painter and without the film Sabals attracts the attention of hundreds of art critics and tens of thousands of seekers of secret revelations. Surely among them there are those who considered Goya a vampire, at least energy.
However, support for Simon Andreu is not only from the actress. Static “theatrical” camera, vampire “fangs” from the nearest toy store, a dull soundtrack (no, Berlioz’s music, of course, is good, but the film has nothing to do with the footage) – all this does not contribute to the creation of suspense and maintaining interest, which rapidly descends to “no” after a promising and original plot.
The film, in which only four characters, two of which appear only in the final, demanded the director of the highest skill, while Sabalsa was just a craftsman who lacked stars from the sky, and even without any financial support. Therefore, his "Vampires", returned from the early 70s, today could well become the basis for a curious remake (the story deserves a sane embodiment!), but with distributors, removed in 1972 this picture away from the public eye, perhaps, it is worth agreeing.