Blood of The Chupacabras: Double Feature – Visual Vengeance (Blu-ray)

Release Dates: USA, 2003 (Blood of the Chupacabras), USA, 2005 (Revenge of the Chupacabras)
Director: Jonathan Mumm (Both Films)
Cast: Dan Leis, Rachel Sense, Loren Taylor, Lenore Sebastian, Roberta Mumm, Elaine Benoit, Mark Halverson, Kim Pomales, Hugh McChord (Blood of the Chupacabras), Gary Agid, Christa Bella, Jason Michael Fong, Mark Halverson, Hugh McChord, Cheryl McIntire, Bruce Shaw, Megan Welch (Revenge of the Chupacabras)

Release Date: September 27th, 2022
Approximate Running Times: 85 Minutes 5 Seconds (Blood of the Chupacabras), 87 Minutes 56 Seconds (Revenge of the Chupacabras)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Blood of the Chupacabras), 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (Revenge of the Chupacabras)
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English (Both Films)
Subtitles: English SDH (Blood of the Chupacabras)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $29.95

Blood of the Chupacabras: "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." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Revenge of the Chupacabras: "A detective in search of a missing college student is lured by a madman into the lair of the fabled Chupacabras monster." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 2/5 (Blood of the Chupacabras), 2.5/5 (Revenge of the Chupacabras)

Here’s the information provided about the transfers, "Archival 2003/ 2005 SD masters from original tapes."

Blood of the Chupacabras and Revenge of the Chupacabras come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 41.3 GB

Feature: 12.7 GB (Blood of the Chupacabras), 19.6 GB (Revenge of the Chupacabras)

The source used for Blood of the Chupacabras is best described as serviceable. There are several instances throughout where the tape-based source defects are noticeable. That said, image clarity is all over the place, and black levels are unconvincing.

Even though the source for Revenge of the Chupacabras fares better. There are obvious limitations due to its SD tape-based master. That said, colors and flesh tones look correct, image clarity is generally good in daytime scenes, and black levels are unconvincing.

Audio: 3/5 (Blood of the Chupacabras, Revenge of the Chupacabras)

Each film comes with one audio option, a Dolby Digital stereo mix in English.

Though both tracks lack range, the dialog comes through clearly enough to follow. And when it comes to ambient sounds, both tracks fare well.

Only Blood of the Chupacabras comes with removable English SDH.

Extras:

Extras for Blood of the Chupacabras include a Visual Vengeance trailer for Blood of the Chupacabras (1 minute 5 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled West Coast Premiere: The Crest Theater (3 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled The New York International Film and Video Festival (3 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Breaking down the special effects (4 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Behind The Scenes Trivia (5 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), blooper reel (3 minutes 48 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with director Jonathan Mumm, and actor Hugh McChord.

Extras for Revenge of the Chupacabras include a Visual Vengeance trailer for Revenge of the Chupacabras (1 minute 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a promotional super 8 short film titled Professor Bloodgood (3 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled Theatrical Premiere and cast & crew Q&A (26 minutes 29 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Fleshing Out The Monster effects (6 minutes 13 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival Behind The Scenes documentary (12 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), Blooper reel (8 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with director Jonathan Mumm.

Other extras include a "Stick your own" video store sticker sheet, a folded mini-poster, reversible cover art, a two-sided insert, a limited-edition slipcover (first pressing only), and trailers for Suburban Sasquatch, Repligator, and Saurians.

Summary:

Blood of the Chupacabras: This film is a textbook example of low-budget filmmaking. There are minimal resources; most of the cast have no or limited acting experience; and at eight-five minutes in length, the slow moving narrative makes Blood of the Chupacabras feel twice as long. Another oddity in the score that one would expect from a comedy and not a horror film is another strike against Blood of the Chupacabras.

Though shot on video, horror films are not known for their dazzling visuals or even technically sound cinematography. Blood of the Chupacabras’ pedestrian visuals are not going to wow you. And when it comes to bloodshed, most of the carnage happens offscreen. Another strike against Blood of the Chupacabras is the lack of Chupacabra screen time. If viewed as a comedy, some find enjoyment in Blood of the Chupacabras. When approached as a straight-up horror film, Blood of the Chupacabras fails in every way.

Revenge of the Chupacabras: What did the filmmakers behind Blood of the Chupacabras learn? Is Revenge of the Chupacabras more of the same, or is it a more refined film than its predecessor?

Revenge of the Chupacabras is a direct sequel to Blood of the Chupacabras. with a key character from the latter playing a role in the opening setup of Revenge of the Chupacabras. Besides the actor who reprises this role, most of the cast are actors from Blood of the Chupacabras, appearing this time around in different roles.

Right out of the gate, things are looking better since Revenge of the Chupacabras is more of a horror film, unlike its predecessor. Another strength of Revenge of the Chupacabras is its score, which actually suits the story at hand. Unfortunately, when it comes to the CGI special effects, they are laughably bad. Finally, Revenge of the Chupacabras is a kidnapping film with a few Chupacabra scenes thrown in for good measure.

Blood of The Chupacabras double feature is another solid release from Visual Vengeance that gives both films their best possible audio/video presentation and an abundance of extra content.

Written by Michael Den Boer