Maldición diabólica

A black-clad, gaunt stranger (Michael Pate) arrives in town, becomes a farmhand for a pretty rancher (Kathleen Crowley), eventually turns out to be the vampire terrorizing the countryside. This really is a clever, moody piece, another well-done 1950s Universal-International terror film, featuring good performances, creepy music, and an astonishing climax.

This one came as a surprise to me - it's actually fairly interesting to watch. It's a neat idea: a vampire in the old west. Why not - vampires can pop up any place in any century. This one made for a fun afternoon film to watch.

We have a gun-slinging vampire taking over a small town. It is up to the preacher and Dolores Carter to save the town from people dying mysteriously of blood-loss and to deal with the stranger in town.

This is not the finest vampire film on the market but it is a fun one - something different than normal. I enjoyed this one.

6/10

Pate would have made a good Dracula. He has all the sexualness about him. The Preacher Man annoyed me beyond tolerance and the chick i could have done without too. I didn't finish the movie. I saw Dekker (Bruce Gordon) die and i knew Pate would die and the chick would go with Preacher Man instead of how it should be. She go with him. But yes Pate pulled off the vampire move, shame he didn't do more.

This western is one of the strangest in movie history and its weirdness is only surpassed by the infamous "Terror of Tiny Town"-- the first (and only) all-midget western! After all, this is a western about...VAMPIRES!!!

When the film begins, there is the usual sort of plot--a local baddie is trying to take control of surrounding ranches. However, what you come to realize is that that potential range war is actually being orchestrated by a third party. Drake Robey is in actuality a vampire and is using his vampirey skills to create chaos. However, along the way he finds himself falling for a local hottie. The only thing standing between her is the local preacher...the only one who has learned Robey's dark secret.

This is just one strange mash-up--vampires AND cowboys! Strange...but also reasonably interesting and worth seeing despite a few actors who aren't exactly talented. See this one...just to see one of the most unique films to come out of Hollywood.

The combining of westerns with horror has not always made for great films. I mean, who can forget "Billy the Kid vs. Dracula" and "Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter". The exception is "Curse of the Undead". This 1959 picture stars Eric Fleming as a frontier preacher who is confronted with a vampire in the form of a hired gun, portrayed with sinister, yet sympathetic overtones by Michael Pate.

The plot has some holes in it. For example, Michael Pate's character commits suicide after murdering his brother, which in turn condemns him for all eternity as a vampire...I mean, I have never heard of this premise for a person becoming one of the "undead". Also, the vampire of this movie can walk around in the daylight with seemingly no ill effects, and everyone knows that vampires absolutely cannot be exposed to sunlight, or they will be destroyed.

Despite these minor flaws, the movie actually has a good story and some good acting by Fleming as the preacher, Pate as the vampire/gunslinger, and Kathleen Crowley as the love interest caught between the two. I highly recommend this movie.