El vampiro sangriento

A fairly bog standard Gothic horror entry from Mexico, filmed at the Azteca studios with a strong foreboding atmosphere and some great production design. Expect to see a film filled with classic horror images: the spooky old castle and crypts; vampires rising from their coffins in a cave; oodles of dry ice masquerading as fog filling the screen with an eerie chill and sense of the weird. THE BLOODY VAMPIRE also boasts one of the best openings I've seen in a Mexican horror flick: it involves a carriage (driven by a skeleton!) riding slow-motion through a spooky old forest, making no noise whatsoever as it travels by. It's just a shame that the rest of the movie can't live up to this classic horror imagery.

Instead, the film boasts smalltalk, smalltalk, and more smalltalk. Director Miguel Morayta doesn't seem to know what he's doing, as he films long static takes with little action or excitement to enliven them. Instead we get one long monotonously-dubbed scene after another which becomes a little wearing after a while. Conversations about a new method to kill vampires, boring romantic sub-plots between minor characters and even a discussion of the origins of coffee (!) threaten to drag this film right down to the ground and eventually lessen the entertainment value a great deal. Not so that the film is totally unwatchable, but it could have been a lot more successful with a little cutting here and there and a few more scenes of action to recommend it.

The special effects employed by Morayta and his team are largely amusing, if limited. The sight of the giant rubber bat (with huge ears) flapping around the sets is a cheesy delight for the bad movie buff. Otherwise most of the effects are of the sound variety – the film is chock full of weird moans, chanting, creaking doors and eerie winds. The sound actually highlights the horror in a number of scenes and adds to the watchability of the film a great deal. Cast-wise, the unpleasant Count von Frankenhausen is played by Carlos Agosti as a sneering Bela Lugosi variation, complete with (added in) pin-prick lights in his eyes and the trick of shining normal lights on his eyes to make them more spellbinding, again originally used by Lugosi. But Agosti just comes off as a thoroughly nasty fellow rather than a truly evil bloodsucking vampire.

Glamour content is added by the lovely Begona Palacios, as a purveyor of good who goes undercover as a maid and whose affections are hunted by the evil Frankenhausen (well, who wouldn't?). Bertha Moss is suitably hissable as the evil Frau Hildegarde but Raul Farell leaves a void as the uninteresting Doctor Peisser, supposedly the film's male lead. By far the best character is unlucky manservant Lazaro, who gets violently whipped by the Count for his insubordination. The biggest cheat of the film is there's no real ending; INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES, the superior sequel, followed.

This film begins on a dark, foggy night with two men and a woman in search of a body that has been hung on a tree and left to die alongside a rural road. Although the sight is horrifying to them, what they are most interested in is the mandrake plant that has grown underneath the body hovering above it. However, just before they can dig it up, they see a carriage coming through the fog and they immediately take cover behind a tree. To their astonishment, neither the carriage or the horse pulling it makes any noise and the driver looks like Death himself. And then, just as quickly as it came, it disappears in the fog further on down the road. Obviously shaken by this experience, they hurriedly dig up the mandrake and head back to a large house where "Count Valsamo de Cagliostro" (Antonio Raxel) has been patiently waiting for them. We then learn that Count Cagliostro has dedicated his life to hunting vampires and assisting him is his daughter "Ines Cagliostro" (Begoña Palacios), her fiancé "Dr. Riccardo Peisser" (Raul Farell) and the Count's loyal butler "Justus" (Pancho Cordova). Likewise, it is also revealed that their quest for the mandrake root was necessary for his research on identifying vampires-living or dead. What Count Cagliostro doesn't realize, however, is that the one vampire he has been diligently trying to locate by the name of "Count Siegfried von Frankenhausen" (Carlos Agosti) has recently purchased a house not far away and just happened to be the passenger in the deathly quiet carriage that very night. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I had previously seen several Mexican horror films and after reading a generally positive review on those pertaining to vampires, I decided to satisfy my curiosity and see for myself. To that effect, I was generally pleased for the most part as the plot flowed rather smoothly and the acting was quite solid as well. There was, however, one particular flaw in that the object used to simulate a flying bat looked more like a flying bunny rabbit instead-and this completely ruined the overall effect. I was also somewhat surprised by the ending but after a bit of research I discovered that there is a sequel titled "Invasion of the Vampires" which apparently takes up where this film ends. Be that as it may, in spite of the particular flaw just mentioned, I don't consider this to be a bad film by any means and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

According to Mexican lore, a vampire can survive the usual wooden stake. Who knew? You must use Clammic acid, which can only be distilled from the black Mandragora flower. This flower grows only on spots over which a man was hanged. Killing vampires is tough work!

A watchable Gothic horror film with some really spooky music. Perfect accompaniment to the aspirations of Count Siegfried von Frankenhausen (Carlos Agostí)., who plan to turn the whole world into vampires with himself as the head vamp in charge.

Where he plans to get blood after that is anyone's guess.

The Count's wife Eugenia (Erna Martha Bauman, a former Miss Mexico) is not a vampire. An interesting proposition, with some funny scenes between them.

The o0verly melodramatic acting and the presence of Frau Hildegarde (Bertha Moss) make this a must see. You won't be disappointed.

The best part is that they will be back in La invasión de los vampiros.

Of interest to absolutely no one this is my 100th posted review and I thought I would choose a movie that is one of my wife's favourites. We both love Mexican movies but Count Frankenhausen is her absolute favourite villain. This movie, directed by Miguel Morayta, opens promisingly enough. A black coach rumbles silently through the night, its driver is a skeleton; its passenger is Count Seigfried von Frankenhausen and he musty reach his home, the forebodingly named Haunted Hacienda, before daylight. Bellowing "Whip the horses, for Satan's sake!" they proceed through the night. This movie creates its own lore about vampires and it all works very well. A Dr. Ulysses Albaran, student of Count Cagliostro, learns that a vampire can survive having a stake driven through its heart. the only way to really kill them is by injecting Clammic Acid into their veins. What is Clammic Acid, you ask? It can be distilled only from the black Mandragora flower that grows only on spots over which a man was hanged. Sounds like killing vampires is a tougher job then we thought! Count Frankenhausen is nothing if not an over-achiever. He wants to turn everyone in the world into vampires with himself as their supreme leader! But if everyone in the world is a vampire where will they get the blood they need to survive? I don't think the Count has thought this plan through very well. He might not get to try it out anyway, Dr. Albaran and the daughter of Count Cagliostro have determined to get into the Haunted Hacienda and put an end to the Count. They have a surprise ally in the Count's still human wife who hates her blood drinking husband and keeps a wooden stake by her bed at all times. Out of this surprisingly eclectic assortment of characters watch especially for Bertha Moss as Frau Hildegard. This is a cold hearted a witch as ever graced a terror film. She protects the Count jealously against everyone. She stomps about the castle barking orders and dolling out hideous punishments to servants who transgress, like cutting the tongue out of the footman because he talked too much, and letting the Count appease his thirst on badness knows how many chambermaids. So can this vampire be stopped? Not in this movie! A sequel, INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES, came soon after. The effects are cheap but good editing makes them look more effective than they should. The impressive castle set was also used in THE BRAINIAC. The studio, Churubusco-Azteca, guards the copyrights to its movies very well so expect to search hard for this one on VHS or DVD. This film and its sequel though are well worth the hunt. They are entertaining and scary too.

Fine chiller, first film of a diptych, a bit damaged by a hurried conclusion, it remains open for the second movie, "La invasión de los vampiros" (The Invasion of the Vampires). Interesting (and somehow funny) for the domestic quarrels between the Count and his non-vampiric wife, who is his prisoner; by the presence of Argentinian actress Bertha Moss as "Frau Hildegarda", considering that same year she was a guest in Buñuel's "El ángel exterminador" (The Exterminating Angel); and an extended role for Lupe Carriles, a cult character actress with almost 200 film appearances. The weakest parts have Antonio Raxel reciting endless lines, and the worst include a bat with donkey ears. Don't miss it!