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The Vampire

Original title: El vampiro
  • 1957
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
The Vampire (1957)
DramaHorrorMysteryThriller

A Mexican girl returns home for an aunt's funeral. She hears town rumors about vampires. She suspects her other aunt and neighbor are involved with vampires.A Mexican girl returns home for an aunt's funeral. She hears town rumors about vampires. She suspects her other aunt and neighbor are involved with vampires.A Mexican girl returns home for an aunt's funeral. She hears town rumors about vampires. She suspects her other aunt and neighbor are involved with vampires.

  • Director
    • Fernando Méndez
  • Writers
    • Ramón Obón
    • Ramon Rodriguez
  • Stars
    • Abel Salazar
    • Ariadne Welter
    • Carmen Montejo
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    1.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Fernando Méndez
    • Writers
      • Ramón Obón
      • Ramon Rodriguez
    • Stars
      • Abel Salazar
      • Ariadne Welter
      • Carmen Montejo
    • 31User reviews
    • 32Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos61

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    Top cast13

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    Abel Salazar
    Abel Salazar
    • Dr. Enrique
    Ariadne Welter
    Ariadne Welter
    • Marta González
    • (as Ariadna Welter)
    Carmen Montejo
    Carmen Montejo
    • Eloísa
    José Luis Jiménez
    • Emilio
    • (as Jose Luis Jimenez)
    Mercedes Soler
    • María Santoyo - servant
    Alicia Montoya
    Alicia Montoya
    • María Teresa
    José Chávez
    • Anselmo
    • (as Jose Chavez)
    Julio Daneri
    • Duval's servant
    Amado Zumaya
    • Duval's servant
    Germán Robles
    Germán Robles
    • Count Karol de Lavud
    • (as German Robles)
    • …
    Dick Barker
    • Man
    • (uncredited)
    Margarito Luna
      Guillermo Álvarez Bianchi
      • Train administrator
      • (uncredited)
      • Director
        • Fernando Méndez
      • Writers
        • Ramón Obón
        • Ramon Rodriguez
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      User reviews31

      6.91.2K
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      Featured reviews

      9insomniac_rod

      Excellent B&W Mexican vampire movie. Probably the first...

      ...and probably the best one to date.

      Surprisingly creepy and atmospheric black and white Vampire movie. This looked like the Coffin Joe series at times because it has excellent settings, music, and cinematography. On the other hand, the movie has some parts that were meant to be funny but that's just Mexican typical humor that maybe some others won't understand. The direction is truly memorable, it deserves a special mention because it is very stylish and atmospheric. For example, whenever the vampire is about to attack, you can clearly see advanced camera and lightning techniques (for it's time). The way the lightning focuses on Robles' face is creepy. The events are fast paced but in a suspenseful manner.

      The vampire characterization is pretty good as our main hero (or villain?) is a sui generis Mexican vampire. Germàn Robles delivers a fantastic performance based on erotism, and creepiness. Believe me, he is a unique vampire, like none other you haven't seen. Once he said that he liked how this vampire is an erotic, dark character because he appears at night, 99.9% of his victims are women that use sexy lingerie, and he likes to possess souls through their blood. His presence is creepy enough.

      As one of the reviewers said, this movie obviously inspired the Hammer vampire flicks. That makes me proud as I'm Mexican and I'm a big fan of Hammer.

      This movie is heavily underrated to the point that only avid Horror fans from around the world know about it; not even Mexicans seem to recall this cult Horror movie.

      Please, watch this movie and you will be pleased. Recommended for Vampire Horror fans, and Horror fans of Black and White movies.
      6planktonrules

      The Count from Baconia strikes!

      The Mexican horror film, "The Vampire" was followed by "The Vampire's Coffin". Of the two, "The Vampire" is a significantly better film and is still pretty watchable today--even if both films feature the crappiest looking wire effects in the history of vampire films!

      A woman's aunt has died and she's traveled for the funeral. However, what she doesn't know is that she's walking into a trap by the vampire, Count Lavud (also known as Duval). It's up to her new male friend to help her--as well as very unlikely help from beyond the grave!

      While I'd never call this film especially good, it's quite atmospheric and worth seeing if you like the genre. But, you have to ignore all the obvious wires supporting the bats as well as the wire on the sword that Lavud tries to use on our hero near the end. And, like the sequel, this vampire is no Dracula. Drac was incredibly strong and rather smart-- this one is neither, though he does have style. And, he tells everyone he comes from the land of Baconia....ummm...bacon!!
      8Loplop-2

      Dark and atmospheric

      I have just seen El vampiro during a Latin American Film festival held in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where its protagonist German Robles was present as guest of honour.

      El vampiro is imaginative rather than talkative and has imagery no American fifties vampire flick can match. The story, of course, is lame and predictable, and, as Latin movies go, there is a lot of supernatural hokum coming with it. The overriding presence of Robles, together with the humor and the menacing, beautiful atmosphere, make up for it.

      Vampiric action is kept to a bare minimum and the man-to-bat-metamorphosis (and vice versa) challenges in no way the 1932 standard. Nevertheless, it is one of the classics of the genre.

      If you want to know how a vampire lady looks when she tries very hard to look like a vampire lady - well, the film gives you ample chance. One last thing: the soundtrack, however primitive, is a revelation: good vampire music and sound effects culminate in the humorous ending, when the leading man's words are drowned by the departing train's whistle. Nearly perfect.
      10Thomas_J_McKeon

      Precursor to the Hammer Christopher Lee Vampire films

      Someone at Hammer studios likely saw El Vampiro before beginning the Christopher Lee vampire movies. German Robles plays the quintessential vampire, the aristocratic, natty, sensual Count Lavud (Mr. Duval). Robles would further refine his vampire in the subsequent role as the vampire Nostradamus. In many ways this movie is like a black and white precursor to the Christopher Lee vampire films. (In fact, it predates by a year those of Lee at Hammer.) The dark threatening broody atmosphere, with its swirling fog, eerie woods, stark decaying dreary structures is similar to that of the Hammer films, some of Roger Corman's, and (of course)the earlier Universal pictures. A foreboding tension keeps the viewer on edge. Abel Salazar, the producer, does a decent job in the role of the doctor who helps the heroine, Marta, played by the beautiful Ariadna Welter, attempt to stay away from Lavud's fangs and control. Marta has returned to her ancestral home in the Sierra Negra (Black Sierra) Mountains. Her beautiful aunt, Eloisa, played by Cuban born Carmen Montejo, has not aged since Marta last saw her, having succumbed to the charm of Lavud--a fate Lavud wishes for Marta. As an earlier commentator noted, this apparently is the first screen vampire with fangs. These are put to good use in one scene with his transformation to and from a bat and then attack on a small boy, which scene is riveting. The music matches the atmosphere--foreboding. The film has rather good production values for the Mexican vampire genre (really for all vampire movies). The DVD (PAL only format) from Mundo Macabro is in Spanish (with and without English subtitles) and in dubbed English and is superior to the VHS version from I.S. Filmworks (available only in dubbed English). This film is not chatty; subtitles are easy to follow and not intrusive. Neither version is in widescreen. The DVD has somewhat better technical quality than the VHS. Shock Therapy Cinema also has released a very good copy in Spanish with English subtitles in Dolby 2.0 DVD. Technical quality is superb. Other, noncommercial DVDs, in Spanish, with and without English subtitles, and dubbed can be found. Horror Theatre Video has both the Spanish with English subtitles and the dubbed English in quite good technical quality in DVD-R. Thomas_McKeon Thomas J McKeon Indianapolis USA
      10EdgarST

      A classic and cult film

      I had heard a lot about this Mexican horror classic and cult film by Fernando Méndez: that it was a remarkable B&W production, that it established the vampire genre in México, that it was the first movie in which the vampire had fangs and –most of all- that it was intentionally funny in parts. I had seen its sequel, "El ataúd del vampiro" (The Vampire's Coffin) when I was 8 years old, of which I have a vague memory. Now, after 47 years of its release, I've finally seen "El vampiro" and to my surprise it is better than what I expected. Producer Abel Salazar knew what he was getting into –as probably did Luis Buñuel when he made "Abismos de pasión", adapting Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights"- and decided not only to approach the tale of an Hungarian vampire in México with humor, but to play the leading part of the doctor with comic touches, as a cynic and fearful hero. Beautiful Ariadne Welter (Tyrone Power's once sister-in-law, sometimes credited as Ariadna) is the young heroine who returns to her family hacienda in Sierra Negra (Black Sierra) and meets Salazar on her way, while they are followed by her aunt (Cuban soap opera superstar Carmen Montejo), a spinster under the spell of Count Duval (Germán Robles), the local vampire. The initial situation reminded me of the Hammer Films production "Kiss of the Vampire", which was made a few years later: a young woman being observed and chosen to be part of the undead, though in this case the open setting is darker and in obvious decay. What was surprising to me was the plot's twists, which seem quite original for its time and probably not yet equaled, mainly the introduction of a woman buried alive (Alicia Montoya) –whose appearance predates Myrna Fahey in Roger Corman's "The Fall of the House of Usher"- who protects the heroine and has a decidedly active part in the conclusion. Although screenwriter Ramón Obón takes many elements from Bram Stoker's classic novel, he introduces clever touches, immensely helped by Rosalío Solano's cinematography, Gustavo César Carrión's eerie score and Méndez' firm direction. As a research, it's also interesting to see another movie by Méndez, "Ladrón de cadáveres", which paved the way for a unique Mexican cross of genres: the wrestler and horror films.

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      Related interests

      Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
      Drama
      Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
      Horror
      Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
      Mystery
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      Thriller

      Storyline

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      Did you know

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      • Trivia
        Although it was considered by many to be the first film to feature a vampire with elongated fangs, five years earlier the Finnish film "The White Reindeer" (1952) had a vampire with long, sharp canines.
      • Quotes

        Count Karol de Lavud: We've been brought to a halt in the middle of this strange bridge that extends between the end of life and the beginning of death.

      • Connections
        Edited into Dusk to Dawn Drive-in Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 9 (2002)

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      FAQ13

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      Details

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      • Release date
        • 1958 (United States)
      • Country of origin
        • Mexico
      • Official site
        • Official Site
      • Language
        • Spanish
      • Also known as
        • Vampiro
      • Filming locations
        • Mexico
      • Production company
        • Cinematográfica ABSA
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Tech specs

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      • Runtime
        • 1h 35m(95 min)
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Sound mix
        • Mono
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.37 : 1

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