Bloody Vampire

The Movie

This is an English-dubbed, K. Gordon Murray presentation of a Mexican-made film. There's the usual Big House, with terrible and mysterious things as and an inventor who understands vampires, and has some family secrets to help him destroy them ...

• Directed and written by Miguel Morayta
• Produced by Rafael Pérez Grovas and K. Gordon Murray (English version)
• Original Music by Luis Hernández Bretón
• Cinematography by Raúl Martínez Solares
• Film Editing by Gloria Schoemann
• Production Design by Manuel Fontanals
• Set Decoration by Carlos Arjona

Begoña Palacios as Anna Cagliostro
Erna Martha Bauman as Countess Eugenia Frankenhausen
Raúl Farell as Dr. Riccardo Peisser
Bertha Moss as Frau Hildegarde
Carlos Agostí as Count Siegfried von Frankenhausen
Pancho Córdova as Justus (as Francisco A. Cordova)
Antonio Raxel as Count Valsamo de Cagliostro
Enrique Lucero as Lazaro
Lupe Carriles as Lupe, the innkeeper
Nathanael León as Torture Chamber Master

Review

"From the first frames - with a slowed-down horse-drawn carriage almost floating through the fog-shrouded trail, the soundtrack containing an eerie wind punctuated by a slow churchbell and wolf howling - you know you are in the hands of filmmakers who know how to capture a disturbing setting of gothic horror.

While this film does have some slow talky moments, I would rate it among the finest vampire films of the 60s, equal to the best ones coming from Italy and the Philippines. Director Miguel Mortaya is a master.

The film is so visually stunning that even those who dislike dubbing may be able to get past it here and let the film's shadowy images wash over them." - Review by Django-1

Following the spooky stagecoach, we are treated to a neat justification for graverobbing, before getting to meet Count Frankenhausen, after which things get a little confusing ... just as you suspect the Count is in the wrong movie, so his obsession with midnight is equally worrying. But this guy can hypnotize through solid wood AND talk like a dalek, so that's okay!

Quote to Remember:

"His second wife died tragically. She was burned at the stake"

The DVD

Several versions are available, most of fairly poor quality with no extras. Look out for the version with the "outlandish and ong K. Gordon Murray spoken prologue with a swirling, headache-inducing spiral on the screen".