Well, it seems like I spoke too soon about the superior quality of Mexi-Horrors vis-à-vis the Italian Gothics, as this is as goofy as they come – almost on a par, in fact, with the notorious THE BRAINIAC (1961; interestingly enough, directed by the helmer of the slightly better effort with which I followed it)! Anyway, back when the Casanegra DVD company folded, I had voiced my disappointment that their otherwise excellent line of releases would be no more. At the time, they had already announced the next two titles on the schedule and, in fact, they were the film under review and the Chano Urueta picture I was referring to earlier i.e. THE LIVING HEAD (1963)
so that I made it a point to somehow acquire them regardless!
As I said, however, the journey was somewhat more gratifying than the destination – this film in particular proving a veritable mess and enjoyable simply because of how ludicrous it was! First of all, this is one from the matinée idol days of the bloodsucker: as played by Guillermo Murray, the chief vampire here is so stiff that one expects to see moth-balls in his coffin! Besides, given the over-sized neck of his cape, one would not have been surprised to see him extract an electric guitar from some corner of his hide-out cave and break into a Glam Rock number at some point in the proceedings (after all, he frequently sits at his skull-adorned pipe-organ and summons his minions with some funereal sonata)!
Incidentally, music plays a pivotal role here: in fact, the hero is himself a gifted pianist with a great knowledge of how certain melodies can affect the listener (while hilariously looking like a dead-ringer for Clark Gable) – and the first time the two meet is at a party given by the descendants of the Count's sworn enemies (named Colman and with their eldest member played by Jose' Baviera from Luis Bunuel's THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL [1962]!), where it transpires that the bloodsucker cannot stand old Transylvanian melodies (the grimaces he spontaneously makes at this are side-splitting)!
In any case, he manages to notch up a few victims along the way, beginning with a couple driving along a desolate stretch of road at night. Atypically, while the vampirization of the girl here has to follow a certain ritual (laboriously illustrated throughout the film no fewer than three times!), the male is mysteriously turned into a hideously hirsute creature (to take its place amongst the Count's deformed disciples)!! There is also the obligatory hunchback/mute servant who turns up long enough to be chastised for intruding on his master's 'meditation' and, later, to engage in a violent fisticuff with the hero!
By the way, the latter falls prey to the monstrous 'bug' himself but, since the transformation is gradual, only his hands ever sprout hair
but which does not prevent him from taking to the pipe-organ at the climax and bring down the vampire since, like I said, musical notes can just as soon drive the bloodsucker off-the-wall as serve the function of a 'clarion call' to his sub-human underlings. And, given that the Count's cavernous abode is conveniently supplied with a pit which has large spikes protruding from the ground, it is inevitable that he would ultimately get his come-uppance in this grisly fashion (with one of Colman's own daughters, similarly afflicted, joining him soon after)!
