Les Proies du vampire

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!!

A young woman (Ariadna Welter) arrives at the isolated town of Negro Sierra at the same time as a wooden crate full of Hungarian soil and a happy-go-lucky salesman (co-producer Abel Salazar) after being summoned by her uncle to the sickbed of one of her aunts. Hitching a ride with the strange man who arrives to collect the crate, the pair arrive at her family's grand hacienda to find it in a state of disrepair and her aunt already apparently dead and buried. The woman's other aunt, however, seems unchanged since the girl's visit as a child and is strangely lacking a reflection…

El Vampiro was my first taste of Mexican horror, and for some reason I was expecting some low-budget, low-talent effort. While this flick from Fernando Mendez clearly doesn't have the kind of budget enjoyed by the contemporaneous Hammer films, it certainly is the work of a decent talent. Read most of the reviews on this page and you'll find one word that keeps popping up again and again: atmosphere. This film has got it to spare with good use of light and shadow - and lashings of misty smoke - giving it a real touch of class. The film doesn't exactly gallop along, but its never dull, and overcomes the drawback of a hero who initially seems irritating but actually ends up being quite likable.

The storyline follows pretty much the same template as the Hammer flicks: virginal heroine, in danger of seduction and/or death by suave but evil vampire, is saved by dashing, heroic type (even though the hero here has a touch of the comical about him). If you're not a fan of old horror films you're not likely to be impressed by this example of the genre: by today's standards it's very tame (even though it was rated 18 on the DVD), and unlikely to scare even a ten-year old.

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

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.

My first time seeing this solid Mexican horror film properly in its original language, as intended. It's certainly one of the finest of its genre, with German Robles in good form as Count Lavud, the Vampire. A pretty young woman travels to the eerie mansion of her ancestors, accompanied by a doctor (Abel Salazar). Something is not quite right when she learns that one of her aunts has just mysteriously died, and another aunt seems rather strange and exceptionally young. It turns out that the blood-sucking Lavud is behind it all, and Salazar has to take on the role of hero. I was very impressed with the consistency in set design, production values, and all-around creepiness and foggy atmosphere that helps make this winner a classic of its kind. Abel Salazar produced this himself, reportedly very keen on following in the step of the old Universals, and it pays off handsomely. *** out of ****