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"Tale of the Mummy" is one wickedly bad movie. It starts off okay, with the always impressive Christopher Lee, but then it just tails off a bit, wanders around lost for a while and just goes to pot from there. It's poorly conceived and written, so poorly that I was wondering if the screenplay was written by someone who had never heard English, let alone spoke it. The incredible thing about this mess is that it actually got released, usually when a company makes a movie this bad they hide it on the shelf for a few years and then melt it down to make ash trays. I suppose that they figured that some idiot (Like me) would watch it because it has a Mummy in the title. He's not actually a mummy, per se, he's more of a bandage delivery system. I saw the box, read the title, it was a rent one, get one free situation, and I thought to myself, "How bad can it be?" Well, that question was answered alright, and I will never subject myself to this kind of deep, deep pain again. If you do watch this film and it does cause you to feel great discomfort in your head, don't worry, it's just your brain leaving in disgust.

"Alucarda" is one of the most entertaining movies I have ever seen. The script is awful and the photography leaves much to be desired, often the location scenes are overlit, as though the camera operator left the F-stop set from the last scene. The acting ranges from good (Alucarda & Justine) to horrible (The Doctor, The Priest) but the material is attacked with such enthusiasm, such relish, that the viewer can't help but enjoy. And there are touches of genius...Rain that turns to blood during a ritual to call up Satan, a Nun who levitates and sweats blood while she's praying for the soul of the lost Justine...Said Justine floating nude in a coffin full of blood! Just beautiful! An incredible experience! If you purchase just one Mexican Vampire movie this year, make it "Alucarda"!

With "El Conde Dracula" Jess Franco has made an extrordinary Vampire film. While not with out it's faults, the mangling of the plot and the compressing of some characters into each other, the film is saved by wonderful atmosphere and top notch acting- most notably from Christopher Lee as the titular Count, Klaus Kinski as the Mad Renfeild and Herbert Lom as Van Helsing. Lom, at first, appears to be walking through his role, but as the movie progresses, his Van Helsing becomes so subtly shaded as to rival Dracula for the viewers attention. A fine film that would have benifited from a larger budget (Note the German Shepherds which stand in for wolves!), "El Conde Dracula" can be enjoyed by the vampire novice as well as the enthusiast. This is the first major Dracula film to depict the Counts "Lizard Crawl" down the Castle Wall and the wolf attack on the grieving mother. Highly recommended.