Count Cagliostro (Antonio Raxel) comes from a long line of vampire hunters. The Count’s daughter Anna (Begona Palacios), her fiancé Dr. Richard Peisser (Raul Farell) and the Count’s faithful servant Justus (Pancho Cordova) are learning the trade. They have been searching the countryside for a mandragora plant, the root of which can be used to prepare a serum to counteract vampirism. Unfortunately, the root they find is for the white mandragora which is the wrong species. The Count is teaching them about vampires and how to destroy them.
The Count has a devise that will inject the serum into the vampire to kill it. According to the count there are two kinds of vampires, ones that are active “living vampires” and ones that are dormant “Dead vampires”. The living vampires spread the disease of vampirism to their victims by biting them on the neck and draining their blood. The victims are the dead vampires. They remain in their coffins. They will only come to life if the living vampire that created them is destroyed. Then they come to life and are able to leave their coffins and spread the disease. It is therefore necessary to find the dead vampires and destroy them as well, so they are unable to perpetuate the disease.
The Count also tells them that the vampire his family has been hunting for years is called Count Frankenhausen (Carlos Agosti). It is said that Frankenhausen fled Europe and moved to Mexico. Cagliostro has been searching for him ever since. During this part of Cagliostro’s lecture, Richard is called away to tend to a nearby Countess. Richard is unaware that Countess Frankenhausen (Erna Martha Bauman) is married to Count Frankenhausen (Carlos Agosti), the exact vampire that Cagliostro has been searching for.
When Cagliostro goes out of town, Richard and Anna find out about Frankenhausen living in the nearby castle. Not sure if he is the real Frankenhausen, Anna takes a job as the countess’ personal maid to learn more about the Count and to look for clues on the disappearance of some local young women. Anna comes to the attention of Count Frankenhausen who decides to get rid of his current wife and make Anna the next Countess Frankenhausen.
“The Bloody Vampire” was released in 1962 and was directed and written by Miguel Morayta. It is a Mexican horror film. There are two versions of the film. One is the original subtitled Mexican version and is about 110 minutes long. The other is the K. Gordon Murray version, with bad dubbing, and is only about 98 or 99 minutes long. As usual the Mexican version is better. A sequel was done the following year called “The Invasion of the Vampires” or “La invasión de los vampires”.
The first five minutes or so of the movie is probably one of the best opening sequences of a film I’ve ever seen. It is creepy and otherworldly. The sequence features a black carriage pulled by four black horses. The driver of the coach is a black hooded skeleton. The scene is in slow motion and is shrouded by mist and dark shadows. It is really cool.
Once the great opening is over you are still treated to the wonderful Mexican version of the standard vampire lore. The combination of really cool movie and really campy movie makes this offering double fun.