A man named Brener (Victor Alcocer) destroyed the vampire, Baron Draculstein (Eric del Castillo) in the Gray Castle. Years later Brener’s wife (Rebeca Iturbide) calls her son, Luis (Cesar del Campo) to her death bed. She tells him about how his father killed Draculstein by exposing him to sunlight and then stabbing him with a poker before dying himself from his wounds. She then tells him that Draculstein will come back to life and be unstoppable unless he is destroyed using an Oak Crucifix relic that is somewhere in the castle. Luis doesn’t believe in vampires but promises his dying mother that he will go to Gray Castle and fulfill his destiny.
In the meantime, Draculstein’s faithful servant, Igor (Frenando Oses), kidnaps a young woman and brings her to Gray Castle. He ties her above the crypt of Draculstein and stabs her so that her blood flows onto the Baron’s crypt bringing him back to life.
Luis arrives at the castle with his wife, Patricia (Lucha Villa), her mute sister, Lily (Robin Joyce) and Lily’s companion, Diana (Ethel Carrillo). The only one in the castle is housekeeper, Maria (Altia Michel). Luis is told that the other servant, Igor, died months ago. During the night Diana is attacked by Draculstein and turned into a vampire. Luis believes that she couldn’t handle staying in the creepy castle and decided to leave. As Draculstein starts stalking Patricia, Diana stalks Lily.
“The Empire of Dracula” AKA “El imperio de Dracula” was released in 1967 and was directed by Federico Curiel. It is a Mexican horror movie. Almost nothing in the movie has anything to do with the story written by Bram Stoker. The film has both a black and white and a color version.
The plot is a little difficult to follow. Mostly because a lot of it doesn’t make much sense. Luis’ father killed the vampire, but for some reason Luis has to go and kill him again. He takes his family with him and puts them in danger. When Diana disappears, no one has a problem with it. Why Luis is told that Igor is dead is never explained. Later the housekeeper disappears and is never mentioned again. There are quite a few plot holes and strange things happen that are just dismissed. I found a lot of the movie to be a little disjointed as if the script writers didn’t know what to do with a character or situation, so they just dropped it.
Supposedly the movie was influenced by the Hammer Films style of vampire movie. I don’t really see any Hammer similarities here. I do see some Universal style gothic atmosphere which is probably the best part of the film. The method used to reanimate Draculstein is elaborate and unnecessary although it is visually interesting. The name Draculstein is a typical Mexican twist.
As far as Draculas are concerned, this one isn’t all that impressive. He doesn’t really talk; he hisses and stalks women, but he has no personality to speak of.
I’ve also seen several reviews where the synopsis says that the film is based on a bunch of female vampires that lure men to the castle to feed on them. Apparently, they didn’t watch the same film I did.