In the dead of night two men enter the cemetery in Sierra Negra and take the coffin of the vampire Count Laszlo Lavud (German Robles) from its crypt. The two men are Barraza (Yerye Beirute) a thug for hire and the other is Doctor Mendoza (Guillermo Orea). They are briefly interrupted by Maria Teresa (Alicia Montoya) who tries to stop them from taking the coffin. Barraza pushes her aside and they put the coffin into a hearse and drive away.
They pull up in front of the Louis Pasteur hospital back entrance where they unload the coffin and put it into one of the rooms. Dr. Mendoza pays Barraza for his services and tells him to leave. Barraza is interested in seeing what is in the coffin. He thinks it may be something valuable. Mendoza shows him it is a man with a stake in his heart. Barraza notices a valuable amulet around the dead man’s neck.
Pretending to leave, Barraza goes around and waits for Mendoza to leave the room. He enters through a window and tries to take the amulet off of the dead man, but it is wrapped around the stake. He removes the stake and gets the amulet. Barraza is admiring the amulet when the vampire arises. Count Lavud hypnotizes Barraza and makes him his slave. Barraza takes Lavud’s coffin and hides it in the basement of a wax museum.
In the meantime, Mendoza tells his co-worker Dr. Enrique Saldivar (Abel Salazar) that he took the vampire for scientific study. Enrique is well aware of the vampire and his talents since he tangled with him before. Also at the hospital is Marta Gonzalez (Ariadne Welter) who happens to be the vampire’s love interest before he was previously dispatched with the stake. They return to where Mendoza hid the coffin to find it gone. Mendoza realizes that Barraza was interested in the amulet and was the one who took out the stake. Maria Teresa shows up too late to do anything about the situation. Mendoza and Maria Teresa trace the vampire, his coffin and Barraza to the museum where they are quickly dispatched by vampire and goon.
Enrique is busy trying to keep Marta safe. Eventually he has to tell her that Count Lavud has been resurrected. Since the police are no help Enrique must try to keep Marta from falling under the Count’s spell while devising a way to, once again, get rid of the vampire.
“The Vampire’s Coffin” was released in 1958 and was directed by Fernando Mendez. It is a Mexican horror movie and is a sequel to “El Vampiro” (The Vampire) 1957. It is believed to be the first Mexican horror film with a sequel although that is questionable since “The Aztec Mummy” 1957 was also released in 1957 and was actually part of a mummy trilogy.
Abel Salazar, who reprises his role as Dr. Enrique Saldivar is a famous Mexican actor. He starred in several Mexican horror films in the fifties and early sixties. Also returning for the sequel are Ariadne Welter, Alicia Montoya and, as the vampire, German Robles.
There is something appealing about Mexican horror films. These low budget affairs were sandwiched in between Universal’s monsters and Hammer Studio’s horror films. True they are not the same caliber of either one, but they have their own allure. The many lucha libre films (wrestling) pitted Mexican wrestlers against all sorts of monsters and have garnered their own cult following. Many would have never even heard of Mexican horror if it had not been for K. Gordon Murray who brought many of them across the border. Without these little diamonds in the rough we would not have directors such as Guillermo del Toro.
On some of the posters and lobby cards there is a skull and crossbones insignia. Inside it says, "Recommended by Young America Horror Club". There was no such organization. It was a kitschy thing invented by producer K. Gordon Murray to boost ticket sales.