El vampiro


El vampiro is a 1957 Mexican horror film, produced by Abel Salazar and directed by Fernando Méndez from an original screenplay by Ramon Obon, and starring German Robles as Count Lavud, the vampire, Abel Salazar as Dr. Enrique, and Ariadna Welter as Marta. The film, which took influence from the canon of Universal horror, is seen as the beginning of the Mexican horror boom of the 1960s.
A sequel, El ataúd del vampiro with the same producer, director, writer and three main actors playing the same roles was released in 1958.

Plot

The film is about Marta, a young woman, who travels to her childhood village, only to find that one of her aunts is dead and another is under the influence of Mr. Duval, who later turns out to be a vampire named Count Karol de Lavud.

Cast

  • German Robles as Conde Karol de Lavud
  • Ariadne Welter as Marta
  • Abel Salazar as Dr. Enrique
  • Carmen Montejo as Eloise
  • Jose Luis Jimenez as Ambrosio
  • Alicia Montejo
  • Mercedes Soler
  • Jose Chavez
  • Julio Daneri
  • Amado Zumaya
  • Guillermo Alvarez Bianchi
  • Margarito Luna
  • Lydia Mellon

    Production

It is one of the first movies to show a vampire with elongated canines, a year before Hammer's Horror of Dracula. Although F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu had elongated incisors; Tod Browning's Dracula did not show his teeth at all, while for this film Robles was given visible teeth.

Release

El vampiro was released on DVD in 2006 by CasaNegra/Panik House Entertainment. Both El vampiro and The Vampire's Coffin were released on blu-ray by Powerhouse on October 29, 2024. The blu-ray includes a knowledgable, jovial commentary track by the vampire himself, actor German Robles, recorded in 2007 when he was 78 years old as well as interviews with the daughters of producer and actor Abel Salazar.