WorldofVampires

World of the Vampires (1961)

Okay so follow along closely as I describe the plot to this import from old Mexico. There is a vampire named Count Sergio Subotai. He has a grudge against the Colman family from back in Europe. He has tracked down the last of the Colman family and plans on converting the two beautiful young women into vampire priestess while making the last male of the family watch. To help him he has a few dozen vampire minions that stalk around his underground lair and fetch his victims for him. The only thing that can interfere with his plans would be if anyone discovered the one thing that can defeat the vampires, no not sunlight, crosses, or even a stake thru the heart (though that will do the trick). Nope their big weakness is a certain song that can bring all the undead to their knees. Which sort of begs the question why the count keeps that organ in the crypt, especially after meeting a musician that knows the very song that will do the trick. Want to guess what happens?

Oh man they just don’t get any sillier or cheesier than this one. The plot has more holes in it than a chunk of Swiss cheese. Why would the Count keep an organ (that plays piano music in one scene and organ music the next!) in his crypt right next to his army of minions? Why are all the female vampires beautiful and when the males have giant rubbery heads? But then if you things like this are going to bother you this movie isn’t going to hold any appeal. This is just a goofy flick that is sort of a fun way to kill an hour and a half. The movie does a fine job keeping the action rolling, no matter how silly it might be, and never feels slow or boring. The cast isn’t very good, but then that could be the terrible dubbing as well. As I’ve mentioned not only is the organ suddenly a piano then is an organ again, but the lines are delivered in the dubbed dialogue in such a rapid fire and flat manner that it just starts to get funny. It is almost as if the entire cast went to the Jack Webb school of acting, which of course unless you have ever watched an old episode of Dragnet makes no sense to you. Damn I hate being old.

The dubbing isn’t the only technical quality issue in the movie. If you love rubber bats bouncing uncontrollably at the end of a string then this is the movie for you. There is scene after scene of the things and the more screen time they get the sillier they look. Did you notice how often I’m using silly and goofy in this review? Oh and the male vampire minions of the good Count are awesomely bad. The one thing that is really cool is the organ that they built for the crypt. It is made to look like bone and is pretty nifty.

This isn’t a good movie. But it is kind of fun if you are in the right mood. So with that in mind if you can pick it up on the cheap or catch it on the late show (like I did) then it is certainly worth your time.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer