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El Vampiro: Two Bloodsucking Tales from Mexico brings together two atmospheric and terrifying classics of Mexican Gothic, directed by Fernando Méndez (Black Pit of Dr. M), and starring Ariadne Welter (The Panther Women, Untouched), Abel Salazar (The Curse of the Crying Woman), and, in a star-making turn, Germán Robles (The Brainiac).
In The Vampire (El Vampiro, 1957), the beautiful, bereaved Marta (Welter) travels with Enrique (Salazar) to her ancestral home. There, the mysterious neighbour Duval (Robles) offers to buy her decrepit hacienda. However, Duval is really Count Karol de Lavud, a vampire whose aim is to drain Marta of her blood in order to revive his entombed brother.
In the sequel, The Vampire’s Coffin (El ataúd del vampire, 1958), grave robbers bring Lavud’s corpse to Enrique’s city hospital, where Marta now works as a nurse. Duly re-animated, Lavud sets about his bloody plan to make Marta his bride.
Pre-dating Hammer’s Dracula by a year, The Vampire’s uniquely Mexican take on vampire mythology was the first to give its antagonist elongated fangs, and its success kick-started Mexico’s horror boom. Restored from the original negatives, these films finally receive their world Blu-ray premieres in this individually numbered Limited Edition two-disc set, complete with new and archival extra features, and a fully-illustrated 80-page book.
STARRING: Abel Salazar, Germán Robles, Ariadne Welter, Carmen Montejo