El Vampiro: Two Bloodsucking Tales from Mexico: Limited Edition – Indicator Series (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Mexico, 1957 (The Vampire), Mexico, 1958 (The Vampire's Coffin)
Directors: Fernando Méndez (Both Films)
Cast: Abel Salazar, Ariadne Welter, Carmen Montejo, José Luis Jiménez, Mercedes Soler, Alicia Montoya, José Chávez, Julio Daneri, Amado Zumaya, Germán Robles (The Vampire), Abel Salazar, Ariadne Welter, Germán Robles, Yerye Beirute, Alicia Montoya, Guillermo Orea, Carlos Ancira, Antonio Raxel (The Vampire's Coffin)

Release Date: October 28th, 2024 (UK), October 29th, 2024 (USA)
Approximate Running Times: 83 Minutes 56 Seconds (The Vampire), 82 Minutes 9 Seconds (The Vampire's Coffin)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (The Vampire), 1.75:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (The Vampire's Coffin)
Rating: PG (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono Spanish (Both Films), LPCM Mono English (Both Films)
Subtitles: English (Both Films), English SDH (Both Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £19.99 (UK), $39.99 (USA)

"El Vampiro: Two Bloodsucking Tales from Mexico brings together a pair of atmospheric and terrifying classics of Mexican Gothic, directed by Fernando Méndez (Black Pit of Dr. M), and starring Ariadne Welter (The Panther Women), Abel Salazar (The Curse of the Crying Woman), and, in a star-making turn, Germán Robles (The Brainiac).

In The Vampire (El vampiro), the beautiful, bereaved Marta (Welter) travels with Enrique (Salazar) to visit her sick aunt in her ancestral home. There, the mysterious neighbour Duval (Robles) offers to buy the family’s decrepit hacienda. However, Duval is really Count Karol de Lavud, a vampire whose aim is to drain Marta of her blood and revive his entombed brother.

In the sequel, The Vampire’s Coffin (El ataúd del vampiro), 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 Films’ Dracula by a year, The Vampire’s uniquely Mexican take on vampire mythology was the first film to give its antagonist elongated fangs, and its success kick-started Mexico’s horror boom." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (The Vampire), 4/5 (The Vampire's Coffin)

Here’s the information provided about The Vampire's transfer, "The Vampire was restored in 4K from the original 35mm camera negative by Labo, Mexico City. Additional restoration work was carried out by Fidelity in Motion."

The Vampire comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.9 GB

Feature: 20 GB

The source looks excellent; flesh tones look correct, image clarity is strong, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Here’s the information provided about The Vampire's Coffin's transfer, "The Vampire's Coffin was remastered in HD from 2K scans of original 35mm materials by Alameda Films. Additional restoration work was carried out by Renasci Films."

The Vampire's Coffin comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22.7 GB

Feature: 18.9 GB

Though the source looks great, there are some minor source imperfections that remain. That said, flesh tones look correct, image clarity is strong, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Spanish - The Vampire), 4/5 (Both audio tracks - The Vampire's Coffin), 3.5/5 (LPCM Mono English - The Vampire) 

The Vampire comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Spanish and a LPCM mono mix in English. The Spanish language track sounds excellent; dialog always comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented. The English language track has some minor background noise, and it sounds boxy. That said, the dialogue comes through clearly enough to follow. Included are removable English subtitles for the Spanish language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

The Vampire's Coffin comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Spanish and a LPCM mono mix in English. The differences between these two audio tracks are minimal; they are both in great shape. Both audio tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced, and ambient sounds are well-represented. Included are removable English subtitles for the Spanish language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for The Vampire include an image gallery (65 images - stills/posters), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Spanish with removable English subtitles), an interview titled Who’s Afraid of Carmen Montejo? with film programmer, curator and Mexican horror cinema expert Abraham Castillo Flores who examines the life and career of Cuban-born radio, stage and screen actor Carmen Montejo (30 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for Spanish film clips), an interview titled The Mark of Abel with sisters Claudia Salazar Arenas and Rosa Salazar Arenas who share personal stories about their father, the legendary actor, producer and director Abel Salazar (21 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), and an archival audio commentary with actor Germán Robles in Spanish with removable English subtitles.

Extras for The Vampire's Coffin include an image gallery (62 images - stills/lobby cards/posters), French photonovel (29 images), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Spanish with removable English subtitles), an interview titled From the Drawing Board with film historian and curator Elisa Lozano who examines the work and impact of revered artist and production designer Gunther Gerzso (14 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), an interview titled The Great Mexican Vampire with horror specialist Roberto Coria who discusses Germán Robles and the representation of the vampire myth in Mexican cinema (19 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles), and an interview titled Memories of a Storyteller with novelist Juan Ramón Obón who shares stories about the life and career of his esteemed father, the prolific screenwriter Ramón Obón (21 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Spanish with removable English subtitles).

Other extras include an 80-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled The Vampire Diaries: Germán Robles and The Vampire written by Jesús Palacios, an archival essay titled On The Vampire written by Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro, an archival essay titled Revamping Dracula on the Mexican Silver Screen written by Carmen A Serrano, an archival interview with actress Carmen Montejo titled The Lady Vampire conducted by Charles P. Mitchell and Paul Parla, an archival interview with actress Ariadne Welter titled The Vampire’s Lady conducted by Charles P. Mitchell and Paul Parla, an essay titled Photographing the Undead written by David Wilt, contemporary reviews and information about the restorations.

Summary:

The Vampire and The Vampire's Coffin were directed by Fernando Méndez, whose other notable films are The Body Snatcher, The Black Pit of Dr. M, and The Living Coffin.

The Vampire: A young woman returns to her rural hometown after the death of her aunt, only to discover that all is not well with her relatives and something sinister is afoot.

Though most audiences are familiar with cinema from the country they are from, it's always interesting to see how other countries interpret a famous character. Case in point, The Vampire is a film clearly inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and yet it is not a straightforward adaptation. Instead, The Vampire takes familiar elements from Dracula and puts its own spin on it.

The biggest area where The Vampire differs from Dracula is its protagonist, who is driven by revenge for the killing of his brother, a vampire, 100 years prior. Where Dracula is a Gothic horror with romantic overtones, The Vampire never tries to be anything more than a standard horror film. That said, these differences always work in The Vampire’s favor.

Fernando Méndez’s direction is flawless as it does a phenomenal job drawing you into the world he’s creating. His stylish visuals are overflowing with atmosphere and symbolism. Another strength of the visuals is how effectively they play with light and shadow. That said, out of the horror films he directed, The Vampire is by far and away his most accomplished.

The most surprising aspect of The Vampire is its performances, especially Germán Robles’ (The Brainiac) portrayal of Count Karol de Lavud. Though he was making his film debut, he nevertheless delivered an extraordinary performance. Also, his performance is not so much about what he says as it is about his physical presence.

Another performance of note is Carmen Montejo’s (Nights Without Tomorrow) spellbinding portrayal of a vampire named Eloisa. My only complaint when it comes to the performances is Abel Salazar’s (The Curse of the Crying Woman) portrayal of Dr. Enrique, a Van Helsing-like character. His character never really asserts himself beyond the love interest of Marta, the niece of Eloisa.

From a production standpoint, The Vampire is a film that excels the sum of its parts. The well-constructed narrative does a solid job building momentum, and Gustavo César Carrión’s (The Witch’s Mirror) exceptional score reinforces the forbidding mood. Though the special effects are not without their faults, they work well within the story that unfolds. Ultimately, The Vampire is an exemplary reimagining of Dracula.

The Vampire's Coffin: Grave robbers steal the tomb of Count Karol de Lavud, and one of them inadvertently removes the stalk from his heart, resurrecting him.

Though Fernando Méndez and most of the cast return for The Vampire's Coffin, the result is a very different film from its predecessor. After opening with a ghoulish grave robbing scene, the tone of The Vampire's Coffin abruptly shifts. Outside of a few menacing moments, The Vampire's Coffin amplifies humor where its predecessor had a forbidding tone.

Instead of being a revenge film like its predecessor, The Vampire's Coffin is a story about a vampire’s obsession for a woman. Another area where The Vampire's Coffin differs from its predecessor is that it is local; this time, things take place in the big city instead of the rural countryside. Also, where characters were pursued by Count Karol de Lavud in The Vampire, this time around he’s become the hunted.

Again the main attraction is Germán Robles in the role of Count Karol de Lavud. He looks even more confident and delivers a scene-stealing performance. When it comes to the other performances, they are good enough and never get in the way of the story that's unfolding.

From a production standpoint, there are no glaring shortcomings. The narrative does a great job building to a finale that takes place in a wax museum for murders. Fernando Méndez’s solid direction delivers an ample amount of atmosphere, and the visuals have a Film noir-like quality. Also, composer Gustavo César Carrión delivers another exemplary score that perfectly underscores the mood. Ultimately, The Vampire's Coffin is a solid sequel that holds up well to its predecessor.

El Vampiro: Two Bloodsucking Tales from Mexico is an exceptional release from Powerhouse Films that gives both films strong audio/video presentations and informative extras, highly recommended.

Note: Limited edition of 8,000 numbered units for the UK and US.

Written by Michael Den Boer