original production:

ECHENME AL VAMPIRO

Cast: Maria Eugenia San Martin (as "Mary Eugenia Saint Martin") (Martha), Carlos Riquelme (as "Charles Riquelme") (Harold), Hector Godoy, Ramon Bugarini (as "Raymond Bugarini"), Jorge Beirute (as "George Beirute") (Julius McDermott), Hortensia Santovena (as "Hortense Santovena"), Lulu Parga (Herself)), and the comedians Fernando Soto "Mantequilla" (Aldous, the businessman), Joaquin Garcia Vargas "Borolas" (as "Borola") (Bobby, the detective), "Jasso", "Arriolita", Roberto Cobo "Calambres" (as "Calambre") (Joe, the magician), "Pompin" Iglesias, Joseph Jaso, Pascual Garcia Pena (Oscar, the painter), Celia Viveros

PLOT OUTLINE:
(from IMDb): A wealthy baron must endure a night of terror in order to receive an inheritance.

(from "rottentomatoes.com"): 1/ Interested in receiving a substantial cash prize, people gather at "Black Castle" only to be harassed by vampires. 2/ K. Gordon Murray presents this Mexican vampire movie about a castled count who terrorizes the local peasants.

SYNOPSIS:
A horse-drawn carriage rides through the countryside at dusk, towards a mansion which rests high on a hill.

Inside the mansion, two men speak, while looking at a portrait hanging over the fireplace. The men are Bobby, a private detective, and Harold, a lawyer.

They are discussing the recent death of millionaire Henry McDermott, the man in the portrait. McDermott died a mysterious death, and both Harold and Bobby are determined to investigate.

They believe that McDermott's evil brother Julius, may very well be the millionaire's killer.

Right on cue, Julius walks into the living room, followed by Eloise, the caretaker of the McDermott house, and McDermott's lawyer. Bobby insults Julius to his face, but Julius is merely amused by the buffoon.

The lawyer reveals that McDermott left his fortune not to his brother or other relatives, but to seven ambitious, emerging artists, as McDermott was long known as a patron of the arts.

The lawyer informs Harold that the heirs have lost their entitlement, as they have not remained in the house for a fortnight, as the will specifically states. Eloise interrupts, and informs the group that in fact, there are two hours left before the artists actually do forfeit their rights to the fortune!

Harold and Bobby are emboldened by this news, and rush off to round up the lucky artists.

As soon as they leave, the lawyer scolds Eloise for revealing this legal loophole, but Julius assures him that the soİcalled "artists" will inherit only his brother's bad luck, and not his estate.

Harold visits the seven heirs, and convinces them each, amidst doubt and fear, to rush to the McDermott estate to claim their fortune. These are: Oscar, a modern artist; Thomas Alba Madison, an eccentric inventor; Martha, a beautiful entertainer; Albert Lambert, a teenage singing sensation; Lulu, a dancer; Anastasio Silverstein, a concert pianist; Aldous, a businessman; Joe Benjamin, an unemployed magician.

McDermott's ghost also intervenes, and convinces the most reluctant of the heirs to make haste to his home.

The heirs arrive at the McDermott estate, by carriage and by taxi, just in the nick of time. Even though Julius tries to close the gate on some of them, everyone makes it inside.

The heirs gather around Harold, who decides to read McDermott's will again, as it pertains to them.

Julius interrupts, and tells the assembled that he is grateful that they have forgiven him for his former crimes, but he cannot forgive them for stealing his brother's fortune, which he feels belongs to him. He vows to get the money by hook or by crook.

Suddenly, a booming voice scares the group. It is the voice of McDermott! The lights go out. Everybody screams. When they come back on, Harold has been stabbed!

Martha wants to take Harold to a hospital, but he refuses. If he leaves, he loses his rights to the fortune. He believes the attack was a cheap trick to get he and Martha out of the house.

Martha and the lawyer help Harold to his room. Julius tries to scare the others by passing around the calling card for a local undertaker!

That night, Aldous and Bobby, asleep in the same room, are awakened by the sound of a woman crying.

They are both scared, but decide to investigate. They are joined in the hallway by Oscar.

The men go downstairs, and witness Julius torturing Amy, a servant girl, by turning a screw-like device on her wrists.

The men are scared, but attempt to intervene on Amy's behalf. Julius tells them to go away, and bares his teeth; he appears to be a vampire!

The men are distracted by the sound of the clock chiming at midnight. When they turn around, Julius has disappeared!

Eloise walks up to the men carrying a broom, and tells them that she and Julius have a date with the devil. She walks off.

The men free Amy, and decide to follow Eloise and Julius, to see where they are headed.

The men follow Eloise into the basement, which is outfitted like a medieval dungeon. They find Eloise cooking a witch's brew in a big cauldron. Amy stands nearby, in a trance.

A curtain parts, revealing a giant portrait of McDermott hanging on the wall.

The face on the portrait comes to life, and welcomes the men, who run back upstairs, terrified.

Aldous and Bobby run back into their bedroom, only to discover their friend, Anastasio, hanging by his neck, dead!

Aldous runs into the hallway, and yells for the others to come.

When the group reenters the bedroom, Anastasio's body is missing, and Bobby is hiding under the bed-covers!

The group next goes to Anastasio's bedroom. He is missing, but there is a note on his bed, saying that he will inherit five million dollars!

The group finds this turn of events very mysterious. Julius enters the room, and scares the group further by predicting that more will die before this business is settled, but wonders who will be next?

The next morning, Martha brings breakfast to Harold, who is still recovering from his knife wound.

The two lovers discuss the situation. Martha thinks Julius is the killer, but Harold believes that Julius is just being used as a decoy for the real killer. Harold instructs Martha to keep a close eye on everyone, and to report back to him with her observations. Martha give Harold a peck on the cheek, and leaves him to his food.

Meanwhile, the others are having a hearty breakfast in the dining room. Someone remarks that the chocolate milk is a strange color, and Eloise corrects him: it isn't chocolate milk, but blood, Julius' favorite drink!

The group discuss the horrible disappearance of Anastasio, and where he might be. It is suggested that he may be in the creepy basement, and it is agreed that the whole group should investigate together.

The group enters the foreboding cellar, led by Bobby. Eloise tries to scare the group back upstairs by revealing that the house was built over an old cemetery, but they are now determined.

Aldous and Bobby discover a skeleton, a mummy, and eventually a coffin. They open the lid, and find Julius sleeping inside!

Julius rises from his coffin. Eloise brings him a cup of hot blood.

The group is freaked out by Julius' vampire-like behavior, and continue to investigate elsewhere in the basement.

Julius detains teenage singer Albert, and tells him to escape from this place while he still can.

Albert runs through the cellar passageway alone, and is strangled by an unknown person.

The others end up before McDermott's giant portrait, which comes alive again to tell them to get out of his basement. They all run back upstairs, scared. After they leave, Eloise approaches the portrait, telling the ghost of McDermott that his orders have been carried out to the letter.

Back upstairs, the group realizes that Albert is missing. They decide what to do. Martha assigns the members of the group to search in different rooms.

The magician Joe enters a bathroom, and finds a body floating in the bathtub. He turns it over; it is Thomas, the inventor!

Joe runs to tell the others, who all follow him back to the bathroom. When they see the corpse again, however, it has turned into Albert, who is wet, but very much alive.

Albert remembers nothing of how he got there. Joe produces Thomas' wallet, which he stole from his bedroom, and when Lawyer opens it, he finds another cryptic note about the fortune, which implies that poor Thomas is most likely already dead.

Later, Albert and Harold argue over whether Harold is well enough to join the search for the killer. Eloise enters the room, and brings Harold some soup.

Eloise notices Albert's hands, and asks if he would like his palm read. He agrees, and Eloise reveals with horror that his life line is very short, and in addition, he is to be beheaded!

That night, Eloise speaks to the spirit of McDermott in the basement. However, Julius and two hooded figures plot against the rich ghost. They perform an incantation, and are able to leap to the other world, and place a strangling black hand over McDermott's horrified face!

Julius then suffocates Eloise until she passes out. Julius' unknown helpers burn the body of McDermott's spirit. Eloise comes to, and sees the destruction. McDermott's ghost retreats back into his portrait, now afraid of earthly evil.

At supper, the group notices the absence of Eloise. Amy brings a platter and rests it on the table. She has not seen her boss.

Eloise runs into the dining room with a disembodied hand. She says it is all that remains of McDermott's spirit, now that Julius and his evil sorcery has done away with it. Bobby examines the hand, and believes it to be a fake.

The lid of the roast platter is removed. Albert's head lies on the plate! Everyone screams.

What's worse, the head is alive! It rises from the table, floats over the guests, and disappears through a wall, leaving a blood stain where it passed.

The dumfounded guests then find a note, like the others, saying that Albert is to be the sole heir to the fortune. Julius enters the room, and reminds them that he predicted dire consequences for anyone foolish enough to stay in this house of death.

That night, Harold sits in bed, taking notes for a future book. A figure emerges from the shadows, and injects Harold with a hypodermic needle. Harold passes out.

In the hallway, Oscar, Aldous and Joe approach Harold's room. They have decided to leave, and want to say goodbye. Bobby tries to stop them from giving up, but they are adamant.

Later, we see that Harold is alright. He is being taken care of by Martha, and is surrounded by his friends. Aldous restates his desire to get out of this nut house, and for the first time, Harold agrees with him.

The others leave Martha and Harold, and bicker over how to escape the house.

Julius joins them, and asks what is all the commotion. They tell him they want to leave. Julius seems eager to assist them.

The lawyer enters the room. Julius tells him of the others' decision. The lawyer informs the others that they are free to go, but must first sign a waiver of all rights to the McDermott estate.

The group seems more than willing to do this, but Eloise enters the room, and tells them that they must not leave. They owe the spirit of Henry McDermott the courage to see things through.

Eloise insists that they all repair to the basement, and ask McDermott's spirit for guidance at this juncture of crisis. Over Julius' objections, they agree.

Later, Eloise holds a seance and invokes McDermott's ghost, who appears, to the others' dismay, along with the ghosts of Albert and Thomas.

Eloise asks McDermott how he fared the previous demon attack by Julius. McDermott replies that only his body was destroyed; his spirit will remain intact. He vows to identify and kill his attackers.

At that moment, Julius enters the room. All of the ghosts vanish.

Julius tells the group that they just imagined the ghosts, and are victims of mass hysteria. He manifests another skeleton and mummy, and tells them that these, too, are mere illusions. The group becomes terrified, and runs upstairs. Julius laughs maniacally.

The group runs outside, and heads towards the main gate to leave, but the gates have become electrified, and spark furiously. When the electricity dies down, and the gates open, the group runs towards it, but are stopped by the ghosts of McDermott, Albert and Thomas, who tell them to go back inside the house, and claim what is rightfully theirs.

The group is more scared of the ghosts outside than inside, so return to the house.

Later, Aldous approaches Harold's room with a pot of tea, but is scared by what he sees there, and runs to get Bobby.

The two men return to Harold's room, and find only his bedclothes lying on the bed. They believe Harold has met with foul play, and agree to search for him.

The two return to the basement, and are joined by Harold, who informs them that he has been following Julius all night long, in order to uncover clues to the mysterious goings-on.

The trio watch silently as Julius, dressed in his vampire costume, does something in a secret room, and then repairs to his coffin.

The three men make sure that Julius is sound asleep, and then look in the secret room. It is full of costumes, weapons, and cryptic notes about things happening at midnight.

Harold decides that he is going to put on one of the hooded costumes, and see if he can infiltrate the murderous cult during their midnight ritual. He makes a plan, and enlists Aldous and Bobby for support.

Aldous goes upstairs and talks with his girlfriend, Lulu, who is nervously knitting. He promises that after this is all over, he will make her a big movie star. Aldous also tells Lulu about their plans to capture Julius at midnight.

Lulu thinks all of this news is wonderful, and gives him a peck on the forehead. Lulu then leaves, but Aldous isn't aware, as his eyes are closed. He opens his eyes, thinking he is still holding onto Lulu's cold hand, but it is the severed hand of McDermott's corpse which he holds! Aldous drops the limb, and faints dead away.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Eloise has overheard the entire conversation. Likewise, when Lulu tells Martha the good news, the lawyer is sitting in a chair nearby, and hears the whole thing.

Later, Bobby plays with a toy pistol in front of his bedroom mirror, pretending to be brave. Aldous walks up behind him, and scares him half to death.

The two try to pretend they are sleeping, but are scared by a knock on the door. It is Joe, who enters and asks what's going on. Bobby tells Joe the whole plan, but Julius is listening from a secret panel in the wall.

There is another knock on the door. The men hide in their beds, but it is only Amy, the servant, with a glass of warm milk. Nobody ordered the milk, but Joe is thirsty and decides to drink it. Amy leaves.

Shortly after finishing the milk, Joe begins to feel funny, and goes into convulsions. Much to the mens' shock, Joe disintegrates before their eyes, leaving only a suit of clothes!

Aldous and Bobby also find the usual note which accompanies the dead bodies. They run to get the others.

Everyone runs back into the bedroom, and sees the crumpled suit of clothes which was formerly Joe.

Harold asks what happened, and Bobby tells about Amy bringing the warm milk. They decide to find Amy, but just then, Eloise enters the room with the servant girl.

Harold asks Amy who gave the order to bring warm milk to the guests, but Amy is in a trance, and doesn't remember anything.

Julius enters the room, and asks what happened. He is glad to hear that Joe is dead, for he thought the man was a fool. He bids the guests another spooky good night. The others leave.

Midnight arrives. Everyone is nervous in anticipation of the events which will follow.

Harold sneaks down into the cellar to fetch his costume for infiltrating the ritual, but is intercepted by McDermott's ghost, who wants to show him something of importance elsewhere in the basement.

Meanwhile, Bobby and Aldous go over their plans to back up Harold.

Aldous goes to the basement, searching for Harold, but is met by a talking skeleton, which commands him to put on one of the ritual costumes.

Aldous, afraid, does so, amidst the skeleton's derisive laughter. When Aldous sees McDermott's ghost staring at him, he runs away.

Aldous gets lost running through the creepy passageways in the cellar, and encounters several incarnations of McDermott's ghost, all of whom warn him to be careful; his enemies are all around him!

Suddenly, Aldous is surrounded by many hooded figures. He calls out for Harold, but the ones who answer are not Harold. Julius grabs Aldous and vows to kill him. The lawyer is also one of the devil worshippers. But Lulu and Bobby have also donned the hooded costumes, and in the general commotion, Aldous manages to escape.

The good and evil hooded figures scurry through the cellar passageways. We see that Oscar and Martha have also donned costumes. The group tries to run back upstairs, but are sent back down by Julius' machine gun fire.

Julius and the lawyer discuss their plans; they will kill all of the heirs tonight!

Aldous and Bobby run into Eloise, who tells them they are in great danger. She leads them to a secret chambers in the cellar.

In this secret room, all of the people who were previously killed are once again alive, and perfecting their art!

Anastasio is putting the finishing touches on his greatest piano concerto. Albert practices the steps of his new teenage dance craze. Joe perfects his new magic act. Thomas works at his magnificent new super-computer. And Henry McDermott sits nearby, sipping a martini and watching his artists perfecting their craft.

Aldous and Bobby freak out at the sight of McDermott, and run out of the room. McDermott asks Harold to go fetch the two, or the plan to trap Julius and the lawyer will be ruined.

Aldous and Bobby run right into Julius' arms. Julius has also kidnapped Martha, Lulu and Oscar.

Julius shoots Bobby and Aldous, who fall to the ground. Harold bursts onto the scene, and punches Julius in the face. The two fight, while the others look on, horrified.

Harold knocks Julius out. McDermott and the others enter the room.

The lawyer, horrified at seeing McDermott alive, shoots at him, but the guns only had blanks in them. The lawyer drops the gun to the floor in defeat.

McDermott explains the situation: he faked his death in order to trap his corrupt lawyer in a plot to swindle the millionaire's inheritance for himself. The lawyer was able to convince Julius too be his partner in this murderous scam.

The deaths of all the others were faked too, with the help of Thomas and his ingenious inventions.

Harold wakes up Aldous and Bobby, who were only stunned, and they rise "from the dead".

McDermott reveals that he will now share his fortune with all of his artist friends, and help Harold publish that book he's been writing. He states that they've all earned their fortune, by "sweat and fear".

THE END

REVIEW:
This obscure Mexican horror-comedy opens with an illustration of a man watching a horse-drawn carriage go by, with vaguely sinister musical accompaniment.

The influence of the "Old Dark House" movies, as well as HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and other genre films, is evident in the ensuing photoplay. This is also quite similar structurally to another Mexican-Murray horror-comedy favorite, THE PHANTOM IN THE RED HOUSE, right down to the intervention of a bumbling, comic detective.

There's a not-unusual sense of anachronism here; the opening scene shows a horse-drawn carriage pounding through a dusky field, and we assume we are entering a period piece. We are thus slightly disoriented to find that the subsequent drama is modern, with scientists, rock singers, post-modern painters and such.

The heirs are an unusually motley crew, all frustrated or failed artists (many played by "famous" comedians of the day): a fulla-shit, wannabe Picasso named Oscar; a kooky inventor named Thomas Alba Madison (whose laboratory emits goofy cartoon sound f/x reminiscent of Clyde Crashcup); a beautiful dancer named Martha and her boyfriend, teen heartthrob Albert (who does a hilarious musical number about sneezing); a frustrated jazz pianist, Anastasio Superstein; and Joe, a magician-turned-pickpocket.

They are all contacted by the ghost of a dead millionaire who was an eccentric patron of the arts, apparently.

A creepy guy named Julius (the great Jorge Bierute) and the caretaker of the house try everything in their power to scare the wits out of the would-be heirs, so they can get the money. This leads to some mildly pleasant situations, and some primitive-yet-winsome f/x.

Some of the better f/x include some ghost superimpositions, a floating head on a platter, and an uncanny disintegrating-body scene which reminds one of a similar unnerving scene in the great Japanese fantasy THE HUMAN VAPOR.

We also witness something we don't see every day at the movies: a man torturing a woman. Even done in a comedic way, the scene, where evil Julius crushes a servant girl's wrists, comes across as quite unwholesome, and vicariously sadistic.

There is a creepy seance, replete with crystal ball and ghosts, which boasts many similarities to the surreal rituals in Ed Wood's flawed masterwork, NIGHT OF THE GHOULS.

The subplot, in which McDermott's creepy brother Julius tries to convince the heirs he is an evil vampire out for their blood, and additionally tries to subvert McDermott's spirit, are odd premises that take this film out of the light horror-comedy motif, and drop it right into the dark gothic fantasy genre.

Much of the comedy suffers from the dubbing as well, unlike the luminous, effusive dubbed speeches of Diogenes Hermes in THE PHANTOM IN THE RED HOUSE.

An engaging later scene features a somewhat theatrical pseudo-Purgatory, in which all the "dead" heirs do what they did best in "life" (dancing, singing, piano playing, inventing) together in one giant room, like a performance theatre's interpretation of a job fair for artists.

At film's end, when McDermott's benign conspiracy is revealed, it raises more questions than it answers: Did evil brother Julius really fancy himself a vampire, or was he merely trying to spook the heirs to his own ends? If McDermott's housekeeper Eloise was in on the plot from the beginning, why did she ally herself with Julius' bizarre occult fantasies? If all of the appearances of McDermott's ghost were mere tricks by super-inventor Thomas, was Julius' occult attack on McDermott's ghost also a trick, or an actual trans-ethereal harassment?

It is probably best not to look too deeply into the logic of this most interesting horror-comedy, with its grim and curious underbelly, and just enjoy the zany antics of our cowardly comedians, the passable physical comedy, and the strange imagery which will keep you thinking about it long after the film ends.

COMMENTS:
* (updated 02-14-06) Thanks to a terrific new book we just received, "Ghouls, Gimmicks and Gold" by Kevin Heffernan, (2004, Duke University Press), we have been able to update the U.S. television release date for this Murray horror title to 1965. The appendices to this study of the horror film in America, circa 1955-1968, include complete listings of syndication feature film packages from many distributors, including American International Television, who subleased the K. Gordon Murray film catalog under the title THRILLERS FROM ANOTHER WORLD. It seems that 1965 was the watershed year for genre film sold to television, with a veritable flood of titles released by both domestic and foreign distribs.

* (effective 05-01-03) After a very brief window of availability, this long-sought K. Gordon Murray title is once again out of print, due to international copyright issues. Used video tapes of this title may be found on online video dealers and auction sites. Stay tuned for further developments!

* According to advertising material, the feature film ECHENME AL VAMPIRO (aka BRING ME THE VAMPIRE), was a composite of three "episodes": "Echenme al Vampiro", "La Mansion Negra", "Siete Condenados". However, according to Mexican film historian David Wilt, "the film was made in three 'episodes' but this was a fiction for legal purposes. The episodes were never shown separately. Some of the plot confusion might be attributed to the fact that this was a 'sequel' to LA CASA DE LOS ESPANTOS, which was shot immediately before."

* Here is some information on the "comedians" in BRING ME THE VAMPIRE, from David Wilt: "The only one of the comedians who had anything like a starring career was "Pompin" Iglesias. The others were all sidekicks or comic supporting actors.

Fernando Soto "Mantequilla" (Aldous, the businessman) was the son of famous stage comic actor Roberto Soto, perennial sidekick to stars like Pedro Infante, David Silva, Antonio Aguilar, etc. in rancheras and urban films. Prominently featured in Bunuel's ILLUSION TRAVELS BY STREETCAR.

Joaquin Garcia Vargas "Borolas" (Bobby, the detective) was a long-time second banana, noted for his derby hat and small stature. Generally appeared as part of ensembles, never even reached "primary sidekick" status. However, he did work with Cantinflas and Tin Tan on a regular basis.

Alfonso "Pompin" Iglesias: nerdy comic actor, teamed with Nacho Contla on TV; made a few films (such as the borderline sci-fi EL SUPERFLACO in 1959) as the star, but generally seen as a supporting or ensemble player.

Jose Jasso: Ernie Kovacs lookalike, once more a supporting comedian at best, altho he did co-star with Loco Valdes in FRANKENSTEIN, EL VAMPIRO, Y COMPANIA.

Armando "Arriola" Arriolita: specialized in playing shriveled up old men (also played Merlin the magician in SANTA CLAUS).

Roberto Cobo "Calambres" (Joe, the magician): goofy-looking comic actor and dancer, who nonetheless has some classic dramatic films to his credit, cf Bunuel's LOS LOVIDADOS and the well-known EL LUGAR IN LIMITES (1977).

Pascual Garcia Pena (Oscar, the painter): specialized in playing fat, bearded sidekicks in rancheras and Westerns, altho he occasionally played gangsters too. Also a screenwriter.

NOTABLE DIALOGUE: