original production:
Cast: German Robles (Nostradamus), Domingo Soler (Professor), Julio Aleman (Antonio), Aurora Alvarado (Anna), Manuel "Manver"/"Mamber" Vergara (Leo), Grek Martin (Igor), Luis Aragon, Mario Cid, Fernando Curiel, Rafael Estrada, Rogelio "Frijolitos" Jiminez Pons, Jose Loza, Alma Margarita, Magda Monzon, Antonio Raxel
SYNOPSIS:
Two newspaper boys fall into a hole, and find a creepy catacombs. They crawl through the narrow tunnels, and enter an immense tomb. A hideous hunchback appears, and chases the boys out of the tunnels.
After the boys leave, the hunchback paws at a mound of dirt, eventually uncovering his master, the horrible vampire Nostradamus!
Meanwhile, the renowned Professor Dolan relaxes at home with his daughter, Anna, and his assistant, Anthony Swain. After reading a newspaper account of the boys' travail, they realize that the horrible Nostradamus, whom they thought had died in a cave-in, was still alive.
Dolan's colleague, Sir Thomas Huntington, visits. He informs Dolan that the "Committee Against Superstition", of which Dolan is preseident, is angry with the professor, for his recent revelations regarding undead vampires. The committee wants to see some hard evidence, or they threaten to impeach Dolan. Before Huntington leaves, he hands Dolan a letter: it is from Nostradamus, who announces his next victim will be Peter Madison!
Dolan and Anthony rush to Peter Madison's address. Madison's widow answers the door, and informs the two men that Mr. Madison has been dead for a year. A young boy walks in and hugs his mother. Dolan and Anthony leave, puzzled.
Nostradamus returns to Dolan's house, transforming himself from a bat, and informs Dolan that it is the child, Peter Madison Jr., whom he intends to kill! Doh!
Dolan and Anthony return to the Madison residence, and take custody of Peter Jr.
Nostradamus commands his slave, the hideous hunchback Leo, to kidnap Dolan's daughter Anna, and bring her to the catacombs. Leo goes to Dolan's house, and snatches a screaming Anna from her bed.
Anna's screams alert Dolan and Anthony, who chase Leo. Leo panics, and drops Anna on the ground, heading back for his master's lair. While the others are distracted, Nostradamus appears, and kidnaps Peter Jr.
Nostradamus escorts a pajama-clad Peter Jr. back to his catacombs. He scolds Leo for leaving Anna. Nostradamus sees the sun creeping in through the window, and quickly hops into his coffin, as Peter Jr. looks on in horror.
The next day, Dolan, Anna and Anthony wait for Leo to return for Anna. When he does, they let the dogs loose. Leo runs away, and Dolan and Anthony follow him.
Dolan and Anthony follow Leo into the catacombs. They fight Leo, and eventually link up with Peter Jr.
Peter shows the two men the location of Nostradamus' coffin. As hard as they try, they cannot budge open the coffin lid. Nostradamus appears before them. Anthony shoots, but the undead one vanishes. The two men safely take Peter Jr. away from the vampire's lair.
Later, Dolan and Anthony defend their position before the "Committee Against Superstition". The committee members don't believe him, and feel they can explain all of the former deaths via logical circumstances. Dolan is outraged, and resigns from the group.
Nostradamus sends Dolan another letter, which explains that his next victim will be Joseph McTagerson, a low-level thug who goes by the unlikely alias "Bobby the Wailer."
Anthony tells Dolan that he has a "friend" called "One-Eye" who can help them locate Bobby. Dolan and Anthony go to a seedy bar, and wait. "One-Eye" soon turns up, and demands 200 dollars for the info. He tells the men that Bobby is in prison, and due to be hanged the next day!
In prison, Bobby receives word from the warden that his reprieve was denied, and that he will be executed at dawn.
Nostradamus appears at Dolan's house, and explains that Bobby's death will be a part of his revenge plan. Nostradamus appears before Bobby in his cell before dawn, and inhabits his body.
Meanwhile, two medical students ask the prison warden for permission to use Bobby's corpse for a brain experiment they are conducting. The warden refuses.
At dawn the next day, Dolan, Anthony and the medical students watch Bobby's execution proceedings. The hanging takes place as scheduled. As they leave, Dolan and Anthony see a bat fly over the courtyard.
The two medical students retire to a local bar, and plot to steal the criminal's corpse. They decide to pay off the caretaker at the morgue, who is a friend.
That night, Bobby's corpse rises from its slab in the morgue, and strangles the caretaker.
The two students arrive at the morgue later, and prepare to steal what they think is Bobby's corpse. They see it's really the caretaker. The reanimated Bobby approaches them from behind, and kills one of the students.
The next day, Dolan reads of the recent events in the morning paper. He and Anthony visit the surviving medical student, who is now completely mad, at a local sanitarium.
Anthony argues further with members of the anti-superstition committee. Anthony walks home, and is followed by a mysterious man in a carriage. The carriage stops, and the two men talk.
Anthony tells Dolan of his meeting with the mystery man, who claims he has great power and knowledge of vampires. He introduced himself as Igor, the last descendent of Count Kradik, head of a family of great vampire hunters.
Dolan and Anthony set up a meeting with Igor, who invite them to his home. Igor tells a fantastic tale of his family's battle with vampires, from the 13th century onward. His family was successful in locating and killing all but one: Nostradamus!
Igor asks for the other mens' help. They agree. Igor requests a meeting with the mad medical student.
Back at the catacombs, Nostradamus summons Bobby to do his bidding.
At the sanitarium, a bat transforms itself into Bobby, who attacks the medical student, causing him to climb out a window and fall to his death.
Igor rubs a mirror over a boiling cauldron, which reveals that Nostradamus is located at the crypt where the young boy had been taken earlier.
Igor, Dolan and Anthony arrive at the crypt. Igor instructs the others to open the coffin lid, so they can drive a stake through Nostradamus' heart. They are unable to open the coffin, but the lid then opens of its own accord, and Bobby rises out of the coffin.
Igor tells Bobby that he must "return to the depths," and forces him back into the coffin with white magic.
Igor drives a stake through Bobby's heart, which kills Nostradamus also!
THE END
REVIEW:
This one picks up right where CURSE OF NOSTRADAMUS leaves off. But we knew that the crummy little mound of dirt which "killed" Nosty in the first installment couldn't possibly hold him.
There's some great stupid logic in this series, such as when a messenger from the ridiculous "Committee Against Superstition" visits Dolan to tell him he's nuts for believing in vampires. They are invariably the ones who deliver Nostradamus' next letter of doom! I guess that's irony, Mexican style!
Also ridiculous is the illustrious Professor Dolan's downright stupidity in certain instances. When Mrs. Madison announces that her husband, Nostradamus' next intended victim, is already dead, one would think one might ask, "Did he have any male heirs?" Especially when the kid is standing right in front of you!
This installment also gives us a cool glimpse of modern Mexican low-life, i.e. criminals. There's the stool pigeon, "One-Eye", an absurd thug like something out of a comic book. And then there's Joseph McTargeson, who goes under the impossible alias "Bobby the Wailer!"
Speaking of "Bobby", his jail cell looks like a primeval dungeon, and his execution scene, with its grim courtyard setting and its spooky masked hangman, is very creepy, like something straight out of the dark ages.
As in all these films, excellent, dense dialogue predominates, with some remarkable turns-of-phrase that are highly memorable, and tongue twisters as well.
Leo's voice is really in top form here. It's the closest thing to a cartoon voice we've ever heard in dubbed live-action cinema, a bonafide "moron" voice that's priceless.
The strange and awkward title of this film, THE MONSTERS DEMOLISHER, apparently refers to new character Igor, the vampire killer who has some decidedly odd powers, and may be seen as little better than Nosty himself.
As in the earlier installment, THE MONSTERS DEMOLISHER has an abrupt, and highly suspect ending. In point of fact, we know that Nosty will return!
These films must have been alotta fun, serialized in the theatre!
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!
* This is a US TV feature patched together from a ten-part Mexican theatrical serial. The other installments are: THE BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS, THE CURSE OF NOSTRADAMUS and THE GENIE OF DARKNESS.
* Here is some new information on the Nostradamus films, from Jean-Claude Michel:
"Twelve episodes, not ten, were made, as follows:
1/ El dedo del destino
2/ El libro de los siglos
3/ Las victimas de la noche
(these comprised LA MALDICION DE NOSTRADAMUS/THE CURSE OF NOSTRADAMUS)
4/ El destructor de monstruos
5/ El estudiante y la horca
6/ El ataud vacio
(these comprised NOSTRADAMUS YE EL DESTRUCTOR DE MONSTRUOS/THE MONSTERS DEMOLISHER)
7/ El genio de las tinieblas
8/ Mas alla de la vida
9/ El hijo de la noche
(these comprised NOSTRADAMUS, EL GENIO DE LAS TINIEBLAS/THE GENIE OF DARKNESS)
10/ El aparecido en el conviento
11/ El ave negra
12/ La ultima victima
(these comprised LA SANGRE DE NOSTRADAMUS/THE BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS)
"These episodes were released in the form of four "features" in Mexican theaters, each of them made of three episodes. These four features were shown theatrically, respectively, on: August 31, 1961, April 13, 1962, December 14, 1962, April 5, 1963.
" 'Historia Documental del Cinema Mexicano' mentions that another film, 'EL TESTAMENTO DE VAMPIRO', also part of the series and starring the same principals, was shown in Mexico on October 20, 1961 (so, chronologically, the second "feature" in the series). Following are the credits:
EL TESTAMENTO DEL VAMPIRO
Director: Federico Curiel
Co-Director: Alberto Mariscal
Screenplay: Federico Curiel
from a story by Carlos Enrique Taboada & Alfredo Ruanova
Photography: Fernando Alvarez Garces "Colin"
Camera Operator: Raul Dominguez
Art Director: Arcadi Artis Gener
Editor: Juan José Munguia
Music: George Perez H.
Sound Editor: Felipe Marino
Made at Estudios America
Shooting date: from August 13, 1959 to ...
Release date: October 20, 1961
Classification: "A"
Cast: German Robles, Julio Aleman, Domingo Soler"
(David Wilt believes that "El testamento del vampiro" is in fact a re-titling of one of the other features, probably LA MALDICION DE NOSTRADAMUS.)
NOTABLE DIALOGUE:
