La llamada del vampiro

Curse of the Vampire is an enjoyable enough Spanish horror movie as long as one keeps his expectations in check.

Dr. Dora Materlick, a hot looking blonde, comes to a small Spanish village to investigate a strange outbreak of anemia. The locals believe it is the work of vampires. An ill baron asks Materlick to stay in his castle. Materlick and her assistant, a hot looking brunette, accept the invitation. There, they meet the Baron's son Karl, a morose man who speaks in riddles and longs for his cousin Margaret, who is now gone. The anemia stumps Materlick, so she calls in a blood analysis, who is (you got it!) a hot looking redhead.

The three ladies (and Margaret after she is resurrected) spend a good portion of the movie running around the castle in nighties (and sometimes less). As a horror film, The Curse of the Vampire comes up with one original idea. The vampires appear normal, going about in the day and living their lives, until a full moon rises. Then, they sport fangs and hunger for blood. The film cleverly reveals this when a character is looking at his reflection in a mirror and the reflection suddenly vanishes. That is a good scene, but the film saves its trump card for the end.

Many fans of Euro-horror love it when a film goes off the rails, throws out all coherency, and travels into psychedelic territory. Black Magic Rites (aka The Reincarnation of Isabel) comes to mind as one glorious example. In its final ten minutes, Curse of the Vampire does just that and ends up better living up to the title The Vampire's Night Orgy than the Helga Line movie that bears that title. Make sure one stays to the end!

Curse of the Vampire does occasionally suffer from that awkward pacing one finds in some Euro-horror during scenes where the plot dominates. The real "fun" does not start until about the halfway point (when the reflection vanishes from the mirror). However, as Spanish horror goes, I would say Curse of the Vampire compares favorably with most of the Waldemar Daninsky movies. It is not essential 70's Euro-horror viewing. However, fans looking for new thrills after watching Argento, Fulci, and company, will find that Curse of the Vampire scratches that itch.