THE
WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES (1960)Director: Alfonso Corona Blake
Beverly Wilshire Filmworks/Telefilms International
THE
WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES (1960)One of the many vampire films distributed by American International Television and presented by K. Gordon Murray, WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES is full of rich atmosphere, recalling the glorious days of Universal. Count Subotai (Guillermo Murray) rises from his coffin to reveal his carbon copy Lugosi Dracula suit, long saber fangs, as well as a 50s era Liberace hairstyle. Speaking of Liberace, Count Subotai plays an organ made of human skulls in his spooky underground lair.
On a foggy night, a couple riding in a jeep are attacked by an army of scoundrels that look like a grammar school play's version of the "bogeymen" from MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS. The actors wear expressionless masks with bug eyes and Dumbo ears, presumably some sort of bat creatures. The couple is used as a sacrifice for the vampires, and the Count declares revenge against the family of Coleman, who did him wrong a century ago.
In another part of town, Mr. Coleman is giving an evening party where his occult expert guest, Rudolph Summers (Mauricio Garcés--who looks like a Latino Clark Gable) plays a strange tune on the organ. Count Subotai shows up uninvited to the party, and he makes painful but comical expressions while listening to the disturbing tunes. Being sensitive to the sound waves, he makes a scene and walks out of the party, but not before he can put the bite on one of Coleman's beautiful daughters. She becomes a vampire girl with lightning eye make-up. Later, we see her head superimposed over the body of a flying bat. The producers must have seen The Three Stooges short, SPOOKS, where Shemp Howard's mug is similarly superimposed over a winged creature!
Produced by "The Brainiac" himself, Abel Salazar, THE WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES (the DVD packaging says "The World of Vampires," or for you sports fans, "Wide World of Vampires"), is worthwhile in that it contains every cliché in horror movie history. There's a castle, rubber bats, torture dungeons, pits, skeletal corpses, cobwebs, fog and much more. There's also a grunting hunchback servant who could've been the inspiration for SCTV's Bruno (who was played by the legendary horror actor Woody Tobius Jr.).
Beverly Wilshire's film source utilizes the usual 16mm TV print, taken from a decent video master. Aside from some lines, messy reel change marks, a sloppy few seconds of intermission distortion half way through, and some scratchiness in soundtrack, the disc looks good for what it is. The black and white image is clear and the DVD authoring is well compressed. (George R. Reis)
DVD Drive-In has a limited stock of THE WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES DVD for a special low price. You can order a copy by clicking HERE.