MartinHafer "The Vampire's Coffin" ("El Ataúd del Vampiro") is a bad horror film. However, it is not quite bad enough or silly enough for me to recommend it to bad movie buffs--though at times, it sure comes close!When the film began, I actually thought if might be a good film. It was very atmospheric and there was nothing to complain about...at least for a while. The Mexican horror filmmakers got the look right as grave robbers stole the coffin of Count Karol de Lavud (Germán Robles). It seems that an exceptionally stupid doctor wants the body to study HOW vampires are ageless. Perhaps, he thinks, he can learn the secret and use it on others. Not at all surprisingly, some butt-head ends up pulling the stake from the vampire's chest--and soon Count Lavud is alive and the butt-head is now the Count's slave. And, again not surprisingly, the Count goes on a killing spree until he is eventually destroyed (huzzah!).So why was this all so bad? Well, the most obvious problem is the worst use of strings I have ever seen in a vampire movie. Had the silly bat on a string been used sparingly, it might not have been that bad--but the stupid bat kept showing up and much of the end (inexplicably) has the hero battling the Count in bat form. Each and every time, the many strings holding the fake bat are VERY obvious. The same is true in a scene where you see a spear being tossed--you can see it suspended from strings! Now if I could easily see all this on a 42" TV, imagine seeing it on a big screen back in the 1950s!! And, speaking of spears, don't you think that if one of your big weaknesses as a vampire is a stake that you'd make sure your hideout does NOT have spears lying about as well as a cabinet full of spikes?! It's a lot like Superman keeping some Kryptonite in his fridge!! Apart from some dumb scenes, there also are some dull ones (such as some horribly choreographed and completely unnecessary dance numbers) and after the first 10 minutes I cannot recall anything good about the film!

The_Void I'm guessing that Fernando Méndez's "El Vampiro" was at least a fairly big success in its native Mexico as the director wasted no time in regrouping the main players from the cast of the aforementioned film and cobbling together this cheap sequel. Not as much care and attention has gone into this one; the film lacks the excellent atmospheric night-time shots of the original and the plot is not as well defined, but in spite of these things; The Vampire's Coffin is certainly an enjoyable romp that fans of the original should at least appreciate. The film starts off rather well with a sequence that sees a bunch of grave robbers accidentally resurrect the evil Count Karol de Lavud (an influence on Dracula 2000?) by removing the stake from his heart. The Count soon decides to turn his liberators into zombies, and proceeds to resume his mission from the first film. Naturally, it all falls down to the heroic Dr. Enrique Saldívar (Abel Salazar, returning to his role from the first film) to rescue the girl, kill the count and save the day.This film reminded me of the Universal classics much more than the original did. As mentioned, the Gothic atmosphere does not make a comeback in this film and it's been replaced by a dose of misplaced and largely unfunny humour, which is unfortunate. The outdoor shots are really missed too; I guess it must have been cheaper to film indoors and the sets don't leave much to admire. All the main cast members from the original return and fit into their roles well. The standout is obviously Germán Robles who plays the count. My main problem with him in the first film is that he never really posed a threat; and he doesn't manage it here either, although it's not so much of a problem as the film appears to want to be taken with a pinch of salt. Abel Salazar stars opposite in the 'hero' role. He doesn't really fit the model of the hero, but he has good charisma and is at least entertaining. The plot doesn't go anywhere and doesn't really provide us with any surprises by the time the film ends. However, The Vampire's Coffin is a decent follow up in spite of its flaws and I'd recommend anyone who tracks down the original sees it; they might as well anyway since it's packed in the set with El Vampiro...

Scarecrow-88 When a colleague of his unearths the coffin of a vampire, Dr. Enrique Saldívar(Abel Salazar)finds his life turned upside down as the one who helped bring the corpse(..with the stake still plunged into his heart), a criminal fiend, Baraza(a brutish Yerye Beirute;perhaps not used as much as he should have been)desires for the amulet around Count Karol de Duvall's(Germán Robles)neck. In getting to the amulet, Baraza has to remove the stake lunged in the Count's heart and when he does, the vampire has free access to once again bite the necks of females for blood. As obvious in these films, the Count will command(by using the amulet, a hypnotic device he uses to control his victims)Baraza to do his bidding..especially as a watchman when he sleeps during the day. Duvall sets his sights on theater actress Marta González(Ariadna Welter), Saldívar's love-interest, desiring to make her his vampire bride. María Teresa(Alicia Montoya)knows all too well what Duvall is capable of as she's been guardian over his tomb for some time and had tried to stop Saldívar's colleague(a doctor wishing to study the cellular structure of a vampire as part of researching diseases of the blood)and Baraza from removing his coffin from it's place of rest. When Baraza and Duvall flee from the Pasteur medical clinic where the coffin was taken(..not before Duvall casts a spell on Marta and almost chomps down on a little girl's neck), Saldívar will have to somehow protect Marta against a predator he's ill-prepared for. We see that María and Saldívar's colleague face a horrifying fate when they seek to find the vampire and his coffin..in a wax museum featuring "devices of death" where in the basement both can be found. It all comes to head when the Count and his henchmen seek to kidnap Marta during a stage production as Saldívar must follow them into their wax museum lair for the ultimate stand-off.Although the flick suffers from some embarrassing bat sequences where you can clearly see the strings controlling it, this is quite an entertaining modern Gothic vampire tale. It's your typical Mexican horror flick incorporating borrowed elements, such as the wax museum which I thought was a marvelous hiding spot for the vampire, but takes some interesting liberties such as having the Count disappear and reappear often tricking those who both know and not know he's in the building(..or room)with them. The amulet around the Count's neck is a major device he uses to control people where oftentimes a vampire can merely focus his eyes on the victim. There's an inspired sequence where an unfortunate victim finds her way into an iron maiden in the wax museum as she is trying to hide from Baraza. The one problem, besides the bat's visible strings, is the fact that Count Duvall is too much of a pushover against Saldívar. He's able to fight him a bit too easily while struggling mightily against Baraza. The chief plus of the picture is the Gothic atmosphere and lighting in a modern setting. There's a great scene where the Count opens his cape as the shadow nearly engulfs the whole picture as he pursues a victim into an alley-way. The Count's demise at the end is kind of neat and different than in a lot of vampire flicks in that he's actually in bat form when suffering a grim fate.

Thomas_J_McKeon EL Ataúd del Vampiro(1958), The Vampire's Coffin, is not a fitting sequel to El Vampiro,both featuring German Robles as aristocratic vampire Count Lavud. This sequel seems like a quickie followup. Most of the film is filmed inside modern buildings or building sets. It lacks the beautiful foreboding night fog scenes of the former. However, when I first wrote this review I had only seen the K. Gordon Murray dubbed version. I expressed thoughts that the Spanish version might be better. I have now seen the Casa Negra restored version in which the beautiful photography and music are quite apparent. The restored version DVD has both Spanish with and without English subtitles as well as the inferior K. Gordon Murray dubbed English version.German Robles's acting is fine; he is quite the natty-charming-aristocratic-menacing-sensual vampire seeking Martha (Ariadna Welter) from the first movie. There is also an interesting scene in which he picks up a woman in a bar. He returns to this life?? thanks to a thief who becomes an assistant and acquires that status while attempting to steal the Count's large pendant and in the process pulling out the stake and thus bringing the Vampire back from the nether place to which he had been consigned in El Vampiro. The Count does not punish him but acknowledges his appreciation and makes him his assistant. (This is somewhat a precursor to Leo (Manver) the beguiling, willing hunchback assistant in the later Nostradamus films). The Spanish restored Casa Negra version is part of a two DVD set with El Vampiro in both Spanish with and without English subtitles and dubbed English. The movie does now stand on its own and is worth seeing IN Spanish with or without English subtitles. I would now give it a 7.5 or 8 rating for its genre. IMDb will not allow any modification of my review of El Vampiro so I am unable to mention the quality of the Casa Negra restored version of El Vampiro; it is outstanding. I would add to my earlier review of that film that the photographic and sound quality are magnificent in the Casa Negra restored DVD. Thomas J McKeon Indianapolis