The Invasion of the Vampires (1963)

LOL the English language dub track for the INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES bootleg I managed to find at a used record store is a marvel in itself. Some sort of surrealist masterpiece. Sounds like it was recorded in the lobby of a church over coffee by an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Then there's the huge, and I mean HUGE fake flapping bat -- makes the fake bat from Jess Franco's "Count Dracula" look like a masterpiece of animatronic puppeteering by comparison.Then there are the names: Count Frankenhausen and Broomhilda are the best (yes, I know it's Brunhilde but I'm having fun here), and all those wild electronic sound effects cues heard in like 3 other of these MexiVamp potboilers. Can't get enough of them actually ... I think this one comes after BLOODY VAMPIRE and WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES, which is a trip with that funky haunted bone organ by H.R. Giger.Seriously though, these Mexican vampire movies are a treat for fans of Gothic atmospheric horror, filmed ingeniously by non-Hollywood types with a sense of style that is unique. There's about seven movies from this era that aren't too difficult to find:The Vampire (1957) The Vampire's Coffin (1958) World of the Vampires (1961) Santo Vs. the Vampire Women (1962) The Bloody Vampire (1962) Invasion of the Vampires (1963) Bring Me The Vampire (1963) Empire of Dracula (1966) This one being perhaps the most difficult to score, though all are floating around on various public domain DVDs and underground DVD-R releases of varying quality. Mine was pretty poor but you know, it's sort of fitting. Watching this creaky old movie on a flickering B&W screen at 3:20 in the morning on a Saturday is kind of what material like this was made for. Though a hearty archival restorative effort to resurrect these movies is long overdue. They are all marvelous!6/10

The opening scene of La Invasion de los Vampiros sets a wonderfully chilling, Gothic tone which carries through. It's a very effective, creepy movie. Mexican horror is unique. It's not often in a classic horror film you can mix a desert setting equip with blowing sand and tumble weeds with lush atmosphere and vampires. This film very effectively captures the essence of what made great Mexican horror what it is. Although some of these films are often considered campy, one should realize that this is largely due to the infamous English dubbed prints Americans watched in the late 60s, which often times were poorly done and therefore often detracted from the films serious elements. I highly recommend this title as it is as well produced as any other horror counterpart from this era. That is if you can find a decent print of it, which sadly is not easy to do. This film deserves to be re-released properly.

Nothing new to add as to the quality of the movie--the reviewers here have summed it up quite well. After seeing "Bloody Vampire" I just had to see its sequel and, as Count Cagliostro would say of vampires--a DVD of this movie actually exists!After an on-line search, I found that it's available in DVD-R format, which, they claim is compatible with most DVD players.I'd never tried a DVD-R and was a bit apprehensive, especially at the price (20 bucks delivered) compared to the 5 bucks Bloody Vampire cost me. But what the heck, I wanted to return with Count Frankenhausen to the Haunted Hacienda so I ordered it.The picture and sound quality are very good considering it's an old B-movie... I'd say a bit more superior than the Beverly Wilshire DVD of Bloody Vampire.It is, however, the dubbed version, which gives it that certain comical charm, however, I'd still like to find a subtitled Spanish version some day and see it as the film makers intended. It'd be a fangtastic horror flick!

Like most of the Mexican horror films imported to the U.S. by K. Gordon Murray, much of this film is rendered unintentionally funny by some really awkward dubbed dialog. However, the film is worth checking out because of one splendid sequence which survived the dubbing process with its eeriness intact: When head vampire Count Frankenhausen is fatally speared during a brawl with the film's hero, Frankenhausen's numerous victims (despite each having already been staked through the heart) rise from their coffins in a quite unsettling scene, and march on the town. The reason this sequence still works so well is that it's mostly silent, with no mood-shattering dubbed dialog. Even in its Americanized version, this film still creates a powerful atmosphere of hovering evil, and the black & white photography is excellent.