THE WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES (1961)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

About a year before Miguel Morayta directed the first of his vampire flicks, Alfonso Corona Blake got into theaters first with his equally individualistic take on vampire mythology. That said, WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES is more strongly derived from the Universal revisions of the Bram Stoker original, and Blake's not quite as vivid a stylist as Morayta, a lack also evident in the director's second and last vamp-film, SANTO VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN.

In his name and attire Count Sergio Subotai echoes the Universal version of the master vampire, though the actor playing him, Guillermo (Bill?) Murray, is more the super-handsome bloodsucker one might expect to find in the John Badham DRACULA. As soon as Subotai walks into a party being thrown in a Mexican villa by European expatriate Colman, both of Colman's nieces, Mina and Lucy-- I mean, Martha and Leonor-- instantly want to get to know him better. 

Subotai, however, has come to Colman's home to exact vengeance. The vamp nurtures an old family grudge, because Colman's ancestors almost wiped out the Subotai clan of vampires in Europe. It's not clear from Subotai's monologues how old he is. But if he descends from a family of bloodsuckers, then it would seem that his people are able to propagate the old fashioned way, as well as by transforming the living into the undead. Subotai plans to avenge his ancestors by vampirizing the old fellow's nieces and letting Colman see their degradation before he Colman perishes.

By chance, though, Colman's future savior also attends the party. The script is not clear on the profession of Rodolfo Sabre; all the viewer knows is that he has esoteric knowledge of folk music. Rodolfo plays a certain tune for the guests, telling them that in older times the melody repelled vampires, but he evinces no actual belief in vampires. When Subotai reacts to the music as Bela Lugosi reacted to a mirror, Rodolfo doesn't immediately tick to the count's true nature. Similarly, despite all the party-talk about vampires, Martha says nothing to anyone when she sees that Subotai casts no reflection in a big mirror.

Leonor, though, is totally enthralled by the count. She meets him alone, and he instantly makes her his slave. Later he makes her into an undead in a quasi-Aztec ceremony, having one of his many slaves knife Leonor to death. Leonor is then transformed into Subotai's "inside woman," and when Rodolfo seems to be getting too close to the truth, she visits him in his sleep and fangs him. Yet Rodolfo's will to oppose Subotai seems uncompromised, and the only result of the vamp-bite seems to be-- if I understood the allusions-- that the musicologist grows hair on the back of his hands.

Subotai captures both Colman and Martha, planning to turn the second niece as well. Rodolfo beats the hell out of the count's hunchbacked servant-- perhaps on loan from a FRANKENSTEIN flick?-- and invades Subotai's lair. There's some minor use of the anti-vampire music against the count's fanged groupies, but the main clash is just as a straight-up fistfight between the music master and the tuxedoed terror. (This seems to indicate another divergence from vamp-lore: Subotai seems no stronger than an ordinary man.) Subotai is destroyed, Martha-Mina is saved but Leonor-Lucy is not, and the film ends without even having suggested a normative romance between Rodolfo and Martha.