MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical* LAS VAMPIRAS was the second feature film to star wrestler-actor Mil Mascaras, but by the end of that decade, director Frederico Curiel had devoted more than a fair share of his career to luchador-movies, having turned out a generous sampling of Santo and Neutron flicks, not to mention THE SHADOW OF THE BAT, which was IMO the best of the Blue Demon films. VAMPIRAS is also noteworthy as one of a handful of Mexican films made by John Carradine. Had I paid anything for the price of seeing this, Carradine alone would have been worth the price of admission, for the veteran performer overacts wildly, possibly confident that none of his countrymen would ever see any of his south-of-the-border efforts.
Though Mil Mascaras is the hero, he doesn't have very many memorable scenes, in terms of either dialogue or fight-scenes. This may be because Curiel wanted to justify his title by concentrating on the female bloodsuckers of the title, who dwarf Carradine's vampire character "Branus" in terms of screen-time. Mil comes to Some Mexican City to engage in a wrestling-gig, but he learns that his opponent, like other sports-figures in the city, has been mysteriously abducted. Mil himself witnesses a car crash in which the drivers disappear, and he sees only bats flitting away. I don't think the vampire cult tries to abduct Mil, but while he's researching vampires, he makes contact with a reporter named Carlos (Pedro Armendariz Jr) who has a passion for the subject. Mil and Carlos team up to investigate a local cemetery, but rather than finding the cult, they unleash a female vampire imprisoned there, who joins up with the cult right away.
It's not easy to piece together the order of events here, but prior to the movie's story, the original Dracula was slain by mortals, possibly the same ones who imprisoned his wife Velia (Maria Duval) in the tomb. When Velia shows up at the cult's hideout, the bloodsucker in control is not Count Branus (Carradine), but a new leader named Aura (Marta Romero). She controls about a dozen female vampires, all garbed in green tights, but aside from Branus the only males in the group are the kidnapped sportsmen, who have been turned into slaves. As for Branus, Aura has confined him to a metal cage. Somehow a splinter of wood got lodged in Branus' brain, so that he now acts erratically and seems to have lost his powers. Branus does act oddly but it's not certain that Aura just wants him sidelined so that she can control the others.
Although Velia and Aura are rivals for the throne, they make common cause to get rid of Mil and Carlos. Their opening stratagems fail, but when the heroes manage to access the hideout, the two females are fighting for supremacy (oddly, with torches). Then the ladies decide that they want the two humans to fight one another to see who's worthy to join their ranks. Mil and Carlos fake a battle until they get the chance to use their weapons to destroy the whole clutch of vampires, including Branus. This description might sound a bit bare-bones, but Curiel tosses in a number of interesting comic touches. For instance, even in human form all the vamp-girls have batlike wings that hang down behind them, and when the henchwomen aren't doing anything in particular, they let their arms rise and fall, as if their instinct is to keep flapping their "wings." There are some peculiar bits of dialogue too, often from Carradine. But since I didn't write anything down, the interested reader will have to check out VAMPIRAS' loony charms for himself.
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