PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological* The sole virtue of this Mexican "old dark house" comedy is that it was so mediocre, I don't have to spend a lot of time on it. As with many of the American "odh" films, some rich geezer pops off and no one can inherit his filthy lucre unless all the heirs spend considerable time at the geezer's spooky old mansion. While residing at the old dark house, people disappear and/or get killed. Unlike most American "odh" flicks, which usually alloted only one or two characters to be the comedy relief figures, most of the heirs in VAMPIRE are goofballs of one type. Maybe this could have worked if the filmmakers had been able to be even a tenth as clever as the makers of MURDER BY DEATH, shooting maybe for a funny version of TEN LITTLE INDIANS. But all of the principal cast members are completely unfunny. There are some briefly seen creepy figures, like a top-hatted vampire and some skeletons-- not to mention the spirit of the old geezer. He, however, isn't confined to the mansion, and even shows up at a couple of heirs' homes to urge them to show up to the reading of the will. This conceit is particularly bizarre when it's revealed that the geezer is not dead, that he managed all the creepy stuff with some vague technology and that all the "victims" who seemingly died are still alive. VAMPIRE has a few atmospheric moments that save it from being totally boring, but it's still only for cineastes obsessed with seeing all the available Mexican horror movies of the fifties and sixties.
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