Finding myself with a little more free time than expected thanks to the roads being jammed up during a stormy weekend, I decided to check the Mexican Horror titles I've downloaded but have yet to watch. Standing out after reading the trivia section, I felt it was the perfect time to meet el vampiro.
View on the film:
The first film appearance of Dracula to give him elongated fangs a year before Hammer Horror's version, director Fernando Mendez & cinematographer Rosalio Solano build a fascinating halfway castle between the classic shadow play Gothic and the oncoming full bodied blood lust, where cute bats on visible strings fly round a shocking sequence of Dracula killing a child.
Hitching a ride to Dracula/ Duval's mansion basking in expressionism shadows tied with chilly fog, Mendez spreads Duval's wings in elegant black and white, reaching out to wide-shots filling the rooms with mist where Duval can (and does) hide from his guests, until he steps out into prime Gothic Horror close-ups on Duval's necking.
Meeting Enrique and Marta at a crossroads, the screenplay by Ramon Obon and Ramon Rodriguez prints pages of Bram Stoker's creation with their own terrific ideas (no Van Helsing) leading to a playful mystery guest in the mansion attempting to stop Duval from having a nibble, turning the pages for Enrique to realise what Duval has a taste for,which ignites a thrillingly fiery final encounter amid the fall of the house of Duval.
Biting into his first film, German Robles gives a mesmerising debut turn as Duval, whose aggressiveness to getting his next victim is paired by Robles with a utterly chilling gentlemanly image presented to guests to get their guards down in the house of Duval.
View on the film:
The first film appearance of Dracula to give him elongated fangs a year before Hammer Horror's version, director Fernando Mendez & cinematographer Rosalio Solano build a fascinating halfway castle between the classic shadow play Gothic and the oncoming full bodied blood lust, where cute bats on visible strings fly round a shocking sequence of Dracula killing a child.
Hitching a ride to Dracula/ Duval's mansion basking in expressionism shadows tied with chilly fog, Mendez spreads Duval's wings in elegant black and white, reaching out to wide-shots filling the rooms with mist where Duval can (and does) hide from his guests, until he steps out into prime Gothic Horror close-ups on Duval's necking.
Meeting Enrique and Marta at a crossroads, the screenplay by Ramon Obon and Ramon Rodriguez prints pages of Bram Stoker's creation with their own terrific ideas (no Van Helsing) leading to a playful mystery guest in the mansion attempting to stop Duval from having a nibble, turning the pages for Enrique to realise what Duval has a taste for,which ignites a thrillingly fiery final encounter amid the fall of the house of Duval.
Biting into his first film, German Robles gives a mesmerising debut turn as Duval, whose aggressiveness to getting his next victim is paired by Robles with a utterly chilling gentlemanly image presented to guests to get their guards down in the house of Duval.