Review of El vampiro

When the train arrives in Sierra Negra station, the youth Marta Gonzalez (Ariadna Welter) learns that her uncle is not at the station to take her to Sicomorros, where she had lived most of her life. She is in a hurry to visit her Aunt María Teresa (Alicia Montoya), who is dying, but there is no means to go to the village. A stranger, Enrique (Abel Salazar), asks for a ride for her in a wagon pulled by two horses to a weird man that came to take a mysterious box. He accepts to give a ride to them to a road nearby the farm owned by her uncle Emilio (José Luis Jiménez). Soon Maria and Enrique learn that her aunt has died and has just been buried in the family's crypt. She meets her aunt Eloisa (Carmen Montejo) and is surprised to see how young she seems to be. Further, the servants Maria (Mercedes Soler) and Anselmo (José Chávez) tell stories of vampires that made most of the population of Sicomorros leave the village. Eloisa tells Marta that she has inherited one-third of the real estate and their neighbor, Count Karol de Lavud (Germán Robles), wants to buy the property. But soon Marta learns dark secrets about the count and her aunt.

"El vampiro" (1957) is a great and stylish Mexican vampire movie. The plot is really dark, but predictable, but the atmosphere is creepy and gothic, with the use of make-up, shadows and locations covered with cobwebs. The vampire is scary and it seems that he is the precursor with the image of a tall man with fangs and black cloak. The costume of Eloisa is also creepy associated to the way she moves. Every time that I watch a Mexican horror movie, I have a surprise with the quality and style. Unfortunately, they are unknown for most of the audiences. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Morcego" ("The Bat")