Let's set the scene first.
Years ago, drive-in movies would open in Canada in April, and they would be COLD..even when you sprang for the heaters you could get from the concession stand. And for SOME reason, K Gordon Murray's Mexican import flicks opened the season until nearly the 70's.
The cold part is important. For some reason, Sam Arkoff, who released the movies to the drive-ins, remembers seeing BLACK SUNDAY in an Italian movie theatre when they had turned off the heat..and the cold adding to the on screen chills.
So for a cold April this year, our Halloween double bill is THE VAMPIRE COLELCTION..it's from Casa Negra and is the two DVD set of THE VAMPIRE and THE VAMPIRE'S COFFIN. These are the grand daddys of all Mexican horror flims.Casa Negra has gone and found the original negatives and restored them and the results are astonishing...
The two movies feature some of the biggest names in all of Mexican horror...Abel Salazar is pretty much the Christopher Lee of Mexican scare flicks..the rule of thumb is that if you look, his name is on almost all the good ones.
He produced and played leading man.
German Robles later went on to do FOUR MOVIES as Nostradamus the Vampire. He's in these as the vampire..
Fernando Mendez directed and was responsible for some AMAZING light and textures and shadows...how good was this guy? When the director of HELLBOY Guillermo del Toro wants to watch a movie, these are two of his faves.
This is where showing the fangs came in. Yup. First flick to show the fangs..
You have a great great 'rising from the coffin scene' that is right up there with Max Schrek in NOSFERATU. This was a return to form..for a long time they did that lame cutting away...
And you have a LOT of rules from the U.S horror movies that get broken...kids get away with their lives in Hollywood vampire movies..here they get eaten...
The funeral scene to the crypt rivals ANYTHING Bava did in BLACK SUNDAY...and the close ups are amazing...you get this cold, clammy vibe that REALLY penetrates the bone in the cold outdoors...
So brew up something warm, dim the lights and re create the drive in days from long ago...and open the window and soak in some of the chilly atmosphere...fall and Halloween chills are about six months away now...