Although it gets off to a slow start and remains slow-paced for much of the running time, THE INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES remains a watchable Mexican B-movie thanks to the wealth of atmosphere it offers for the horror fan - as well as the fantastic ending, which depicts the actual invasion itself on a small scale which is no less impressive and bears a strong similarity to the plot of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD which came seven years later. Having only previously witnessed Mexican wrestling flicks which offer oodles of action and no atmosphere whatsoever, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this movie matches both the Universal and Hammer movies (which it copies heavily, especially Hammer's Dracula) in terms of a spooky, chilling atmosphere.
The familiar plot tells the tale of a small village in which young people are disappearing, lured to the "Dead Man's Lake" by a hypnotic female and then found dead and drained of blood in the morning. The superstitious villagers are too scared to act, so in comes the young Doctor Alvaran to solve the mystery. It appears that Count Frankenhausen (gotta love that name) went missing months before and has become the chief vampire, putting the bite on the townsfolk and transforming them into vampires themselves who remain in a state of suspended animation until his eventual destruction. This leads to the much-remembered finale which uniquely shows the staked vampires rising from their tombs and graves to wreak vengeance on the human populace. As well as being quaintly spooky, this is at least one original moment in the film which you won't have seen elsewhere.
Otherwise, it's business as usual, with lots of cross-filled cemetery sets filled with overflowing dry ice and cold dark tombs. The clichés of bubbling cauldrons, thunder and lightning storms, and secret passages in ancient houses are all present and correct, although bizarrely garlic isn't adequate to fight the threat of the undead this time around - some other plant takes its place. The ending sees a potion being concocted which returns the dead to their human form and dispels the vampire threat! The acting from the entirely Mexican cast ranges from the poor to the quite good, with Rafael del Rio making for quite a charming young hero who carries the movie. Sadly, Carlos Agosti isn't very effective as the chief vampire Frankenhausen, who stands around doing Christopher Lee impersonations and baring his fake fangs to little impact. More subtlety may have helped. However, the supporting cast - including the female victim and a wicked housekeeper - are good value, with the exception of a snivelling town doctor who has the most irritating/amusing dubbed voice ever. I think it's the same guy who dubbed the dwarf in the NEUTRON films although I can't be sure.
The black and white photography is good, bringing out the atmosphere and shadows of the cheap sets, although the camera-work is too static and lifeless for the film to be a technical masterpiece. As for special effects, all we see are a few (de)materialisations, as well as some huge cheesy rubber bats which are propelled by visible wires to menace our heroes and very funny to watch. A highlight of the film sees the hero Alvaran taking on Frankenhausen in the form of a bat, eventually spearing him to a wall but not before he has his face and shoulder well and truly clawed. As mentioned before, the finale includes scenes of the survivors hiding inside a protected building while the vampires mass outside and is pretty creepy.
The most atmospheric thing about this film for me - leaving those typically dry-ice enshrouded sets aside for a moment - is, somewhat surprisingly, the sound track! All manner of weird and wonderful background noises are constantly present during the film, with all sorts of weird animal howling, wind blowing, and distorted computer noises! These help to create a landscape filled with unknown threat and dread and beef up the movie's atmosphere considerably. Although there's hardly any action and the film is far from exciting, as an atmosphere piece THE INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES works, which is why fans of old-fashioned horror yarns would be wise to check it out.
The familiar plot tells the tale of a small village in which young people are disappearing, lured to the "Dead Man's Lake" by a hypnotic female and then found dead and drained of blood in the morning. The superstitious villagers are too scared to act, so in comes the young Doctor Alvaran to solve the mystery. It appears that Count Frankenhausen (gotta love that name) went missing months before and has become the chief vampire, putting the bite on the townsfolk and transforming them into vampires themselves who remain in a state of suspended animation until his eventual destruction. This leads to the much-remembered finale which uniquely shows the staked vampires rising from their tombs and graves to wreak vengeance on the human populace. As well as being quaintly spooky, this is at least one original moment in the film which you won't have seen elsewhere.
Otherwise, it's business as usual, with lots of cross-filled cemetery sets filled with overflowing dry ice and cold dark tombs. The clichés of bubbling cauldrons, thunder and lightning storms, and secret passages in ancient houses are all present and correct, although bizarrely garlic isn't adequate to fight the threat of the undead this time around - some other plant takes its place. The ending sees a potion being concocted which returns the dead to their human form and dispels the vampire threat! The acting from the entirely Mexican cast ranges from the poor to the quite good, with Rafael del Rio making for quite a charming young hero who carries the movie. Sadly, Carlos Agosti isn't very effective as the chief vampire Frankenhausen, who stands around doing Christopher Lee impersonations and baring his fake fangs to little impact. More subtlety may have helped. However, the supporting cast - including the female victim and a wicked housekeeper - are good value, with the exception of a snivelling town doctor who has the most irritating/amusing dubbed voice ever. I think it's the same guy who dubbed the dwarf in the NEUTRON films although I can't be sure.
The black and white photography is good, bringing out the atmosphere and shadows of the cheap sets, although the camera-work is too static and lifeless for the film to be a technical masterpiece. As for special effects, all we see are a few (de)materialisations, as well as some huge cheesy rubber bats which are propelled by visible wires to menace our heroes and very funny to watch. A highlight of the film sees the hero Alvaran taking on Frankenhausen in the form of a bat, eventually spearing him to a wall but not before he has his face and shoulder well and truly clawed. As mentioned before, the finale includes scenes of the survivors hiding inside a protected building while the vampires mass outside and is pretty creepy.
The most atmospheric thing about this film for me - leaving those typically dry-ice enshrouded sets aside for a moment - is, somewhat surprisingly, the sound track! All manner of weird and wonderful background noises are constantly present during the film, with all sorts of weird animal howling, wind blowing, and distorted computer noises! These help to create a landscape filled with unknown threat and dread and beef up the movie's atmosphere considerably. Although there's hardly any action and the film is far from exciting, as an atmosphere piece THE INVASION OF THE VAMPIRES works, which is why fans of old-fashioned horror yarns would be wise to check it out.