The Curse of Nostradamus (1962) review

THE CURSE OF NOSTRADAMUS 1959 (1962 English version: Trans-International Films, Inc.) aka LA MALDICION DE NOSTRADAMUS

German Robles (Nostradamus), Domingo Soler (Professor Dolan), Julio Aleman (Anthony), Manuel Vergara Manver (Leo), Aurora Alvarado (Anna)

Directed by Federico Curiel; 78 minutes


The evil vampire, Nostradamus, the son of the original Nostradamus, visits the home of the esteemed Professor Dolan. The Professor heads what is known as the Society For the Abolishment of Superstition; an organization dedicated to the destruction of superstitious beliefs and the proposed manifestation of evil. The assertive creature of the night demands that Dolan restore the tainted name of the Nostradamus lineage. If not, the vampire will kill thirteen citizens of some importance until the professor agrees to his terms. Dolan refuses proclaiming this Nostradamus as nothing more than a charlatan.


After several deaths, Professor Dolan and his assistant, Anthony, begin to take the vampire seriously and commence their campaign against him. Dolan learns that Platinum bullets and the Cross of Antioch are the only weapons proficient against vampires. When Nostradamus kidnaps Anna, the professors daughter, Dolan and Anthony learn that he is holed up somewhere within the Castle of the Marquis. The two heroes set out to stop the evil vampire using the weapons at their disposal.


The Nostradamus series was a string of Mexican vampire pictures produced in 1959 capitalizing on the success of the hit film, THE VAMPIRE (1957) starring German Robles as the undead Count. These four subsequent movies also starred German Robles. Imported by enterprising producer, K. Gordon Murray, they were released to American television in the early 1960's through AIP TV. I first caught up with them in the mid 80's on the wonderful science fiction horror program, Commander USA's Groovie Movies. It showcased a double feature picture show hosted by Commander USA. Often times, there would also be a chapter from an old serial interspersed before, or between features. This television program premiered on the USA Network.


For years it's been said that this was a Mexican television series cut down into the four existing films by Murray for American consumption. However, there are Mexican movie posters of these four movies, so it's a bit confusing if this was actually a televised serial in its country of origin, a set of theatrical releases, or possibly both. The posters specify 'The Series' on them, but it's curious if this entire series was shot as one and later broken up into four films theatrically in its native land. Each film (save for the fourth entry) ends very abruptly, and it is the hasty finishes of the first three pictures that would easily confuse initiates to the series.


In this first entry we meet the self-assured Professor Dolan and his best student, Anthony during a party at the professors home. Judging by his damning views on the supernatural, it's a given he'll be made a believer before long. A vampire named Nostradamus becomes aware of Dolan's views on the unknown. Speaking with the undead spirit of his father, the original Nostradamus, he tells him to restore the name of the prophet, here presumed to have been an alchemist and creature of the night. He also makes mention of a magical parchment that becomes the main point of interest in part three, THE GENIE OF DARKNESS (1962).


The vampires descendant pays the professor a night time visit resulting in one of the funniest dubbed dialog sequences ever. The professor continuously slings insults at Nostradamus till he states he will kill 13 people close to Dolan leaving him as the thirteenth victim. Aiding Nostradamus in his quest for vengeance is a hunchbacked goon named Leo. The dubbing for his character is especially riotous. His voice is extremely cartoonish sounding very similar to the assorted bumbling Looney Tunes characters. It's not all goofy, though.


The first murder is fairly gruesome. Nostradamus visits his first victim, Charles Brandon. At first we get more hilarious dubbed dialog before the spiteful vampire hypnotizes Brandon making him appear dead. Thinking he has passed away, the next time we see him he's inside a coffin at a wake. We hear his voice pleading with his family not to bury him alive, but, of course, no one can hear him. This is the best scene in the whole movie. The professor and Anthony go to exhume Brandon's body and as they dig, they find a shocking discovery; the bent and twisted hand of Brandon as he apparently tried to emerge from the coffin, six feet below the ground.


The remainder of the show is Nostradamus revisiting the professor announcing the next one to die, most of the time in the form of a riddle. This leads to more silly back and forth banter between good and evil. Dolan receives a package from a Dr. Landers containing an Antioch cross and a manual detailing its purpose. This, again, leads to another meeting of the minds between Dolan and the vampire. Dolan also makes himself a batch of Platinum bullets(!), which are fatal against vampires, or at least those of the Mexican variety. During the last half, the film leaves the professors mansion behind and heads outside into the night as Nostradamus' riddles get more opaque in addition to Dolan's daughter, Anna, being kidnapped by the evil vampire. This finally leads our intrepid heroes to Nostradamus' castle where Anthony chases Nostradamus shooting at him with his gun loaded with Platinum bullets. The end comes when a cave in buries the creature under a ton of dirt and rock.


The first film in this series is pretty decent, if a bit mundane. A lot of the program takes place in the professor's study with the continuous arguments he has with Nostradamus taking up much of the screen time. The whole movie seemingly takes place at night. There's some nice atmosphere and German Robles is having a grand old time portraying the vampire. The similarities to the b/w Universal horror pictures of the 30's and 40's is clearly in evidence. This is a fun series especially for those who love cheesy movies. Despite the inherent silliness, there are a number of well done sequences that sometimes get lost in all the puerile dialog exchanges. Interestingly, despite being a vampire and changing into a bat, we never see Nostradamus bite anyone on the neck till the last entry. This was followed by THE MONSTERS DEMOLISHER, GENIE OF DARKNESS and BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS.

To read about the complete quartet of films in order, click the link below...

http://www.coolasscinema.com/search/label/Nostradamus%20Mexican%20Vampire%20Series

The Monsters Demolisher (1962) review

THE MONSTER'S DEMOLISHER 1959 (1962 English version: Trans-International Films, Inc.) aka NOSTRADAMUS Y EL DESTRUCTOR DE MONSTRUOS

German Robles (Nostradamus), Domingo Soler (Professor Dolan), Julio Aleman (Anthony), Jack Taylor (Igor), Manuel Vergara Manver (Leo), Aurora Alvarado (Anna)

Directed by Federico Curiel; 76 minutes


Two little boys enter the domain of Nostradamus and are chased away by his hunchback assistant, Leo. Finding his master buried under a mound of dirt, Leo rescues Nostradamus. The vampire returns to professor Dolan for more murderous mind games boasting that he will kill a little boy and a man condemned to die. Speaking with his sometimes vague threats, Nostradamus has additional plans for the meddling Professor and Anthony.


When Leo fails to kidnap Dolan's beautiful daughter, Anna, his master instead attempts to kill the small boy and later resurrects a hanged convict as a vampire and uses him to do his bidding. After the murder of a young medical student by the revived murderer, Dolan and Anthony then seek out the eccentric Igor, an old Transylvanian nemesis of Nostradamus. Possessing dark powers akin to the bloodthirsty monster, Igor vows to stop both infernal creatures. In a duel within the confines of Nostradamus' domain, the three vampire hunters foil his plan once again.


Starting off this second film, Nostradamus continues his intention to murder 13 individuals. This time, he portends to kill Peter Madison. Dolan and Anthony visit the Madison home only to discover that the head of the household has been dead for some time. The two soon discover that it's actually the son that Nostradamus is after. Again, we get some more heated conversations between the vampire and Dolan in his study. Nostradamus then sends Leo to kidnap the professors daughter, Anna. With both Dolan and Anthony holding watch over Peter Madison's son, the guard is down for Leo to steal Anna away. Leo is unsuccessful, though. Anthony fires on him before he is able to get Anna away. There is a brief plot point that reveals Leo to have an infatuation with Anna, but this goes nowhere and is abandoned almost as quickly as it is introduced.


While that's going on, the vampire enters Dolan's home and manages to get the little boy out and takes him back to his castle. There's a nice scene where the creature prepares to put the bite on the young Peter, but the rising sun sends Nostradamus scrambling for his coffin. Soon thereafter, both the professor and Anthony follow Leo back to the vampires castle in the hopes of finding the little boy as well as the location of the vampires lair. It is here we discover just what a poor shot Anthony is as the villainous hunchback tries to manhandle them both. Finding the little boy there, they also find the coffin of Nostradamus. The vampire toys with them appearing and disappearing causing them to waste all their platinum bullets. This is a nicely done sequence and a highlight of this second entry.


This second film also has some daytime scenes and is also the first wherein the professor attempts to convince the other members of the Society For the Abolishment of Superstition that there is a vampire in their midst. What's funny about this scene is that the society members treat Dolan with as much disdain as he showed the vampire the first couple times he visited him in his study. However silly the dubbed dialog is, the society members then explain to Dolan that each of the deaths have a logical and scientific explanation.


This is interesting considering that Nostradamus is so concerned with the populace being assured of his existence and his powers being a major threat to civilians, that his elaborate methods of execution denounce any evidence that such a creature is responsible. It's not until the fourth film that the vampire threatens violence on a grand scale.


After Nostradamus targets a condemned criminal, Joseph McTagerson, as his next casualty, this threat is again misleading as the vampire intends to use McTagerson as a vassal for his revenge. The scene where he is hanged is very surreal what with the executioner and the few in attendance surrounded by darkness. The following scene wherein two Burke & Hare types plan to use McTagerson's body for some experiments only to have him rise up from his slab in the morgue is pretty creepy, too.


During the last half, we are introduced to the character of Igor. The last descendant of Count Craddock, the first recorded vampire killer from the 13th century. Claiming that his entire lineage has been battling the undead for centuries, Igor and his descendants are also impervious to the bite of the vampire. This section of the film builds a decent amount of suspense as Dolan thinks that Igor is indeed Nostradamus himself.


The character of Igor is brought to life by Euro genre veteran, Jack Taylor. He provides some unintentional hilarity with his exaggerated facial expressions and bugged out eyeballs which recall films from the silent era. Igor's penchant for inflated facial contortions reaches an apex in the next entry.


This second film is a slight bit better than the first one as the supernatural and horror elements are more profound and the character of Igor is a fascinating addition to the series. During the concluding moments, Igor, Dolan and Anthony head back to Nostradamus' castle and kill his vampiric servant using Igor's killer cane. Hiding elsewhere in his bastion, the destruction of the revived convict weakens Nostradamus bringing an abrupt end to part two. Part three brings a lot of cliffhanger style excitement delivering the best entry in Nostradamus series.

The Genie of Darkness (1962) review

THE GENIE OF DARKNESS 1959 (1962 English version: Trans-International Films, Inc.) aka NOSTRADAMUS, EL GENIO DE LAS TINIEBLAS

German Robles (Nostradamus), Domingo Soler (Professor Dolan), Julio Aleman (Anthony), Manuel Vergara Manver (Leo), Jack Taylor (Igor), Aurora Alvarado (Anna)

Directed by Federico Curiel; 79 minutes


Igor informs Dolan and Anthony that the key to Nostradamus' existence is held within a mysterious parchment that is hidden in an unknown location. Meanwhile, the vampire takes Anthony under his control and sends him to get information as to what Dolan and Igor are up to. Using his magic to discover the location of the hidden scroll, Igor discovers that an old witch, Rebecca, the mother of Leo the hunchback, possesses the document.


Anthony reports back to Nostradamus that the whereabouts of the lifeblood of his lineage has been known. Nostradamus then retrieves the scroll and kills Leo's mother for her insolence. Later sent to kill Igor, Anthony is rescued from the vampire's magic by Igor's magical cane. The stage is set for a final confrontation between Igor and Nostradamus. With the help of Leo, the vampire triumphs over his adversary.


With his most powerful enemy out of the way, Nostradamus threatens to make Nora Peyton, a woman, as his next victim. When this effort again proves futile for the determined vampire, a chance meeting with a painter causes Anthony to recall the exact location of Nostradamus' coffin. Professor Dolan, Anthony and the Society members converge on the mansion. Leo alerts his master and the two make their escape. Finding his coffin empty, Dolan states that they must take the ashes from his resting place as the vampire sustains his life from lying atop the ashes of his ancestors. By removing them, the creature will be destroyed by the time the sun rises. Dolan delivers the ashes to Dr. Schiller, which in turn, sets up the wicked vampires next victim.


This is easily the best film out of the entire quartet. The film packs an amazing amount of atmosphere and action in its brief 79 minute running time. With so much going on, this is the most episodic of the four pictures. The first portion deals with the location of the sacred parchment and the departure of Igor. It turns out that Leo's mother is a witch living in a ramshackle cabin adorned with cauldrons and candles affixed atop human skulls. The goofy dubbing rears its amusing head yet again as Rebecca the witch is voiced with a New York accent. When the vampire shows up he's not pleased by the fact that his adversaries have discovered his scroll, nor Rebecca's hateful comments. To punish her, Nostradamus burns her alive in her hut.


The action continues when Igor discovers Anthony has been under the creatures power. He saves him and takes off to duel with his nemesis alone. What follows is easily the funniest sequence of the entire series. Igor looks to Nostradamus stating, "You are looking at your Rival!" The vampire, with a piercing stare, retorts with, "Prisoner!" The camera then zooms in on Igor, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head and yells out "Rival!" The camera then zooms out from Nostradamus who again yells "Prisoner!" and yet again from Igor. The two partake in this brief yelling match before Leo sneaks up behind Igor and breaks his back.


The presence of Jack Taylor will no doubt bring a bit of excitement to Euro horror fans as he has appeared in a slew of Spanish horror pictures as well as two of the Mexican vampire films described here. Some of Taylor's more recognizable roles were in several of Amando De Ossorio's moody and atmospheric horror movies like NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS (1973) and THE GHOST GALLEON (1974). Taylor can also be seen in a handful of Paul Naschy movies such as DR. JEKYLL & THE WEREWOLF (1972) and THE MUMMY'S REVENGE (1973). He also appeared in two films for J.P. Simon, THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1976) and the nasty giallo/slasher exploitation classick, PIECES (1981). Taylor often played roles as a professor of some sort and these suited his demeanor.


The next segment has professor Dolan and Anthony taking off to protect Nostradamus' next target, Nora Peyton. They meet this bizarre woman who demands they leave. Upon explaining, the two are allowed to stay. They find letters to Nora from Claude, her lover, and searching the house, it appears no one has lived in the mansion for quite some time. To their surprise, they learn from a policeman that the woman has been dead for over three months! We soon find out that it was Nostradamus that has resurrected her body to claim her as his undead bride. Refusing his advances, he orders Leo to bury Nora's corpse. It is here that the powerful villain begins to doubt his ingenuity and ability to destroy professor Dolan.


The third portion of GENIE OF DARKNESS has Anthony meeting a painter in the street. Carrying a canvas of a castle, Anthony suddenly recounts the whereabouts of the vampires coffin. The Society For the Abolishment of Superstition, now convinced that Dolan hasn't lost his mind, heads out to the citadel to obtain Nostradamus' ancestors ashes. Taking the remains to Dr. Schiller, Dolan rather foolishly sets up his friend as the next victim. In the meantime, Dolan has been experimenting with new methods to snare vampires. One is a type of sonar device that emits an incredibly high frequency sound that will cause the creature great pain. Leo the hunchback is also given more to do here than any of the other movies and the sequence where he slyly manages to snatch a new coffin for his master is humorous in addition to being well thought out for a man of his limited abilities.


The movie closes with Nostradamus hypnotizing Schiller's assistant, Charlie, into killing him. This scene is pretty violent as Charlie smashes Schiller with a stool. Schiller then shoots him twice before Charlie shatters the stool over his cranium for a second time. Nostradamus is present in bat form shortly before Dolan and Anthony arrive believing they've beaten the vampire as they toss his ancestors ashes out into the open air amidst the rising sun. Of course, they haven't won as there is still one more movie to go.