Brief Thoughts - LA LLAMADA DE VAMPIRO (1972)

Every now and then I catch up with an obscure horror film and discover exactly why it is obscure. Such is the case with the Spanish effort La llamada del vampiro (1972) a.k.a. THE CURSE OF THE VAMPIRE. Proving that the Golden Age of Spanish Horror had it's fair share of duds this 85 minute plod sets things in place for a fun, if conventional, gothic style undead tale and then proceeds to bore it's audience to death. At several points I realized I had lost track of which of the female cast members were already vampires and which ones were still being stalked. And then, at precisely the one hour mark, we suddenly have a couple of minutes of soft-core lesbianism between a vamp and her intended victim. It's almost as if the creators knew that they had a turkey on their hands and were trying to get the blood pumping in any way they could manage. A few minutes later there is even a dungeon dream sequence with chains and whips involved but it's a yawn.

The reason I aligned the Special Antenna to see this hard to find disappointment was because the cast includes a couple of Paul Naschy co-stars. Diana Sorel was in ASSIGNMENT TERROR (1970); Loreta Tovar  was in INQUISITION (1978) as well as three films for director Amando De Ossorio; Inés Morales puts the titular curse on Naschy in CURSE OF THE DEVIL and is the suspicious nurse in BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL (1974). Of the three only Miss Tovar makes much of an impression traipsing around in gauzy white nightclothes slapping fang to neck whenever possible. There is no mystery or suspense in the film making the entire affair seem like the half-assed effort it clearly was. Even the borrowed, pieced together score is so roughly edited that often it seems someone fell asleep at the controls. Avoid this one friends. Avoid.