Andy Warhol Meets the Monsters

4 from Jean Rollin

Four images from Jean Rollin films. French posters for Lips of Blood, Shiver of the Vampires, The Nude Vampire and a German poster for The Grapes of Death. Sadly, my favorite of Rollin's Films, Requiem for a Vampire is not represented.

A note on posting frequency.

Just a note to let everybody know that I'm not dead. I've just been working alot (up to 15 hours a day) and haven't had much time for anything else really. That should end this week.

Also, if you like this blog and want to see it continue, let me know! Post a reply and let me know that you're out there. I've had some great feedback on the blog but haven't seen much in the way of comments to let me know that you like what you're seeing and want to see more. So please let me know! I have tons of great stuff that still hasn't been posted. Thanks.

Wrapping up..

Wrapping up, we start off with one of my favorite Mexican horror movies, The Black Pit of Dr. M, followed by Mexican adaptations of The Invisible Man and The Phantom of the Opera.



Next, we get into uncharted territory once again with fabulous, fun artwork for El Camino De Los Espantos, Man and the Beast, Mark of the Dead, Mysteries of Black Magic, and The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales.



Finally, we finish with a Mexican half-sheet for a movie I'd very much like to see, The Vampires of Coyoacan. Vampires and Mexican Wrestlers, and it even stars German Robles!

Karloff's Mexican quartet

At the end of Boris Karloff's life he shot scenes for 4 Mexican movies that were released after his death. Here are poster images for those movies. They are House of Evil a.k.a. Macabre Serenade (1968), Snake People (1971), Incredible Invasion (1971) and finally Fear Chamber (1972).



Boris Karloff wasn't the only horror movie star to head south of the border. Here we have poster images from a little known vampire movie starring John Carradine called Las Vampiras (1969), and 2 Spanish posters from La Casa del Terror (1960) starring Lon Chaney Jr. Scenes from this movie were later edited into a Jerry Warren hack job called Face of the Screaming Werewolf.

Santo! Santo! Santo!

Continuing with the theme of Mexican horror, it only makes sense to devote a post to Santo and his movies. Starting off with my personal favorite of his movies, Santo in the Treasure of Dracula. This movie has it all, well, except sex that is. Lets hope that the rumored DVD release of the long lost sex version of the movie El Vampiro y El Sexo materializes one day. Treasure has Santo showing off his scientific skills by building a sort of time machine and sending a woman back to the time of Dracula so that she can find where his rumored treasure is hidden. Next up, Santo vs. the Vampire Women. Though somewhat lacking in the story department, the movie more than makes up for it with incredible gothic atmosphere and sets.



Next, we get into uncharted territory as I've never seen any of the movies listed below. Here we have Mexican and Spanish posters for Santo vs. the Zombies, Santo vs. Baron Brakola, Santo vs. Frankenstein's Daughter, and finally, Santo vs. the Riders of Terror.



Here we have a couple of interesting posters. The poster for Santo in the Hotel of Death has sort of a film noir feel to it with a caped, skull-faced monster wearing a fedora surrounded by sexy women. The poster for Santo and Blue Demon in the Land of the Dead rips off graphic elements from Vincent Price's House of Usher, (note the woman in the coffin). Finally, Santo's pal Blue Demon gets into the action with Invasion of the Dead and Blue Demon vs. the Satanic Power.



Next up: Boris Karloff goes to Mexico to end his film career!

Horror from south of the border

I love Mexican horror movies. My first real exposure to them were the crappy K. Gordon Murray dubs released on DVD by Beverly Wilshire. Though the quality was awful, there was something about them that I liked. Maybe it was the fact that they felt like lost Universal horrors from the 30's or 40's. My first love when it comes to this sub-genre are the atmospheric vampire movies so we'll begin there.

I don't have a good example of the poster art of El Vampiro (1957) but if you're familiar with Mondo Macabro's excellent Region 2 DVD, you've seen it. Here we have artwork for its sequel The Vampire's Coffin (1957), made in the same year, it makes use of much of the same cast including the leads Abel Salazar and German Robles who plays the vampire. Also shown here, artwork for World of the Vampires (1960). World is definitely the wackiest of the bunch including vampiric slaves that sprout hair more akin to a werewolf, vampire bats that fly around with human heads and a wicked pipe organ made of human bones.



German Robles became something of a horror star in Mexico with the release of El Vampiro and would go on to star in quite a few movies playing vampiric characters. The Nostradamus series had him playing such a role in 4 different films. They were
The Curse of Nostradamus (1960), The Blood of Nostradamus (1961), The Genie of Darkness (1962) and The Monsters Demolisher (1962). Here are poster images from 3 of the 4 films.



Another Mexican vampire movie that produced a sequel was The Bloody Vampire (1962). Here are 2 poster images from it. I've never seen its sequel Invasion of the Vampires (1963), though its high on my list.



Next up: El Santo!