Bloody Mess

 

HOUSE OF BLOOD-2006-4 vicious but stupid escaped cons and a doctor they take hostage seek refuge and help for one of their wounded at an old house inhabited by a medieval like family that transforms into blood drinking vampire monsters. They kill all the cons but the doctor is saved by a seemingly normal woman who usues a high pitched scream to drive the monsters away. He's picked up by a SWAT team lead by Jurgen Prochnow. Somehow the movie starts to repeat itself but the with the doc as one of the convicts and a flat faced bald guy acting very badly. The doc seems to have a connection with a woman he meets in a black and white flashbacks (?).  

Apparently, the producers of this morass could afford money for CGI gore SFX but not for a story. The director, Olaf Ittenbach, was known in Germany for his low-budget independent splatter films but this bigger budget mainstream gore film is a mess.

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Alucard

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SON OF DRACULA-1943-In Louisiana, Dr. Brewster (Frank Craven) and Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) go to meet Count Alucard at the train station but he doesn't show. Meanwhile, Kay Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) waits for the Count (who she met in Budapest) with her sister, Claire (Evelyn Ankers). Kay seems to have some physic rapport with the missing Count. She visits Queen Zimbo (Adeline DeWalt Reynolds) who warns Kay about the Count and says “I see you marrying a corpse”. Then she dies when a bat flies into her hut. Kay's dad, the Colonel (George Irving) throws a party for Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr.), who now watches from outside. He turns into a bat and kills the Colonel. Kay's fiancé, Frank wants to take her away but she seems obsessed with Alucard. Almost from the beginning Dr. Brewster suspects Alucard to be Dracula and gets in touch with Dr. Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg) who warns Brewster to be careful. After some hubbub over a will with a lawyer, Brewster and Claire discover some things about Alucard spelled backwards. Kay runs off into the swamp where Dracula's coffin rises from the swamp and he appears from a misty fog. They get married and just when Dracula wants to put the bite on Kay, Frank barges in and the Count knocks him down. For some reason, Frank pulls out a gun and shoots the Count but the bullet goes through him and kills Kay. 

Frank wanders the swamp and almost becomes vampire fodder but is saved by a cemetery cross. Frank goes to Brewster and confesses everything. Meanwhile, Alucard/Dracula prepares a coffin for Kay. When Brewster investigates, he finds Kay alive. After Frank confesses again, the sheriff (Pat Moriarty), a judge (Samuel Hinds) and Brewster find Kay dead in her coffin. Lazlo arrives to help. Alucard/Dracula visits them and talks insanely. Lazlo's cross saves them. Later Kay visits Frank in his jail cell and admits she doesn't love Alucard/Dracula. She only used him to gain immorality and now she wants to share it with Frank. With Kay's help, Franks discovers the King of Vampires' hiding place and burns his coffin. The vampire king becomes a skeleton when the sun rises. Frank hightails it to the morgue and promptly sets fire to Kay's coffin (with her in it..). 

Sometimes maligned, this stand alone Universal vampire tale is still a nice entry into their horror catalogue with interesting cobweb opening credits. Some sfx are very good. Not a great title though. Bit roles by George Meeker, Walter Sande, Sam McDaniel & Cyril Delevanti. Director Robert Siodmak (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE (1946)) does a good job keeping things moving and eerie. Screenwriter Eric Taylor was fairly prolific around this time and among other films, wrote the color remake of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA starring Claude Rains. 

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Cowboy Blood Sucker

 

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CURSE OF THE UNDEAD-1959-In this unusual horror-western, a disease seems to only strike young woman. Buffer (Bruce Gordon), a mean rancher, wants the ranch owned by Dr. Carter (John Hoyt). Buffer is actually kind of a coward and backs off when the sheriff (Edward Binns) tells him to. Meanwhile, a mysterious cowboy dressed in back hangs around. When the doc is killed, his son Tim (Jimmy Murphy) vows revenge. After the funeral, the mysterious cowboy opens up Carter's coffin and gets in it! After Buffer kills Tim, his sister Dolores (Kathleen Crowley) advertises for a gun for hire. Of course, the mysterious cowboy, who's named Drake Robey (Michael Pate), takes the job much to the chagrin of local preacher Dan (Eric Fleming). That night Robey reveals his true self to Dolores. He's a vampire and puts the bite on her. Buffer wants protection from Robey although Dan says it's all Buffer's fault. Dan convinces Dolores to get rid of Robey and they declare their love for each other but Robey comes back and mesmerizes Dolores who fixes him up near the cemetery. “The Dead don't bother me. It's the livin' who give me trouble”, he says. 

The whole vampire thing is revealed in a flashback where a family named Robles was cursed when one brother killed another. (why he became a vampire isn't explained) He declares his love for Dolores but she's clearly under his thrall. When the sheriff advises Dolores to get rid of Robey, he kills the sheriff. Robey and Dan have a confrontation and argue good vs. evil. Robey almost kills Dan but is interrupted. Later Robey puts some more biting on Dolores. Robey winds up killing Buffer than going after Dan who uses bullets with crosses on them to kill Robey who withers away. 

This unusual vampire western was produced by Universal Pictures Music supervisor Joseph Gershenson (MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS (1958), THE LEECH WOMAN (1960)) and directed and co-written by Edward Dein (SHACK OUT ON 101 (1955); the aforementioned THE LEECH WOMAN). They pretty much succeed at making a different kind of vampire and supply a few eerie scenes.

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It Happened Twice?

 

DEADTIME STORIES-VOL. 1-2009-Cheap anthology hosted by George Romero (!).

“The Valley of the Shadows”: A woman leads an expedition into the jungle to find her missing husband. The party is terrorized and killed off by a mysterious head-hunting savage. Guess who? Written and directed by Jeff Monahan, an actor who was in later Romero features.

“Wet”: An alcoholic finds a hand on the beach. A jerky antique dealer (Nick Mancuso) tells him it's the hand of a vicious mermaid he chopped up. The alky brings her back to life and she kills him and the antique dealer or something like that.. Directed by Michael Fischa (MY MOM'S A WEREWOLF (1989))

“House Call”: A mother tells her doctor about her son who's obviously some kind of vampire. Directed by Tom Savini.

VOL. 2

“The Gorge”: 3 spelunkers get trapped in a cave and resort to cannibalism. Directed by Matt Walsh, who was usually a sound engineer.

“On Sabbath Hill”: An arrogant college teacher impregnates a student who's driven to suicide. Her ghost comes back to haunt him or is it in his mind? Probably the best of the lot. Directed by Jeff Monahan.

“Dust”: A security guard gives an untested drug (made of dust from Mars) to his dying wife. It cures her...for a while. This one makes no sense. Directed by Michael Fischa.

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Funny In France

 

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AS LONG AS YOU HAVE YOUR HEALTH-1966-This French Anthology serves up several tales. In the first “Insomnia”, a man can't sleep so he reads a horror novel about a vampire. Little things scare him. Finally, he falls asleep but his sleeping wife has a surprise. In “The Movies”, a movie goer finds it hard to get a good seat in a theater. Then he finds himself in the middle of a bunch of crazy commercials. Next is “As Long As You Have Your Health”. A street construction upsets a man's life and those around him with their constant jack-hammering and goes on to show hectic city life with comical bits. The last is “Into The Woods No More”. A hunter tries to shoot rabbits but humans keep getting in the way while a man and woman search for a picnic spot with disastrous results. 

Director Pierre Etaix (who also stars in one episode) was also an actor who had many roles including one in Jerry Lewis' mysterious THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED (1972).

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Can't Keep A Good Vampire Down

 

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DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE-1968-In this sequel to DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS (set a year later), a monsignor, Ernst Mueller (Rupert Davies) comes to a small town where Dracula had been sent to a watery grave, to find everyone still afraid especially since a villager was found hanging from a church bell. The monsignor and the local priest (Ewan Hooper) hike to Dracula's castle. Unfortunately, the priest is kind of a coward and while running away, falls and cuts his head. His blood trickles into the Count's mouth and resurrects him. The priest then becomes the count's slave and helps him to secure a coffin. Meanwhile, Mueller hosts a party for his niece Maria (Virginia Carlson) and her boyfriend Paul (Barry Andrews). The monsignor gets upset when Paul tells him he's an atheist. Paul leaves and gets drunk. Drac's first victim is barmaid Zena (Barbara Ewing). Drac has his digs under the pub where Paul works (for Michael Ripper) and sets his teeth on Maria. 

In this rather bloody (and sexual) sequel, a prayer must be read to kill a vampire once the stake has been driven. Nice use of color filters by director Freddie Francis. 

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Trailer Trash

 

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VAMPIRE TRAILER PARK-1991-A private investigator and a psychic look into stories about missing old people and vampires. Sometimes the psychic's dead grandma talks through her. A pasty-faced vampire (the screenwriter/co-producer Patrick Moran) shrieks annoyingly and vomits blood. 

Terrible shot on video junk with bad acting, direction and sfx. Director Steve Latshaw later made JACK-O (1995) and THE RETURN OF THE KILLER SHREWS (2012).

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The Bad Things Directors Do...

 

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THE GOOD THINGS DEVILS DO-2020-The weirdo who made this horror shit must have hated women. 

This is about a dumb schoolteacher Melvin (David Rucker lll) who accidentally resurrects a vampire while his home is invaded by a father, Richard (Bill Oberst Jr.), his daughter Mouse (Mary Katherine O'Connell) and sadistic perverted companion Percy (Kane Hodder who must have needed money desperately to have done this). After his wife (Linnea Quigley) is bitten, Melvin and his dysfunctional stepdaughter Caroline (Kelly Wilson Robinson) hide in a bedroom. 

Despite bloody gore, this is a talky emoting piece of crap with characters screaming and cursing. The director Jess Norvisgaard worked on TV shows like “The Biggest Loser” and “LA Ink” before this.

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Not Really a Remake

 

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NIGHT OF THE DEVILS-1972-An amnesic man is found wandering in a forest. A doctor examines him. The man seems to have suffered some kind of trauma. A police inspector investigates. A woman Sdenka (Augustina Belli; later in HOLOCUAST 2000 (1977)) shows up claiming to know him but when he sees her, he goes berserk and has to sedated. She disappears.

Then while confined to a straitjacket, the man has a flashback. When his car breaks down, the guy named Nicola (Gianni Garko; star of the “Sartana” series of westerns in Italy) takes refuge with a strange family who are deathly afraid of the night. This is because a witch has put a curse on the family and one by one, they become a “Wudalaka”, a type of vampire. He also falls in love with Sdenka. Eventually everyone is cursed and Nicola has to fight them off. He goes crazy. Back in the present, at night Sdenka comes to visit him. Is she alive or not? 

Ok Italian-Spanish production with some good vampire attack scenes, it's based on the same story Mario Bava used in the third segment of BLACK SABBATH. It was the second to last film of director Giorgio Ferroni (MILL OF STONE WOMEN (1960)).

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Pistola

 

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THE CURSE OF LA PISTOLA-2022-Sleep inducing bullshit about two couples with relationship problems camping out in a South America forest that is haunted by some kind of vampire ghost. It's talky and dark and very annoying. Feature film debut for director AJ Jones. He also acts in it as do several of the film's other producers. It's based on an actually Latin America legend. 

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Step Right Up!

 

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STEPS FROM HELL-1990-Some vampire demon Vlad (Bernardo Rosa) is searching for a gateway. The tale seems to be told in flashback by a writer to his would-be research assistant. They both act like they'd rather be someplace else. After his father is killed, a priest (Ron O'Dell) goes looking for Vlad, whose chief henchman is a huge black transvestite. He has a funny fight with a black couple in the woods. Later he and a ghoul girl attack some guys in a van and eat one of them. One guy who escapes beats up the huge guy with terrible martial arts moves but is killed anyway. Then later suddenly the big guy is chasing a woman. She beats him with a stick and stabs him but the undead woman grabs her. Later the priest fights Vlad in a good vs. evil finale in slow motion. Beelzebub shows up at the end too. 

The date on the film is 1990 but it looks like some washed out regional release made in the early '70's with bright lighting that suddenly goes dark, outrageously bad acting (most of the actors seem in a coma), too much talk and all the voices seem to be slowed down somewhat. Writer/director James Adam Tucker was also an actor (He played a cop on John Waters' HAIRSPRAY).

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"Stepping High" by Eddie Murray:

https://youtu.be/gT_VKzw18S8?si=x-DaJoAtd5ZRLZgy

Mrs. Dracula

 

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DRACULA'S WIDOW-1988-Raymond, a weird museum owner (Lenny Von Donlen) receives some crates of artifacts from Romania. He seems to have one extra crate. While he drinks brandy and watches "Nosferatu", some idiots break into his basement. It turns out the 6th crate contains a female vampire (pale looking Sylvia Kristel) who kills one of the robbers then bites Raymond. Later he wants to put a stake in her but can't. When his girlfriend Jenny (Rachel Jones) visits he's transfixed by her neck. A stupid cop Lannon (Josef Sommers) investigates. The vampire claims to be Dracula's wife Vanessa and almost loses it when Raymond tells her Van Helsing has killed Dracula. At some kind of devil worshiping gang bang where a woman is tortured, Vanessa turns into a monster and kills all the members.

 Later Van Helsing's grandson (Stefan Schnabel) shows up and puts stakes in some corpses. Then Vanessa kills Lannon's partner and turns Van Helsing into a vampire, Raymond is arrested for the murders. Lannon and Jenny team up to try and stop the widow's killing spree and save Raymond. 

This is a pretty shoddy affair with strange out of place close-ups with a bright red background and bad sfx. It's over the top but I'm not sure if this was intentional or not. Writer/director Marc Copolla (brother of Nicolas Cage and nephew of you know who) plays a victim and George Stover has a cameo as a coroner.

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German Robles

 

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EL VAMPIRO-1957-A young woman Marta (Ariadne Welter) visits her aunt in a small village in Mexico. Due to a mix up there is no one at the station to pick her up. She meets Dr. Enrique (producer Abel Salazar) and together they hitch a ride on a wagon and arrive at the house only to find out the aunt has died. Another aunt is there looking much younger than she should and prowling around at night. Enrique has actually come to help because new neighbor Count Lavud (German Robles) is a vampire! His first victim is a young boy. Then he sets his sights on Marta. 

This is very atmospheric with decent sfx. It started the horror boom in Mexico and was directed by Fernado Mendez (THE BLACK PIT OF DOCTOR M).

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TV Vampire

 

 

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VAMPIRE-1979-Architects John (Jason Miller) & Leslie (Kathryn Harrold) Rawlins design and build a huge cross to help revitalize a section of San Francisco. Unfortunately, it seems they have disturbed the tomb of a vampire. Enter Count Anton Voyteck (Richard Lynch), a mysterious guy who's romancing Leslie's lawyer friend (Jessica Walter). Voyteck leads them to some underground ruins that house lost art. Voyteck is arrested but later released and he visits Leslie who he seduces, but it's obvious he's a vampire. Later John finds Leslie dead, her body mutilated. It's blamed on a serial killer but John suspects Voyteck. He also comes to believe Voyteck is a vampire but he cracks up and is put in a mental ward. 

When Voyteck visits John he plans to kill him but he's interrupted by Mr. Kilcoyne (E.G.Marshall), a pipe smoking retired detective who'd been hanging around unnoticed. It turns out Kilcoyne, like John, believes Voyteck was also responsible for some grisly murders that he and his partner investigated in the '30's. He believes his partner who became a priest trapped Voyteck underground (at the cost of his own life) and the construction let him escape. The duo hunt for him.

 It's mostly a lot of talk but seems to set up for a sequel or TV series (?). Joe Spinell is in one scene. Directed by E.W. Swackhamer, at the time a busy TV director.

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Deafula

 

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DEAFULA-1975-This is the first movie done completely in sign language. Funny that it's a horror movie. A guy named Steve (hearing impaired writer/director Peter Wechsberg) kills some people and drinks their blood. When he was a kid his father/minister gave him blood transfusions, but he still killed his pet dog and drank its blood. In the present he's going to church when a stoned hippie couple try to rob him. When the male hippie stabs him multiple times Steve turns into Deafula in black cloak and phony nose. He makes them drive their motorcycle off a cliff. Butterfield (Dudley Helmstreet), a detective from England and a nameless local detective search for clues. Turns out the detective knows Steve. Even though he called in Butterfield to help, the detective treats Butterfield like an idiot even though it's clear he knows something about Steve. Deafula kills a woman then hypnotizes 2 punks into mutilating her body. 

Later there's an eerie flashback to Steve's birth where we learn Steve suffers from a rare blood disease and can only survive if he gets a blood transfusion every month. After his father dies Steve visits his mother's friend Amy who was there when Steve was born (and his mother died). She has a weird looking servant who has tin cans instead of hands. She relates her own flashback. And Steve learns the truth. Dracula is also his father (his mother was his victim). 

There's really no other horror film like DEAFULA. It's the first all ASL film and takes place in an alternative universe where no one speaks. Original shown silent, the version I saw had subtitles and a narrator.

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Velvet Vamp

 

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THE VELVET VAMPIRE-1971-Diane LeFanu (Celeste Yarnall; BEAST OF BLOOD (1970)) is a vampire who kills a would-be rapist (Robert Tessier) then sets her sights on a young couple Lee (Michael Blodgett; BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970)) and Susan (Sherry Miles). They go to Diane's house in the desert. After having a strange abstract dream, Susan is terrorized by a bat when the trio explores an abandoned mine. Then while Diane seduces Lee, Susan is bitten by a snake. Diane saves her. Lee and Diane have sex but the next day he wants to leave. After killing Lee Diane runs to put the bite on Sue but she escapes (in only her bikini) to the city. Diane follows her. Somehow Sue gets some hippies to help her destroy Diane but it doesn't turn out well. There's some terrible cliché acting. 

Director/co-scripter Stephanie Rothman started out working as an associate producer for Roger Corman (one of TVV's producers) on things like QUEEN OF BLOOD and VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, later working on the infamous BLOOD BATH (1966). Her husband Charles S. Swartz co-wrote and co-produced THE VELVET VAMPIRE.

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7 Dummies

 

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7 MUMMIES-2006-Idiotic supernatural western nonsense about a group of convicts who escape their transport truck and head into the desert with a female prison guard hostage. After a crazy local (Danny Trejo) tells them about some hidden gold, they decide to search for it and wind up in an old west town occupied by zombie vampires, led by Drake (Billy Drago). Martin Kove is a bar owner. The director Nick Quested had been a music video director before this.

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Vampire in Africa

 

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THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST-1945-In deepest Africa, the natives are restless and practicing voodoo (?). On a plantation owned by Mr. Vance (Emmett Vogan), he, his daughter Julie (Peggy Stewart) and her husband Roy (Charles Gordon) seek the advice of local white guy Webb Fallon (John Abbott), who saves Roy during a bar brawl. Fallon seems nice enough but suffers a spell when Father Gilchrist (Grant Withers) touches him. He also casts no reflection in the mirror and when shot at, the bullet goes right through him. 

The natives don't like it because there have been several "vampire killings" around the village. Two natives plan on killing Fallon and fail but Roy learns Fallon's secret! He's a 400-year-old vampire who drinks blood and preys on young people. He puts a spell on Roy and makes him his slave and sets his sights on Julie much to the annoyance of Lisa (Adele Mara), a dancer at the local gin mill. After killing her and a sea captain (Roy Barcroft), Fallon plans to run away with Julie. At the temple of death, he plans to make her un-dead but jungle drums, a cross and a spear spell his doom. 

Quirky horror quickie from Republic directed by Lesley Selander, usually more at home with westerns, who also later directed CATMAN OF PARIS (1946) and FLIGHT TO MARS (1951). Olympic medal winner Jim Thorpe appears unbilled as a sailor. 

Star Abbott, usually a memorable supporting actor, was also in the Sherlock Holmes entry PURSUIT TO ALGEIRS the same year. Co-star Grant Withers had been Captain Street in the "Mr. Wong" series with Boris Karloff. I couldn't find a death date for lead actor Charles Gordon. If he's still alive he would be 99 at the of this writing. 

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Bad-Pire

 

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PROJECT VAMPIRE-1993-The vengeful Dr. Klaus (Myron Natwick), a German vampire scientist and his assistant Heidi (Paula Randol-Smith) want to turn the whole world into vampires through a formula he says can stop aging. 

This low budget horror is pretty bad with atrocious acting, script and sfx. This is only movie (so far) directed by Peter Flynn who was usually assigned to the art department on TV shows. Character actor Natwick was also MISSION: KILL FAST (1991) and THE CORPSE GRINDERS 2 (2000), both by Ted V. Mikels.

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Lucha Libre vs. Monsters

 

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SANTO & BLUE DEMON VS. THE MONSTERS-1970-After Santo (playing himself) watches a women's wrestling match, he watches his friend Blue Demon in tag team action. Later it's announced that a famous scientist Dr. Bruno Haulder (Carlos Ancira) who once brought a dead person back to life with a brain transplant has died. His brother refuses to answer questions about his experiments when his daughter Gloria (Hedy Blue) asks. Gloria also happens to be Santo's main squeeze. The dead doctor's body is taken from his tomb by some green faced ghouls. While driving in his snazzy sports car Blue Demon (also playing himself) sees the ghouls taking the corpse to a castle. He investigates and finds a hunchback dwarf  Waldo (Santanon) reviving the dead doctor. BD is captured and duplicated. An evil Blue Demon attacks Santo & Gloria with the green faced gang. Gloria is kidnapped and Santo is tossed down a mountain side. He survives and rescues Gloria but it's apparent Doc Haulder is alive and up to no good. With Bad Demon and Waldo's help Haulder resurrects an army of classic monsters. A vampire with big ears, a wolfman with huge fangs, the Frankenstein monster, a skinny mummy and a cartoon Cyclops. They are all kind of wimpy and Santo, Gloria and her father hold off their attack when the gang invade their house. After that fails, the vampire puts on a mask and challenges Santo to a wrestling match which he accepts. When that doesn't work out either the fake Blue Demon and the monsters storm the ring! Later the vampire makes some female vampires attack Santo, who beats up the monsters and escapes. Since they only come out at night he advises Gloria and her dad to sleep in the daytime and go to crowded places at night. At a restaurant the monsters finally overpower Santo and capture Gloria & dad. Frankenstein drives the getaway car! Santo tracks them down, frees the real Blue Demon and they destroy the lab while Haulder and Waldo cower. After freeing Gloria and dad, they put stakes in the vampires. 

What happened to the evil doc and Waldo isn't explained. 

Director Gilberto Martinez Solares much earlier had directed scenes with Lon Chaney in FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF. Little person Santanon was later in 2 of Boris Karloff's Mexican horror films ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE and FEAR CHAMBER.

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