Overrated

Am I Missing Something?

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

A Mexican serial, 'La maldición de Nostradamus', was shown in cinemas in 12 25-minute episodes during 1959-60. Never one to miss an opportunity in exporting cheap, badly-dubbed Mexican fare to US shores, producer K. Gordon Murray - he of 'Santa Claus' (1959) fame – edited the series into four separate movies in order to fleece four separate audiences.The films became 'Curse of Nostradamus', 'Monsters Demolisher' (sic), 'Genii of Darkness' and 'Blood of Nostradamus'. As so much of the first film is plot establishment, it's difficult watching the sequels without seeing this first entry.The son of Nostradamus (Germán Robles) is a vampire who wants to clear the reputation of his esteem father. In case you're unaware, one thing that history tells us about Nostradamus is that he was a hated villain. Well, according to this film anyway.In order to clear daddy's rep, junior attempts to get the head of The Society to Abolish Superstitions (!!!), Prof. Duran (Domingo Soler) to publicly restore Nostradamus' good-standing, and while he's at it, to admit that vampires do exist.Naturally, this doesn't go now with a man who spends his days trying to discredit fear of the unproven, so he refuses. Nostradamus Jr. then promises to commit various murders and crimes until the Professor yields. The Prof instead sets out, with good friend Julio Alemán to bring the vampire and his hunchback servant down.Not only is Junior a bloodsucker, he has also inherited his father's gift, meaning his vengeful prophecies often include elements that haven't happen yet. An amusing example of this is the predicted death of a police office, before he becomes a police officer. I say amusing, because one day the guy is unemployed, the next, he is a police officer on a covert operation! Yessss.There is a great idea here – a killer with the ability to predict events before they happen. However, making the killer a vampire seems a little redundant, and comes across as an attempt to cash in on the Mexican hits like 'The Vampire' (1957) and 'The Vampire's Coffin' (1958).Of course, any promising material that isn't ruined by director Federico Curiel is left for Murray to wreck, with bad dubbing and editing. Obviously it's best to see the original Mexican serial, but good luck with finding that. It's as rare as prophetic vampire bat droppings.If you do opt for the films, make sure you watch them in the right order. They do follow on directly from each other. The correct order is as listed in the second paragraph of this review.

This one nearly has it all.. (1.) Some of the best/worst dubbing in the whole K. Gordon Murray line up, with line after line of just INSANE babbling. (2.) German Robles as a vampire sticking his eyes out whenever he is bugged by anything. (3.) Prof. Dolan, who looks like he would get hacked off with anybody for any reason whatsoever.. (4.) Neat new anti vampire weapons like PLATINUM bullets (think about how much THEY would cost to stop a vampire)..and you don't need JUST a cross, it has to be THE CROSS OF ANTIOCH (who says you don't learn anything from these things?) The rating is internal, in relation to the others in the series..a fine start.Dolan refuses to establish a cult for Nostradamus, so in vengeance the vampire starts to kill 13 people in a row. The last one is to be Dolan. Nostradamus ALWAYS tells the professor who his victim will be ahead of time.The fun is waiting for how Nostradamus is going to outwit Dolan despite the warning.. The first murder, with the victim put into a trance and buried alive, is very effective. I saw this one in the 60's and couldn't make heads or tales of it...eventually you have to take it on it's own loopy merits..This is the first three episodes of a 12 part serial edited together, and it's budget limits often work for it...the torches Nostradamus lights at the beginning fall apart in places...just like real torches sometimes do...and you get a great sense of dirt and grime at the end when Dolan's right hand man is chasing the vampire through the tunnels. No doubt because they used real dirt and grime. This series is begging to be restored, by the way, with the prints I've seen often fuzzy and dark..but there is a worthwhile flick underneath all that murk.

Back in 1959 a 12 part serial was filmed for Mexican movie goers under the title of The Curse Of Nostradamus.It ran in 12 twentyfive minute installments.K Gordon Murray spent a few pesos for it and cut it into 4 movies for release to some theatres and American tv.The titles were Curse Of Nostradamus, The Monster Demolisher, The Genie Of Darkness and Blood Of Nostradamus.German Robles played the vampire Nostradamus.Nostradamus is either the son or the grandson of the famous Nostradamus.He refers to himself as both the son of and son of the son.He feels that Nostradamus was slighted and wants to reestablish a cult following.To do this he seeks the aid of noted Professor Dolan, the head of some sort of society to abolish superstition.(Sounds like Government tax dollars at work to old evilskip).Nostradmaus appears at Dolan's house and informs him of his demands.Dolan politely tells him to blow it out his nose.The vampire then declares he will kill 13 prominent citizens until Dolan agrees.He will start by burying a man alive.Dolan, being a fool, doesn't humor the vampire until he can drive a stake in his arse because 1) he doesn't believe him 2) we would have no movie.The vampire indeed does have a seemingly dead man buried alive in a creepy little scene.He also kills two more citizens while Dolan the dolt blindly refuses to give in.The movie ends very abruptly, especially if you don't know the history of it and the fact that there are 3 more movies to follow.This isn't the best of the series but it does lay some important groundwork.Not a bad time waster.With more and more of the Mexican horror movies being released on dvd we can hope this series will end up released this way.