Friday 16 March 2012

THE SEXY HORRIBLE VAMPIRE (1970)

AKA: EL VAMPIRO DE LA AUTOPISTA

After a couple is mysteriously slain in a roadside inn, a local doctor relates a theory to the police commissioner of vampires and a mathematical formula that holds a 28 year cycle of deaths with unsolved murders occurring over a 28 day period of time, one every seven days. He believes that not only is the same family, the Winningers, involved, possibly the notorious and peculiar Baron Winninger. The commissioner (Barta Barri) has a search warrant issued and the pair, plus another investigator, head off to the long abandoned castle. Only a caretaker in residence, and not a particularly friendly one at that, marks their arrival. Moving through the lower recesses of the home, the three come upon the crypt of the Winningers. Opening the casket of Baroness Winninger, they find a corpse in an advanced state of decay. The second casket is opened to reveal...nothing. But the third officer will have a fatal encounter with a very much alive Baron Winninger very shortly.

Enter Count Adolph Oblensky (Waldemar Wohlfahrt). He's come to Germany from London to take possession of the castle. There are some long standing conditions attached to ownership. The heirs must live there alone and any servants must be direct descendents of the original Winninger butler. Oblensky is interested in learning the family heritage and lore and encounters a ghostly image in the crypt while wandering about the place during a thunderstorm. He develops a friendly relationship with the commissioner who still isn't quite sure what to make of the new arrival. He still has multiple murders to solve and little in the way of leads to go on. Oblensky has been under investigation since his arrival and is seen as a possible suspect in the string of deaths. The commissioner has doubts about Oblensky's mental faculties and questions whether alcohol may play a factor. The vampire has the power to appear and disappear at will and usually strangles his male victims while invisible. As a direct descendent of the count, Oblensky is safe in the house yet is nonetheless shocked when the vampire materializes before him, begging for a stake through the heart to give him eternal peace. Oblensky has been joined by Susan, his girlfriend from London who soon comes to realize how dangerous the threat may be.

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