1961's "Bring Me the Vampire" (Enchenme al Vampiro or Take Me to the Vampire) sadly serves as a reminder that not everything K. Gordon Murray uncovered south of the border was an unsung gem, a fairly routine storyline that when played for laughs absolutely fails to deliver any. The demise of millionaire Henry McDermott forces his heirs to spend an entire month in his gloomy mansion or forfeit their share, and one after another the cast is bumped off in unusual fashion: one is decapitated, one is found hung, another drowns in the bathtub, yet another drinks a glass of warm milk and simply vanishes inside his clothes. These interchangeable characters are an undistinguished lot, only identified by some specific talent, the constant mugging making these 80 minutes seem like the full 30 days. Sadly, the title is a complete misnomer, as our would-be vampire (Yerye Beirute) is only the crazed butler, dressed in a cape and sleeping in a coffin, though there is the millionaire's talkative ghost, a skeleton, and a mummy for what little they add. Director Alfredo B. Crevenna does bring a bit of style to the proceedings, but the cataclysmic climax is just another letdown, and one that most audiences will see coming a mile away. There were numerous Abbott and Costello knockoffs during this period, when even German Robles spoofed his vampire fame in 1957's "El Castillo de los Monstruos," so perhaps the sheer volume of such titles took its toll after a while, though the various spooks do make one long for a more serious take on such shopworn material (incredibly, a sequel would follow one year later, "La Casa de los Espantos"). Worst of all is the total absence of a legitimate bloodsucker, apart from the necessity of having an attorney present! The one recognizable cast member is the sinister looking Beirute, previously a body snatcher opposite Robles in "The Vampire's Coffin" and a mad scientist who brings Lon Chaney back to life in "La Casa del Terror" (prior to his premature death at age 46 in Dec. 1972, he made an impression in two Boris Karloff vehicles, "Fear Chamber" and "Incredible Invasion").
