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.
