BY JOHN M. WHALEN
Kino Lorber, in its relentless effort to make forgotten,
hard-to-find films available in superior, like-new condition, has released a
Blu-Ray edition of the 1959 Weird Western, “Curse of the Undead,†the first movie ever
to mix cowboys and vampires. The Weird Western, in case you’re not aware, is a
sub-genre that combines the traditional western with elements of the
supernatural, horror, or science fiction. They’ve been around for about 90
years, first appearing in print in the 1930s when Robert E. Howard, a pulp
fiction writer from Texas, best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian,
wrote several short stories for Weird
Tales and Argosy magazine that
combined the traditional western with supernatural horror. Today a number of
authors including Joe Lansdale, Heath Lowrance, Jonathan Mayberry, David West
and even yours truly, have turned out Weird Western novels and short stories, creating
a Neo-Pulp Revolution of sorts.
In films, one of the earliest examples of the Weird Western,
surprisingly, was a serial starring singing cowboy Gene Autry. “Phantom Empireâ€
featured Gene battling the strange inhabitants of Murania, a city hundreds of
miles below the surface of the earth. It’s a wild combination of western and sci-fi,
with Gene contending with robots and Tika, the mysterious queen of Murania. Other
Weird Western movies have since followed, including “The Beast of Hollow
Mountain†(1956), “Billy the Kid vs. Dracula†(1966), “Jesse James Meets
Frankenstein’s Daughter†(1966), “The Valley of Gwangi†(1969), “Alien Outlawâ€
with Sunset Carson (1985), Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark†(1987), “Jonah Hexâ€
(2010), “Cowboys and Aliens†(2011), and others.
In 1958, writer/director Edward Dein and his wife Mildred
decided, almost as a joke, to collaborate on a screenplay called “Eat Me,
Gently,†a horror/western combo about a vampire out west. Ed Dein had already
established himself as a B- movie director with works that included “Shack Out
On 101,†(1955) and “Seven Guns to Mesa†(1958). Earlier he had written screenplays
for “The Soul of a Monster,†(1944), “The Cat Creeps†(1946), and “Jungle
Woman†(1944), among others. Word got out that the Deins had a script they
wanted to sell and Universal International’s music director Joseph Gershenson,
trying his hand at being a producer, bought it. The first thing he did, of
course, was change the title. It was first retitled “Affairs of a Vampire,†then
“Mark of the West,†and finally “Curse of the Undead.â€
Australian character actor Michael Pate, who appeared in
hundreds of television shows in the 1950’s and 60’s, and as Chief Vittorio in
John Wayne’s “Hondo,†(1953), plays Drake Robey, a mysterious gunman who offers
his services to ranch owner Dolores Carter (Kathleen Crowley), after her father
and brother are killed. Her father, Doctor Carter (John Hoyt), died mysteriously,
perhaps the victim of a plague that had already killed others (mostly young
girls) in the area. Her brother, Tim (Jimmy Murphy) is gunned down by a land
baron named Buffer (Bruce Gordon), who dammed up a stream, leaving Dolores with
no water for her livestock.
There’s some weird connection, between all the deaths and
Robey’s sudden arrival in town, but the only man in town who appears suspicious
of the stranger is preacher Dan Young (Eric Fleming), who warns Dolores to stay
away from Robey. Fleming who had just begun filming the “Rawhide†television
series for CBS has a thankless role in “Curse of the Undead.†As film historian
Tom Weaver notes in his audio commentary for the disc, Fleming’s part is
written in such a way that he seems like either a total bore or a complete
idiot. For instance, when Robey tells Dolores he’s going to protect her and put
a stop to the evildoings going on ‘round here (wink, wink), the sanctimonious preacher
pipes up, saying he’ll do everything he can to make sure he doesn’t! So who’s
side is he on?
The Deins seem to have drained the script of all logic
almost as efficiently as Robey drains the blood out of his helpless victims.
For example, despite the preacher’s protests, Dolores invites Robey to spend the
night in her home in a spare bedroom. She tells the preacher she’ll be
chaperoned by the ghosts of her dead father and brother! That night Robey gets
into her room and does the Fang-dango on her neck (despite the fact that
Robey’s fangs are never shown—maybe they couldn’t afford them in the budget).
The next day, after having fought with the preacher over Robey the night
before, Dolores sweetly acquiesces to the reverend’s request to send the
vampire packing. Makes no sense. After Robey’s sunk his bicuspids into her
jugular, she should be more unwilling to resist him, not less, and more
antagonistic toward the Preach, wouldn’t you think?
Dein’s plodding direction is another problem, with too
many scenes shot in one take that seem to go on forever, leaving the viewer feeling
nearly as trapped and helpless as Robey’s victims. A scene where Robey enters a mausoleum and
lifts the lid on Dr. Carter’s coffin, is either unintentionally hilarious or
hilariously intentional, when it ends with Robey lowering himself down out of
sight behind the lid, and letting the lid close, presumably with him inside the
box lying on top of the deceased physician. So what’s going on there, huh,
booby? According to Weaver, the original script contained a lot of inside gay
jokes. Most of them were excised by Gershenson. But apparently some of them got
through.
Also in the cast is character actor Edward Binns (“12
Angry Menâ€), another familiar face to TV watchers of the sixties. Binns plays the
town Sheriff who tries to talk sense to everybody but keeps getting ignored. In
another one-take scene following a battle for survival with Robey, he becomes
the heaviest-breathing corpse in movies.
Kino Lorber’s 2K transfer of “Curse of the Undead†is
flawless. Ellis W. Carter’s black and white cinematography presented in 1.85:1
aspect ratio looks sharp and clear, with excellent black levels for the many
night scenes. The mono soundtrack provides a full-bodied presentation of Irving
Gertz’s film score. The use of an electric violin, instead of the Theremin
usually employed in horror movies, is another unique distinction. Extras on the
disc include Tom Weaver’s excellent commentary and trailers for other KL
releases.
While “Curse of the Undead†is no classic, it is unique
and worth a look at least as the first of its kind. The fact is there haven’t
been too many vampiric westerns made over the years. Maybe it’s time for
someone to turn out the classic we’ve been waiting for. There are some good
stories that have been turned out by the writers listed at the beginning of
this review just waiting to be adapted for film. Just saying.
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(John M. Whalen is the author of "Vampire Siege at Rio Muerto". Click here to order from Amazon.)