The Vampire's Coffin is about a doctor who goes to great lengths to find the grave of a vampire... he justifies it by saying "it's all in the name of science." Check out how his cells have not deteriorated despite being dead for years! But of course, the vampire gets out. Havoc ensues.
As you may have guessed from the title screen, it's a Spanish film (made in Mexico), and apparently a sequel to the popular (and much better, judging from the reviews) El Vampiro. It's got the same cast, and I'm guessing they put a stake in the heart of the evil Count Karol de Lavud (German Robles) at the end of part one. But you can't keep a good vampire down, so he's back here for more. He gets out after the the shady grave robber the doctor hired gets greedy and tries to take a medallion from Lavud's corpse. Are there any upstanding folks in the grave-robbing community anymore? To get to the medallion, he must remove the stake, which I guess means Lavud comes back to life.
The main setting is the hospital where the doctor works. Conveniently, the people El Vampiro was out to get in the original are there too - Enrique Saldivar is a (non-grave-robbing) doctor, and Marta Gonzales is a patient, recovering from the horrific incidents of part one. Anyways, Count Lavud still has eyes for Marta, and goes after her to make her his forever wife/slave/whatever it is that vampires want.
There's some old-school vampire charm to The Vampire's Coffin. Count Lavud is a vampire in the gentlemanly mould - he's a little on the older side, and never goes for any cheesy humor or outright scares. He's just a dashing man who hypnotizes people and occasionally drinks their blood. It's a pretty good performance, and I could see why people would want to see Robles reprise the role - it's a good fit and he brings some class to the proceedings. It is kind of interesting that he's evil throughout the entire film - generally you get a little taste of the vampire when he's just a normal guy (or trying to fool people into thinking he's just a normal guy). Here, he's just bad news all of the way.
You also get a *lot* of Lavud turning into a bat. It's not a good effect, but it is kind of charming. Lavud leans down, and then there's just a quick cut to a fake bat flying around. Also, Lavud can just disappear at will. Which begs the question of why he is *ever* visible - why sneak around if you don't have to? But that's not a question The Vampire's Coffin is interested in answering.
To spice things up, Lavud takes refuge in an old wax museum that is a little bit creepy. Luckily for horror movie-watchers, they have some medieval torture devices there as well. Most interestingly, they have a device they call the Virgin of Neuremberg (what I know as the Iron Maiden) - guess if it eventually gets some use? Also, I learned from wikipedia today that the Iron Maiden is "likely fictional." Interesting.
Overall, The Vampire's Coffin is just okay. There is surprising lack of atmosphere for a black and white vampire film - the whole thing appears to take place on cheap sets. In fact, the feeling of cheapness sort of permeates the whole thing - even the big dance number (Marta is a highly sought-after dancer who is surprisingly rhythmless) feels weak. There are a couple of scenes where there is some creepy use of shadows and/or fog (particularly when Lavud stalks a random woman he spies in a diner), but overall I was hoping for a little more style and flair than what the film has to offer.
And there isn't really a significant amount of tension. The characters are not well-developed or really all that interesting, and I certainly wasn't concerned for their well-being. It's possible that there was more character building in part one. But I imagine it's more a case of The Vampire's Coffin being made quickly (and cheaply, I'd guess) - it was released less than a year after El Vampiro.
Ultimately, The Vampire's Coffin isn't terrible, and if you have a soft spot for old monster movies it may be worth a watch. Although I would recommend the original El Vampiro (sight unseen) - it sounds like that film has a lot more credibility. I actually didn't actually know Coffin was a sequel until after the fact - otherwise I would have checked them out in their proper order. And I hope to check out the original soon - Coffin has all of the right pieces (a cool lead, in particular), but just never really does anything with them.
I would probably not recommend this film.
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