=Last chance...I'm going to discuss how this movie ends in pretty big detail, so if you don't want to know, stop RIGHT NOW=
I don't know why, but there's a huge drop in quality between number three of the series (THE GENII OF DARKNESS) and this one.
The biggest change is in Ruby Guberman's dialogue. Guberman wrote the English version of these movies for K. Gordon Murray who imported them from Mexico and released them stateside. It was intended first and foremost to look natural coming out of the actors mouths. A faithful translation didn't just take a backseat, it was often tossed right out the window. Usually Guberman's results are berserk and rapid fire..and a total joy to listen to. This time they almost qualify as pedestrian. There doesn't seem to be the sense of mayhem and fun you had before.
PART of this has to go back to the original script and plot Guberman had to work with. This time, the original story line tried to make Igor more likable before he is killed.
Mistake.
Igor should have been allowed to stay nasty...you had a genuine sense of MENACE before.
Big chunks of plot also seem to be missing. I know, I know..this is A Mexican VAMPIRE movie, based on the last three chapters of a 12 chapter serial. I'm NOT complaining about stuff like the chief of police showing up for a potential riot with just his gun...THOSE lapses in logic you savor ..but you still need continuity.. For instance, WHY Igor's cane should be anymore effective to kill Nostradamus then, say, Col Sanders' cane would be. Nostradamus doesn't mention it as anything special..a lot of the time, Igor doesn't even USE the thing. Suddenly in the last scene it's THE thing to stick through the heart of the rubber bat Nostradamus turns into.
How did Dolan know Nostradamus was after the singer? How come Nostradamus was SURPRISED when Dolan shows up? What did Nostradamus EXPECT? Dolan not to bug him on his night out on the town?
The film is also quieter then the others. There's a sort of Greek chorus of stock music that used to chime in whenever anything happened previously in the first three films. This time you get long long stretches where you only hear the echoes of the Foley artist as he creates shoes walking across lab floors.
Also silent is Nostradamus' dead dad. He looks like Willie Nelson, and Nostradamus evokes his aid from The Great Beyond underground at his tomb. The camera sticks on dad, but you don't HEAR anything. Nostradamus REPLIES to whatever dad DIDN'T say, but still nothing. Dad just stares into the camera. Annoying, since he talked up a storm in the first film. I don't know if that was a fault of the original print or with K Gordon Murray, but it wouldn't have killed Guberman to ad lib something if the original soundtrack had somehow been erased.
Why didn't they? Too little time? Too little money? Both?
The movies also just HALTS dead in it's tracks...Dolan is saved from being burned at the stake by a priest and Nostradamus is killed with Igor's cane...and then you get about 2 minutes of SILENCE.
No music, no crowd noises, just SILENCE. Everyone drops their torches and goes home. That's ALL.
But there ARE good points to BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS as well. It's worth at least a rental.
The chief of police (first victim) looks and acts like Ming the Merciless mixed with Charles Manson. It's HIS idea to combat death threats by staying up all night with his trigger happy men and getting blind drunk. (Wait for the fine examples of gun safety as they toss revolvers around like pizza plates.) The discovery of Nostradamus as a vampire by the singer (second victim) is well done. One of the guys who drags Dolan to the stake looks sort of like George Foreman. Nostradamus' set is atmospheric as always. Nostradamus himself can still stick his eyes out further then anyone else this side of The Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons. The vampire attacks and the amount of blood are still very well done for their time.
In the end, this is not BAD K Gordon Murray as much as it is not as GOOD as what you've seen before. If you only have time and money for the best, get the second and third films in the series. (MONSTER'S DEMOLISHER, GENII OF DARKNESS) BUT if you have gone through the other three, have a look at this one by all means.
You just might not want to BUY it.
I don't know why, but there's a huge drop in quality between number three of the series (THE GENII OF DARKNESS) and this one.
The biggest change is in Ruby Guberman's dialogue. Guberman wrote the English version of these movies for K. Gordon Murray who imported them from Mexico and released them stateside. It was intended first and foremost to look natural coming out of the actors mouths. A faithful translation didn't just take a backseat, it was often tossed right out the window. Usually Guberman's results are berserk and rapid fire..and a total joy to listen to. This time they almost qualify as pedestrian. There doesn't seem to be the sense of mayhem and fun you had before.
PART of this has to go back to the original script and plot Guberman had to work with. This time, the original story line tried to make Igor more likable before he is killed.
Mistake.
Igor should have been allowed to stay nasty...you had a genuine sense of MENACE before.
Big chunks of plot also seem to be missing. I know, I know..this is A Mexican VAMPIRE movie, based on the last three chapters of a 12 chapter serial. I'm NOT complaining about stuff like the chief of police showing up for a potential riot with just his gun...THOSE lapses in logic you savor ..but you still need continuity.. For instance, WHY Igor's cane should be anymore effective to kill Nostradamus then, say, Col Sanders' cane would be. Nostradamus doesn't mention it as anything special..a lot of the time, Igor doesn't even USE the thing. Suddenly in the last scene it's THE thing to stick through the heart of the rubber bat Nostradamus turns into.
How did Dolan know Nostradamus was after the singer? How come Nostradamus was SURPRISED when Dolan shows up? What did Nostradamus EXPECT? Dolan not to bug him on his night out on the town?
The film is also quieter then the others. There's a sort of Greek chorus of stock music that used to chime in whenever anything happened previously in the first three films. This time you get long long stretches where you only hear the echoes of the Foley artist as he creates shoes walking across lab floors.
Also silent is Nostradamus' dead dad. He looks like Willie Nelson, and Nostradamus evokes his aid from The Great Beyond underground at his tomb. The camera sticks on dad, but you don't HEAR anything. Nostradamus REPLIES to whatever dad DIDN'T say, but still nothing. Dad just stares into the camera. Annoying, since he talked up a storm in the first film. I don't know if that was a fault of the original print or with K Gordon Murray, but it wouldn't have killed Guberman to ad lib something if the original soundtrack had somehow been erased.
Why didn't they? Too little time? Too little money? Both?
The movies also just HALTS dead in it's tracks...Dolan is saved from being burned at the stake by a priest and Nostradamus is killed with Igor's cane...and then you get about 2 minutes of SILENCE.
No music, no crowd noises, just SILENCE. Everyone drops their torches and goes home. That's ALL.
But there ARE good points to BLOOD OF NOSTRADAMUS as well. It's worth at least a rental.
The chief of police (first victim) looks and acts like Ming the Merciless mixed with Charles Manson. It's HIS idea to combat death threats by staying up all night with his trigger happy men and getting blind drunk. (Wait for the fine examples of gun safety as they toss revolvers around like pizza plates.) The discovery of Nostradamus as a vampire by the singer (second victim) is well done. One of the guys who drags Dolan to the stake looks sort of like George Foreman. Nostradamus' set is atmospheric as always. Nostradamus himself can still stick his eyes out further then anyone else this side of The Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons. The vampire attacks and the amount of blood are still very well done for their time.
In the end, this is not BAD K Gordon Murray as much as it is not as GOOD as what you've seen before. If you only have time and money for the best, get the second and third films in the series. (MONSTER'S DEMOLISHER, GENII OF DARKNESS) BUT if you have gone through the other three, have a look at this one by all means.
You just might not want to BUY it.