Curse of the Undead (film, 1959)

Curse of the Undead (aka Mark of the West) is a 1959 American vampire/western hybrid film directed by Edward Dein (The Leech Woman) rom a screenplay by himself and Mildred Dein. It stars Eric Fleming, Michael Pate (Tower of London), Kathleen Crowley, John Hoyt, Bruce Gordon, and Jimmy Murphy. The film features a theremin-heavy soundtrack score by Irving Getz and was distributed by Universal-International Pictures.

Plot teaser:

The Old West, circa 1880. In an unnamed town, young girls are dying of a mysterious wasting disease. Dr John Carter (John Hoyt) and his daughter Dolores (Kathleen Crowley) have been tending to patients for hours on end, but lost one patient an hour ago. Another patient, Cora (Nancy Kilgas), looks like she will pull through after Preacher Dan Young’s (Eric Fleming) nightlong vigil; he and the Carters are offered breakfast and coffee by Cora’s parents (Alan Reynolds, Amzie Strickland). In the kitchen, however, they hear Cora scream – by the time they get to her room, she is sprawled dead on her bed, her window open. As he kneels to pray, Dan notices two small, bloody holes in Cora’s throat…

Returning to his ranch along with Dolores, Doc Carter finds his son Tim (Jimmy Murphy) extremely upset after the actions of their neighbor Buffer, who has been doing everything possible to get his hands on the Carter property, including damming a stream on the Carter ranch and having his men assault anyone who complains. To restrain his hot-headed son, the Doc drives back into town to have a word with the local sheriff (Edward Binns). The Sheriff’s discussion with Buffer (Bruce Gordon) in the local saloon proves less than successful, however, and a black-clad stranger (Michael Pate) follows Doc Carter’s buckboard. By the time he gets home, the Doc is dead, his throat bloody…

Reviews:

” … an old-school Gothic horror film with a Western setting, made in a year more commonly associated with rampaging aliens, insane scientists, and radioactive dinosaurs. More surprising still, it is clearly the result of a well thought-out effort to combine elements from two not-obviously-compatible genres in a way that both makes good sense and comes across as more than just a ticket-selling gimmick.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“Quirky but inconsequential, Curse is one of many misguided Hollywood attempts to breathe new life into the genre after Universal discontinued the Dracula series.” Gene Wright, Horrorshows: The A – Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theater

“A neat idea which doesn’t come off, apart from the bright idea of having the campire killed with a bullet containing ‘a Thorn of the True Cross’”, Alan Frank, The Horror Film Handbook

Choice dialogue:

“A bartender’s like a free gal. She’s bait for whoever’s got a free buck, right?”

“Ah, the dead don’t bother me, it’s the living who give me trouble.”