- Directed by Edward Dein
- Written by Edward Dein, Mildred Dein
- Stars Eric Fleming, Michael Pate, Kathleen Crowley
- Run Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K144sTxn4eM
Spoiler-free Judgment Zone
This was just okay as far as horror films go and “okay” as a Western. What made it interesting was that it was the first horror movie Western. They mesh the genres together pretty well.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open in an old western town. Dr. Carter and his wife ride into town on their wagon. He stops in to check on a patient, little Cora. He didn’t think Cora would last the night; Preacher Dan says his prayers probably helped. The other girl died last night, but the doctor can’t find anything in his medical books. They all go in and have breakfast. As they prepare breakfast, the girl screams and dies. As the doctor runs back into the room, something disturbed the window blind on the way out. Also, they find two small puncture wounds on Cora’s neck.
When they arrive home, Carter’s son Tim complains about the bully Buffer who just beat him up. Buffer wants their farm. Carter goes to see Bill the sheriff. Bill says he’ll take care of everything. Buffer’s men don’t much care for what the sheriff has to tell them.
As Dr. Carter drives home, a man in black on a black horse watches him. Carter doesn’t make it home. Tim immediately decides Buffer is behind the murder, and he punches Preacher Dan when Dan tries to stop him. Dan notices the dead doctor has puncture marks on his neck.
At the funeral, we see the man in black crawl into Carter’s coffin with Carter inside.
Charlie comes to tell Tim that Buffer has torn down the fence in the back of their property. Is he taking over? Tim wants to go to town to take care of business with Buffer, and he doesn’t want Charlie to accompany him. Buffer says he wanted the land, but he’d never hurt the town doctor, but Tim won’t listen and insists on a gunfight. Buffer shoots Tim, and the sheriff can’t do much about it.
Carter’s daughter Delores puts up a $100 reward for bringing in the murderer. Buffer laughs at the whole idea, since he knows he’s not the murderer. Still, Dora thinks he’s the killer.
The man in black watches from the shadows. He comes out and picks up one of the reward posters. He goes into the saloon and talks to the bartender. Buffer tells the man that the poster is about him; they have a tense standoff.
The man in black is Drake Robey, a gun for hire, and he shows up at Delores’s house for the job. Preacher Dan says he’ll do everything in his power to stop him. That night, Drake pays a visit to Delores in her bedroom, and he pays special attention to her neck.
Preacher Dan insults and accuses Buffer as the sheriff watches. The three of them cook up a deal that may get Delores to fire Drake. Meanwhile, Drake goes to the cemetery and sleeps in a coffin.
Dan goes to see Delores, and she agrees that hiring Drake was a mistake. Drake comes in in the morning, and they tell him to go away.
That night, Drake comes back to Delores. He says his eyes are really bad in the daylight, which limits his work opportunities. He asks for a night job watching the fields and protecting her stuff from Buffer. She agrees and says she can fix things with Preacher Dan. She says he can stay in the cottage by the cemetery.
Dan helps search for old Dr. Carter’s will, but instead finds the old diary of Don Robles that talks about Drago Robey, who murdered his own brother. Drago killed himself over guilt. Not long after, a vampire started killing the young people in the village. There are also explanations in the book about how to kill a vampire. There’s even an old photo of Drago, and he looks just like Drake!
That night, Drake visits Delores again, but he loves her too much to drink any more of her blood. She comes out to him in a trance, but then the sheriff stops by and finds her sleepwalking. They argue about Drake staying or leaving town. As the sheriff rides back to town, Drake kills him and drinks his blood.
Drake comes to confront Dan, and Drake soon figures out what Dan knows. Dan calls Drake a monster, but he’s a monster in love and doesn’t want to leave town. They fight, but are interrupted before Drake can finish off the preacher.
In the morning, Dan shows Delores the diary, and she doesn’t believe any of it. They go looking for Drake in the daytime, and Dan is pretty sure he knows where to look. They open up Drago Robles’s tomb, but it’s empty except for a silver dagger. He wants to look in Carter’s coffin, but she won’t allow it. He leaves, and she faints until Drake carries her home later. He might have had a taste…
Drake brings Delores a map that shows her ranch’s old-time land boundaries, and it’s good news. Drake goes to town to “explain things” to Buffer. Unsurprisingly, Buffer ends up dead. Drake goes after Dan, who is getting a court order to open the Carters’ coffins. They have a shootout, and Drake falls down and turns to dust.
Dan, knowing what Drake was, had carved a cross into his bullet.
Commentary
This was the first time a vampire had appeared in a Western film. We see Drake up and about during the daytime, and he drinks whisky, so he’s not a normal vampire. Also, his victims don’t come back from the dead; they’re just dead.
Couldn’t Drake find a different place to sleep? He seemed really upset that Dan might get a court order to check out those coffins.
It’s got a lot more of the Western elements than those of horror. If you like Westerns, this is a must-watch; if not, then it’s skippable.