Curse of the Undead (1959)

Very best movie i ever watch

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Drake Robey (Pate) has to be the gabbiest vampire in blood-sucking history. Then again, maybe he was prepping for a spot on TV's Dark Shadows (1966-71). I just wish the Deins (director and co-scripters) spent a tenth of the time on atmosphere instead of all the talk- talk. Plus, the last part smacks of padding with repetitive dialog. Clearly, the movie has little feel for building dread or suspense, surprising for a vampire flick. Instead, it's like everyone is being paid by the word. Happily, Pate looks the undead part, but the rest of the production comes across like a standard B-western. Too bad, because the idea of a neck-biter in the Old West was a novel one. As I recall, kids turned out in droves to catch the novelty. Now, the movie just looks bland, despite a good turn from Pate, along with Bruce Gordon as the roughneck. All in all, reviewer Malin is on target, contrary to the negative votes.

Interesting to watch a movie without major pretensions, made in the 1950s with low budget B movie authentic, managed to survive the time. I remember when I first saw it, it was still a kid and I was very impressed with the story. I went back to see him other times and concluded that it really is a good movie. Of course, mixing vampires with gunmen of the Old West is not common, but the formula worked amazingly. The 1950s was rich in westerns and, surprisingly, this supernatural film is almost a tribute to the genre. The film has a dark atmosphere, favored by the absence of color, with a great performance by Michel Patte in the role of vampire and Eric Fleming also good performance. A very different western. And interesting, very interesting.

The combining of westerns with horror has not always made for great films. I mean, who can forget "Billy the Kid vs. Dracula" and "Jesse James meets Frankenstein's Daughter". The exception is "Curse of the Undead". This 1959 picture stars Eric Fleming as a frontier preacher who is confronted with a vampire in the form of a hired gun, portrayed with sinister, yet sympathetic overtones by Michael Pate.The plot has some holes in it. For example, Michael Pate's character commits suicide after murdering his brother, which in turn condemns him for all eternity as a vampire...I mean, I have never heard of this premise for a person becoming one of the "undead". Also, the vampire of this movie can walk around in the daylight with seemingly no ill effects, and everyone knows that vampires absolutely cannot be exposed to sunlight, or they will be destroyed.Despite these minor flaws, the movie actually has a good story and some good acting by Fleming as the preacher, Pate as the vampire/gunslinger, and Kathleen Crowley as the love interest caught between the two. I highly recommend this movie.

As I sit here, I'm watching this film, Which I recorded off of AMC a few years back. I remember how big western TV series were back in the late 50's "although I was'nt born until 1958" so I saw most in re-runs. This film I feel played well off the popularity of that TV genre. Eric "Gil Favor" Fleming plays well as the Preacher Who goes after the bloodthirsty Vampire, portrayed By Michael Pate...The story seems a lot like any other western, with the exception of the head gunslinger also being the "Undead". As usual Universal Produced a nice little Horror? flick, With a solid cast for "B" fare. I would recommend this for all "Hardcore" horror fans of the 50's genre. As a side note I also remember a couple of episodes Of Rawhide that dealt with Ghost's & the supernatural... makes me wonder if the producers of those episodes had'nt recently viewed "Curse Of The Undead"