EL VAMPIRO NEGRO (THE BLACK VAMPIRE)

A virtually unknown remake of M, Fritz Lang's seminal 1931 thriller, El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire) is a revisionist take on the tale by Argentine director Romßn Vi±oly Barreto. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the Film Noir Foundation, a stunning restoration of the film was created by UCLA Film & Television Archive, now presented in it's first-ever home video release - with special thanks to Fernando Mart?n Pe±a and Argentina Sono Film. Argentine beauty Olga Zubarry stars as a cabaret performer trying to protect her young daughter (Gog?) from a mysterious murderer while parrying the advances of the prosecutor (Roberto Escalada) pursuing the killer. Nathßn Pinz?n, who also appeared in Vi±oly Barreto's The Beast Must Die (La bestia debe morir) a year earlier, gives an impressive against-type performance as the disturbed pedophile hiding in plain sight. This variation on Fritz Lang's classic is a proto-feminist reimagining of the tale, focusing on the lives of female characters ignored in the earlier iterations. The film's brooding cinematography (by An?bal Gonzßlez Paz) enhances Olga Zubarry's exceptional performance, which won her the Argentine Film Critics Association award for Best Actress. El vampiro negro (The Black Vampire) is a significant rediscovery in cinema history, and, thanks to the dedication of the Film Noir Foundation and it's partners at UCLA Film & Television Archive, it is now available in a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD dual-format edition packed with special features.