Before color-saturated, lurid, Italian 'giallo' films became synonymous with latin horror, black-and-white film-makers in Mexico, Spain, Italy and the United States were putting their own spin on Hollywood's newfound fascination with the gothic.

In America, director Enrique Ávalos created a spanish language version of Universal Pictures' Dracula that bested the English version, save for the lack of Bela Lugosi in the title role. (pictured, top)

In 1962, Italy's contribution to the ever-growing fascination for gothic vampire tales was Slaughter of the Vampires (pictured, middle), a film that mixed beautiful prey with an entertainingly, though unintentionally melodramatic vampire to create a classic of sexy, atmospheric fun.

Mexico's Curse of the Crying Woman lacks the exposed flesh of 'Slaughter,' but it excels in its surreal, gothic telling of a scary Mexican folk-tale about a mummified witch and the scheme to induce her innocent ancestor to revive her shrivelled, eyeless corpse.