Son of Dracula (Universal Studios Dracula Double Feature)

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Staring: Lon Chaney Jr., Robert Paige, Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill
Director: Lambert Hillyer, Robert Siodmak
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Product Details
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Universal Studios
EAN: 9780783260242
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0783260245
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-07-24
Running Time: 153
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1943-11-05

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Editorial Review
Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 07/24/2007

Amazon.com
Dracula's Daughter This cut-rate sequel to Dracula, sans Bela Lugosi, turns out to be an unexpectedly sleek and stylish movie. Gloria Holden, tall, dark, and continental, is the aristocratic title character fighting her nature and seeking a cure for her affliction. A sympathetic psychiatrist, Dr. Garth (Otto Kruger), encourages her to "face her fears," but when she lures a pretty young streetwalker to her room to model for a painting, the temptation of her fleshy offering proves too much to overcome. Edward Van Sloan reprises his role as Van Helsing, held by the police for the murder of Count Dracula (the film opens on the final scene from Dracula) but released in the nick of time to help Garth, now at the mercy of the bitter and vindictive vampire. Director Lambert Hillyer makes the most of his low budget, with austere, angular sets and an almost abstract sense of the foggy city night. Holden's mysterious face and tall, willowy body make her an even more striking vampire than Lugosi, and Irving Pichel's offbeat servant is like an American gangster with the breeding of a European aristocrat: thick and thuggish, but always proper. The script falls into the usual rut of Universal's later horror films, losing the mood in the busy plot, but the smooth style and Holden's dignified performance lift Dracula's Daughter above most Universal sequels.

Son of Dracula It was perhaps inevitable that, after playing the Wolf Man, Frankenstein's monster, and the Mummy, Lon Chaney Jr. would round out his horror resumé with a turn at the great bloodsucker himself (not, as the title would suggest, his son). Looking dapper and dignified under the cape, if not exactly threatening, Chaney plays Count Alucard (that's Dracula spelled backwards), a mysterious Carpathian summoned to America by a "morbid" heiress (Louise Allbritton). Eric Taylor's script is rather clunky, but the story (by horror specialist Curt The Wolfman Siodmak) is often quite clever, playing like a supernatural twist on a psycho-thriller. Allbritton's frustrated fiancé Robert Page accidentally "kills" her while trying to shoot Alucard (who imperiously stands up to the hail of bullets) and then goes stark raving mad as he watches the dead rise to life and the living disappear in wisps of smoke and morph into creaky stage bats.

Future film noir legend (and Curt's brother) Robert Siodmak (The Killers) does wonders with the swampy, misty Deep South setting despite his obviously threadbare budget, transforming the usual clichés into moments of inspired melodrama. Only the clumsy antics of the skeptical cops and the plodding exposition spouted by an old Carpathian doctor (he just happens to be the local MD) get in the way of this moody minor horror gem. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Gothic Tension at its greatest., 2010-07-26
"Dracula's Daughter" and "Son of Dracula" splendidly transport us back to the stylish, gothic world first created in Universal's original "Dracula" with the venerable Bella Lugosi as the vampire Count. The original Count is absent, however, from these tales, which instead explore the efforts of his prgoeny.
In "Dracula's Daughter", we are introduced to Countess Marya Zaleska, an artist and aristocrat who desperately seeks freedom from her father's legacy. In her attempt to overcome her own addiction to blood, she becomes obsessed with a psychiatrist friend of Van Helsing. Unfortunately Zaleska cannot break her addiction and, in her struggle, she falls into her family's pattern of cruelty, kidnapping and death. Gloria Holden plays the subtleties of the part wonderfully, by turns detached and desperate, the Countess is an eerie but empathetic presence in a beautifully designed world of deft, expressionist shapes and shadows, gothic splendour and modern art sensibilities.
"Son of Dracula" moves the action to Louisiana, where a southern belle obsessed with immortality brings a "Count Alucard" to the country to make her a vampire. This story involves another delightfully complex vampiress as well as the new Count - cold, charming, mysterious and imposing. He is brought to life by second generation horror great Lon Chaney Jnr. amid a Southern Gothic setting of old plantation manors and swamps.
Those interested in the burgeoning vampire genre could not do better than furthering their education with these venerable entries from the Universal Monsters series.

Dracula Daughter,Son of Dracula, 2010-04-11
If you liked the older "Scary" movies, you're sure to like this one as well.
Actually they're better than the newer redentions of these classics. They're
simple and easy to follow with just the right amount of horrow to keep you
interested. The whole series is good.

Too Many Trips to the Well, 2010-08-09
"Dracula's Daughter" and "Son of Dracula" are representative of Universal's persistant habit of taking its earlier filmatic successes in the horror genre and milking them for all they were worth financially. Both films suffer from less than exciting plots and the formulaic 'sequel/quickie' approach in film-making.
While neither of these films is worth (or could withstand) an in-depth analysis, "Son of Dracula" is the better of the two, primarily due to Siodmak's efforts.
If you like B movies, cheapies, and/or programmers, this pair will make a perfect addition to your collection.

Vintage Horror, 2009-10-21
Lon Chaney Jr, has always been a favorite for the classic horror. And he doesn't lose any credit for his work here. Always in good form. I do think he is a better werewolf than a vampire, but that was his break-out performance.

Dracula's Daughter, a gem, 2009-11-20
Make no mistake, this movie is creaky and slow. It is old, and it is not a great cinematic triumph by any means. Nevertheless it is a gem. And it deserves to be seen as a classic of the genre. Gloria Holden is powerfully compelling as the tortured daughter of Dracula, an elegant and sensitive aristocrat who dreams of somehow escaping the curse of her vampire nature in order to embrace life. That she is a painter adds to her mystique. And the scene in which she seduces a lonely and vulnerable young female model in her studio is chilling, without recourse to special effects. Like all good horror films, this one has a strong moral point of view. Vampires are evil and must pay for what they are and what they do. Yet one finds here all the promise of the vampire concept which will be endlessly explored in later books and films. Here we have a supernatural monster who was once human and remains somehow human, a thinking and feeling abomination that is doomed to suffer excruciating torment as the price for the promise of eternal life. The vampire here is a metaphor for the outsider, the outcast, the lonely one in all of us, and the predator in all of us, too. The tragic dimension of the vampire is much more deeply explored here than in the original Dracula, and the atmosphere of the film, set in a very foggy London, enforces the overall theme of romantic gloom. I recommend this to anyone who wonders why vampires fascinate so many, and especially for those who want to understand the early twentieth century horror classics that inspired countless later films. I also find this an entertaining film. There is a delicacy and poignancy to it that has enduring appeal. I would love to see a faithful remake of this film, but until that happens, if it ever does, there is nothing quite like the original. Enjoy.

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