This well made and nicely restored vampire film takes the basic set-up of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943)--sinister relative comes to visit wholesome family in small town, where young girl of family has an unspoken affinity with him--and reveals the vampire subtext of Hitchcock's more psychologically oriented film. Without excessive blood and gore and teeth, it manages to create an eerie atmosphere that many more expensive horror films never quite achieve. Francis Lederer, in one of his last roles before he retired from movies to live prosperously from his real estate investments, does a great job. For fans of Hollywood locations, Dracula's crypt is set in Bronson Caves, more usually a setting for low-budget westerns.
Review of The Return of Dracula
