I was actually quite impressed how good this movie turned out to be. I won't put it in the same class as the iconic, original "Dracula" from 1931, but for Universal's first vampire sequel it's got a lot going for it. There's the atmospheric foggy sets and intriguing story line that casts the Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) as the unfortunate victim of her father's legacy, attempting to free herself from the darkness of the spell he cast over her. Failing that, she falls for psychiatrist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger) with the proposition of spending eternal life with him as a charter member of the undead. Only trouble is, her protector Sandor (Irving Pichel) is not too cool with that prospect, ultimately employing an idea inspired by Cupid, only with more tragic results.
Unlike a handful of reviewers for this film that didn't care for the attempt at humor with the character of inept policeman Albert (Billy Bevan), I didn't seem to mind it much. I might have been ready for a bit of comic relief by the time he showed up with his partner Hawkins (Halliwell Hobbes) to investigate a couple of dead bodies. The dynamic between Garth and his secretary Janet Blake (Marguerite Churchill) was a bit unusual for a horror flick as well, the banter between them seemed to come straight out of a detective flick of the era.
But what gives the picture it's dramatic flourish is the presence of Holden's Countess Marya, a perfect casting choice for the aristocratic bearing required to pull off the role of Dracula's daughter. She wasn't aghast at the thought of putting the torch to her father's corpse, and I felt she deserved a better fate than taking that arrow from the jealous Sandor. With that, the picture ends rather abruptly, but for all that went before, this was a compelling tale from Garrett Fort, one of the screenwriters of the original "Dracula". Now if we could only get to the bottom of those two sharp puncture marks.
Unlike a handful of reviewers for this film that didn't care for the attempt at humor with the character of inept policeman Albert (Billy Bevan), I didn't seem to mind it much. I might have been ready for a bit of comic relief by the time he showed up with his partner Hawkins (Halliwell Hobbes) to investigate a couple of dead bodies. The dynamic between Garth and his secretary Janet Blake (Marguerite Churchill) was a bit unusual for a horror flick as well, the banter between them seemed to come straight out of a detective flick of the era.
But what gives the picture it's dramatic flourish is the presence of Holden's Countess Marya, a perfect casting choice for the aristocratic bearing required to pull off the role of Dracula's daughter. She wasn't aghast at the thought of putting the torch to her father's corpse, and I felt she deserved a better fate than taking that arrow from the jealous Sandor. With that, the picture ends rather abruptly, but for all that went before, this was a compelling tale from Garrett Fort, one of the screenwriters of the original "Dracula". Now if we could only get to the bottom of those two sharp puncture marks.