Theatrical Poster
Later that evening as Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan, Frankenstein) stands over the staked corpse of Dracula, Scottland Yard is saying, “What the fuck you can’t just kill people.” Good to see that English cops are on top of that shit. Mean while Dracula’s daughter the lovely goth chick Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden, Apache Trail), disposes of her father’s body and seeks out psychiatric help about her vampirism condition.
Dr. Jeffery Garth (Otto Kruger, Murder, My Sweet) is caught in the middle. Van Helsing wants him to be his defense lawyer, Countess Zaleska wants him to be her therapist. This follow up to 1931’s Dracula is an interesting choice of a sequel. It continues the story of the original while adding on a new and interesting twist that involves the original reluctant vampire.
This comes across as almost a film noir version of Dracula. The lighting, the plot subterfuge, the dark and foreboding woman, and the intelligent hero with a mean streak are all present. This is a much wordier take on the vampire legend. With the vampire wanting to be released from her curse, she seeks out help from science. Neat idea and the execution here is virtually flawless. Unfortunately I don’t think this is a movie that gets as much credit as it deserves.
The sweeping landscapes of the original are missing from this one. Instead of those ultra detailed landscapes, there are the dark alleys of London, and the ruined Castle Dracula (at the very end). Somehow it is just as fitting of a venue for the vampire tale as the original. Anne Rice would be jealous of how “goth” this movie is.
This is a movie that might have been a bit ahead of its time. With it’s almost lesbian scene, between Zaleska and one of her victims. It’s theme of superstition verses science, its noir styling. They all speak of a more modern style of horror film that probably wouldn’t see its true fruition until the ‘60s. This is one not to miss.
This is one of the of the films in the Dracula Legacy Collection, unlike Dracula itself there are very few special features to go with the extra films (of which there are four), Dracula’s Daughter comes with an original theatrical preview, and…oh wait that’s it just the preview. Kind of a disappointment but that’s ok, because the movie itself is probably pretty hard to find and the transfer for this DVD is great. Like in Dracula I’m surprised that Universal didn’t do a bit better though.
This movie totally presages some of the modern ideas that we have of vampires. The undercurrent of sexuality, of magic defeating science, of how vampires should be hot chicks that are convincing other hot chicks to take off their clothes that kind of thing. Honestly this is one not to miss.
