Dracula's Daughter

Starring: Gloria Holden, Otto Kruger, Marguerite Churchill, Edward Van Sloan, Gilbert Emery, Hedda Hopper
Directed by: Lambert Hillyer
Rating: Approved
Genre: Horror, Drama, Fantasy
1936

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman transformed into a vampire by Dracula seeks help to break the curse.

Review:

Tim: Five years after the iconic Dracula, we finally get a sequel. Dracula's Daughter picks up moments after the first film left off. Van Helsing (now called Von Helsing) is arrested for murdering Dracula. His defense invites incredulity, as the police find it difficult to believe his vampire story. While this is interesting and a great continuation from the original film, it's really just a subplot of the larger film. Indeed, Van Helsing's situation kind of peters out, as the film chooses to focus on another storyline. This felt a little strange to me. I would have liked to see this the main story and the other a subplot.

The main story involves a woman who was bitten by Dracula and transformed into a vampire. She is unhappy with her undead existence and wants to reverse Dracula's curse. She suspects that after his second (and final) death, the curse would be broken. That doesn't happen. So, she enlists a doctor's help. All the while, she fights the urges she has to kill and drink blood. She also employs a creepy servant who is desirous of being turned into a vampire as well. It's all well and good, but felt unnecessarily complicated. I missed the beautiful focus and simplicity of the original story. This one felt like there were a bit too many elements, so we don't get to spend as much time with any of them. The one we do spend a great deal of time with is with the Countess, which felt only mildly entertaining to me. While we get a few good sequences sprinkled throughout the film, iconic scenes are in short supply.

This film was an interesting departure. While other horror films built franchises around the main villain (like Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, etc), this first sequel focuses entirely on someone other than Dracula. It gives the potential franchise a bit of a stuttering start. While I liked the attempt to connect this film to the original, once that connection is made, this spirals off into its own direction. That's not to say it's all bad- this movie does take some interesting liberties. One of the most intriguing involves the potentially lesbian overtones throughout the film. While it's never in-your-face, it's obvious if you're looking. For a film to do that in 1936, even in subtle ways,is noteworthy.

As far as the viewing experience here, it was fine. While this movie represents a big quality drop from the original film, it's still a perfectly decent horror movie. While I would have preferred seeing Dracula again, the film deserves credit for focusing on a different character. That's certainly not playing it safe. The movie is only 1 hour and 11 minutes long, so it's a really quick hit. While I wouldn't quite say this was a good movie, it's a decently enjoyable film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Dracula, Frankenstein