Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
hoyayer
In small-town America of the 50's, it doesn't pay to trust your Old World relatives. They're just not right over there: if it isn't one thing, it'll be another. Creepy, authentic vampire messes with creepy, authentic people during a creepy, authentic era.
zardoz-13
No, "Square Dance Jubilee" director Paul Landres' "The Return of Dracula" has nothing to do with either the Universal Pictures franchise or the Hammer Film series. Instead, United Artists distributed this Gramercy Pictures theatrical release, and "The Return of Dracula" qualifies as an imaginative but minor chiller on a low budget. Landres and scenarist Pat Fielder, who collaborated earlier on the lackluster movie "The Vampire," have taken liberties with the formulaic Bram Stoker story while channeling the Alfred Hitchcock serial killer thriller "Shadow of a Doubt" as an American family opens their doors to the infamous Count who is masquerading as their immigrant cousin. Surprisingly, the filmmakers do not acknowledge Stoker during the opening credits, though the name of Stoker's memorable vampire is mentioned three times. Dracula rides in a contemporary train at one point and later crosses the Atlantic Ocean on a luxury liner. This is the kind of vampire movie where the undead one can freely enter any rooms without an invitation. Some vampire lore dictates that the vampire cannot enter a room without the permission of its host. One of the neatest things about this micro-budget effort is the use of dry ice inside the coffins when we gaze upon the vampires. "The Return of Dracula" opens with the following narration as two cars cruise through the countryside in route to a cemetery: "It is a known fact that there existed in Central Europe a Count Dracula. Though human in appearance and cultured in manner, he was, in truth, a thing undead, a force of evil, a vampire feeding on the blood of innocent people, he turned them into his own kind, thus spreading his evil domination even wider. The attempts to find and destroy this evil were never proved completely successful. And so the search continues to this very day." Like Bram Stoker's novel, "The Return of Dracula" finds our undead protagonist looking for somewhere different to stalk his prey. Several men led by John Merriman (John Wengraf of "The Pride and the Passion") climb out of the two cars, drape pedants with crosses at their throats, and enter Dracula's tomb to kill him. Imagine their surprise when they find an empty coffin! The action shifts to a railway station as Bellac Gordal (Norbert Schiller of "Sign of the Pagan") explains that living in the Balkans stifles his artistic freedom, so he bids his immediate family farewell to board a train to America. Bellac plans to stay with his cousin, Cora Mayberry (Greta Granstedt of "Nocturne"), and her family in Carleton, California. Fortunately for Dracula, Cora hasn't laid eyes on her Bellac since he was a little boy. When Bellac enters his coach, the artist meets a mysterious gentleman perusing a Berlin newspaper. Not long after he puts his luggage in an upper berth, Bellac turns to the other passenger. A look of horror suffuses Bellac's face the man assaults him. Director Paul Landres edits Bellac's death scene so when Bellac screams, the action cuts to an exterior shot of the locomotive as its eldritch whistle pierces the night with a hair-raising shriek, the perfect visual and aural metaphor for Bellac's terror. What makes this set-up so interesting is that Dracula later confides to Cora's daughter Rachel (Norma Eberhardt of "Live Fast, Die Young") that he left Central Europe because he felt that "My life has been confined. That's why I came here . . . for freedom. I must have it." These lines of dialogue make "The Return of Dracula" a Cold War era vampire chiller. Unmistakably, the Count is bailing out of the Balkans because of Communism. Of course, the Mayberry family is anxious to welcome cousin Bellac and make him as comfortable as possible. Nobody is more excited to see her cousin than Rachel. Rachel wants to be an artist like Bellac, but she fears that she will end up working as a nurse. She spends time already in a nearby religious facility that takes care of sick people. She tends a blind girl, Jennie Blake (Virginia Vincent of "Tony Rome"), at the parish house. Initially, the Mayberry's aren't sure about their cousin. He rarely comes out of his room during the day, and he loathes mirrors. Dracula goes after Jennie and makes her his bride. Before she goes to school the next day, Rachel is summoned to parish house and watches in horror as Jennie dies. Jennie slips Rachel the crucifix before she dies. A U.S. Department of Immigration official, Mack Bryant (Charles Tannen of "The Rack"), shows up at the Mayberry house. He makes inquiries about Bellac. Bryant is cooperating with Merriman, and Dracula suspects as much so he kills Bryant.Francis Lederer makes an effectively villainous Dracula with a conspicuous foreign accent, but he cannot bare his fangs any more than his predecessors could. Indeed, nobody ever addresses him as Dracula to his face, and he has no crazy mad assistant. He hails from the Balkans area of eastern Europe. He doesn't dress as fashionably as either Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee, but he is not a derelict. He likes to materialize out of a cloud of mist and the same is true of the poor girl that he transforms into his vampire bride. This Dracula is also shape-shifter, and he appears as a white wolf but there is no transformation scene. Although "Isle of the Dead" lenser Jack Mackenzie photographed the film predominantly in black and white, Landres inserts an interesting shot that is in color when our heroes stake Jennie. The last-minute ending is quite ironic, too! The cool thing about this Dracula movie is that nobody actually kills the evil Count. He lures Rachel to the cave where he has concealed his coffin, while Merriman has mobilized the town authorities and they kill Jennie. Dracula falls into pit in the cave and lands on a stake that kills him.
LeoB-2
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.
vtcavuoto
"The Return of Dracula" is a good film that updates the story from the late 1890s to present day(for the release of the film)1958. Dracula poses as an artist who comes to America to be free from Communism(a real blow to freedom for Eastern Europe after WW2). He seems distant and reclusive toward his American relatives. He starts by killing a blind girl and then sets his sights on his younger cousin. She slowly falls under his influence but at the end he is destroyed by falling into a pit filled with jagged wood pieces. He has been hiding in a cave where he can be safe. The acting, music score and direction are very good for this type of low budget movie. A nice variation on the vampire films from the 1930s and 40s. If you're a fan of vampire movies, check out this little gem.
