Series: Universal Dracula

Lambert Hillyer's Dracula's Daughter - the sequel to Tod Browning's 1931 classic Dracula - has long been considered an inferior follow-up and a forgettable film by many horror fans and critics, despite the fact that it is one of the best Universal sequels and horror tales of the period. Following an iconic and legendary film such as Dracula is never an easy task, for any director in any time, but Hillyer and crew manage to pull it off with some strong acting, fast paced and more linear camera-work, and an interesting plot centered around a main character that we both loathe and empathize with. The result is an atmospheric and entertaining film that works well as both a sequel and as its own stand alone feature, one that is certainly worth a look by any fan of Universal's monster classics of the 1930s and 1940s.(read more...)

"Miscast" is a nasty term. It suggests that the actor or actress that it is applied to would never be able to pull off their given role, even under the best possible circumstances. Some irreparable mistake was made at an early stage of production and the film will be forever marred by the poor judgment of some myopic decision-maker. Such is the case with Lon Chaney, Jr. as Count Dracula in Universal's misleadingly titled Son of Dracula. Chaney's inability to pull off the Old World nobility required of the part has dogged the film's reputation since its release. This is a shame, really, since the rest of this mature, atmospheric chiller works quite well.(read more...)

By 1944, the Universal monsters had become too familiar to be truly frightening. The Frankenstein monster alone had already appeared in five films. Universal's solution was to treat their gaggle of ghouls as old friends. The Frankenstein series evolved into an elaborate excuse to paste as many recognizable faces into a single film as possible. The trend began in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, but really blossomed into a cornucopia of creatures with House of Frankenstein.(read more...)

Universal's 1931 production of Dracula is a lot of things. It's badly paced, riddled with continuity errors, and ridiculously stagebound a good portion of the time. It's also atmospheric, chilling, and contains one of the most influential and oft-imitated performances in the history of cinema.
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Saying goodbye to old friends is one of the hardest things in life to do. Remembering old times and laughing is often the best way to do it. In 1948, Universal Studios (more precisely, Universal International) did just that with old friends Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster and the Wolf Man in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.(read more...)

One thing you certainly can’t complain about with House of Dracula is that it is too long. Director Erle C. Kenton’s follow-up to 1944’s House of Frankenstein clocks in at a mere 67 minutes -- take out the credits and it’s almost down to an hour. The length is probably partially due to the fact that between 1940 and 1946, Kenton directed a whopping 20 films (and that after 27 in the 1930’s and 32 in the 1920’s) -- take that Stanley Kubrick!(read more...)