Mark of the Vampire (1935)

Directed by Tod Browning. Starring Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Lionel Atwill, Jean Hersholt, Henry Wadsworth, Ivan F. Simpson, Béla Lugosi, Donald Meek, Carroll Borland, Leila Bennett, Holmes Herbert.

Director Browning and Lugosi reteam for another vampiric chiller, this time focusing on an expert played by Barrymore investigating a murder in a gloomy castle that, based on the small puncture wounds found on the corpse’s neck, was apparently carried out by a bloodsucker. As with Dracula, there’s oodles of foggy Gothic atmosphere and the requisite eerie ghouls ambling about…plus some more of those goofy looking creepy-crawlies (bats, spiders, etc.). But this effort is stagier and talkier, more of a mystery than outright horror. And then there’s that twist—some will be delighted, others will feel cheated. Despite prominent billing on promotional materials, Lugosi has a limited role with hardly any dialogue (though his sheer presence makes every entrance memorable). Reportedly bears considerable resemblance to Browning’s lost silent film, London After Midnight.

64/100