Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

Directed by Lambert Hillyard. Starring Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden, Marguerite Churchill, Irving Pichel, Nan Grey, Billy Bevan, Halliwell Hobbes, Edward Van Sloan, Gilbert Emery, Hedda Hopper.

Ostensible sequel to Tod Browning’s Dracula, although the only returning major character (Van Sloan’s Van Helsing) is hardly in it…and goes by Von Helsing! The Count is defeated, but turns out, he had a daughter (Holden)—also a vampire—and if she can’t cure her “cravings” by destroying Dracula’s corpse, she’s gonna need to find herself an eternal companion. Tepid as a chiller (you’d be hard-pressed to describe the movie as “eerie” or “frightening”, even by the standards of the early Hays Code-era), with only the movie’s subtle sexual suggestions—including what’s almost certainly a metaphor for the taboo of same-sex attraction (one tagline: “She gives you that weird feeling”)—offering mild thrills. Severe, disdainful Holden doesn’t have a fraction of her “father”’s sinuous theatricality, and the heroes/victims are a pretty lukewarm bunch. Inspired by a deleted chapter from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” novel (“Dracula’s Guest”), later released as a short story.

49/100