So, I was unaware that PlutoTV (in the US at least) has a ‘Universal Monsters’ channel currently. But! today I found that out! I checked out the listings and next up was ‘Draculas Daughter’ the direct sequel to the Bela Lugosi original and one I remember feeling a bit lukewarm about when I first caught it 3-4 years ago.

The plot picks up almost immediately after the events of ‘Dracula’ in London with Van Hellsing is being held in police custody for the murder of two men, and if you can believe it NOONE will believe that He only ‘killed’ one of the two of them…and that ‘Killed’ isnt really the right word because he was a 500 year old undead Count from Transylvania. When the Police consider a ‘capacity’ review. Hellsing sends a message out to one of his old students Dr. Jefferey Garth to come and help evaluate him and set things straight.

Jeffery is VERY sceptical about all of this but at least feins going along with it as Van Hellsing seems quite honest about what happened. and its here that we’re introduced to ‘Countess Zaleska’ the titular ‘Daughter of Dracula’ who has travelled from Transylvania to reclaim her fathers corpse. Zaleska has committed a LOT of naughty bad things…But the thing is, she doesnt WANT to be evil. In fact, she believes that her father has cursed her, and as long as his body remains. She will continue to commit atrocities.

As such; she breaks into the crime scene, stuns to british bobbies and steals her fathers corpse, before performing a ritual and burning it in the hope of breaking her ‘Curse’.

From here, Dr. Garth and Zaleskas paths cross, and she begins attending sessions where she explains an insatiable blood lust and evilness is within her. To which, Dr. Garth attempts to help her out from a psychological standpoint, while ALSO working to prove Van Hellsings legitimacy.

This all builds to a ‘shocking’ finale as Zaleska attempts to repress her evil urges in the hopes of overcoming it. We…we all know how this is going to go. Aaand im pretty sure if you guess out loud right now…you’ll be at least 75% correct.

Two words can pretty much sum up what absolutely tramples ‘Draculas Daughter’ and those two words are ‘Hayes Code’. The original ‘Dracula’ was released 2 years before the Hayes code came into effect, ‘Draculas Daughter’ was released 2 years AFTER it had been implemented, and it shows.

Theres no almost no violence, everything is implied, happens off screen, no blood, no actual horror, its more of a suspense supernatural thriller than anything else. And the end result is a glacial piece that trundles along offering very little for Horror fans other than that well known ‘Signature’ Univeral horror atmosphere and Gloria Holden, who single handedly carries this picture and everything worth viewing in it.

I wasnt the biggest fan of ‘Dracula’ if im being honest, but at least it had a clear intention, at least it set up its stall and stuck to it for the full run time. This is 71 minutes of psychobabble with mild drama/thriller elements leading to a finale that really underdelivers.

Most of the film is just back and forth discussions about the nature of evil, time wasting on exposition and ‘comedic’ filler. the acts all kind of slop into each other it feels less like a fully fledged ‘Dracula’ sequel, and more like they just…kept trying to add onto the ‘Dracula’ story…but they wernt very imaginative.

I cant fault the direction or cine here, its classic universal horror direction, smokey, pseudo german expressionist era/noir style lighting, decent composition from start to finish with a good solid edit holding ti all together. If you’ve seen any of the ‘big hitter’ universal monster movies, this film is on a par with those in my opinion. Its a damn fine looking picture.

Performance wise, as mentioned, I cant fault Gloria Holden as the countess, she has an absolutely memorising gaze and works with the material the absolute best she can. A fantastic physical presence on screen, they really know how to get the best out of her time on screen and she has a nice slow boil menace to her character that I really just fell in love with. My only criticism lies not with her, but the ‘code’, without it, I feel we really would have seen her at her absolute best.

The rest of the cast are all kind of unremarkable if im being honest, even Edward Van Sloan doesnt really get much to do as Van hellsing here, everyone feels like generic ‘Universal Horror’ background/filler performances. which is a big letdown, as the films already plodding enough without the cast being fairly Milquetoast.

Throw in a fairly unremarkable orchestral score that doesnt hold a candle to the mainline Universal Monster movies. And ‘Dracula’s Daughter’ winds up, for me at least as a sequel that is definitely striking, and DOES have memorable moments…but really just isnt up to snuff compared to the other Monster sequels. Its not really BAD…its just kind of…unremarkable…which is a real shame.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/draculas-daughter/1/