Son Of Dracula (1943)

It’s been about 50 years since we watched Son Of Dracula and curiosity and faded memory dictated that the film be revisited.  Memories had collapsed over time but there was recollection of a sinister gentleman visiting a sprawling American plantation by the name of Alucard who doesn’t waste any time in spreading his malicious evil over the estate upon arrival. 

The plantations owner perishes moments after Alucard arrives and one of his two daughters already seems totally entranced by the mysterious stranger who nobody knows anything about.  Katherine, who inherits the plantation is bent on ditching her erstwhile sweetheart to take up with the mysterious foreigner who has promised her eternal happiness which is an offer she can’t resist.  Just as he is arriving, she has a brief encounter with the local bat/witch who babbles incessantly in her little voodoo hut about terrible prophecies about to wreak havoc.  Madame Zimba warns Katherine of doom but the smitten beauty has nothing to do with it and isn’t overly phased when Zimba has a fit and dies while warning of the impending evil.

Alucard arrives and pursues the willing Katherine and the two are man and wife in no time.  A jilted ex-fiancé is agitated to the point that he tries to take matters into his own hands suspecting Alucard to be a menace.  He shoots Alucard in rage but the bullets pass through the devil and fell Katherine who drops dead in a heap only to return later as the smug and happily married Mrs. Alucard a few days later.  Meanwhile suspicions rise and after frantic phone calls to Hungary it is discovered that Alucard is likely to be the spawn of something dark and very dubious indeed.  Lazlo in Hungary promises to find out more about the mysterious stranger and travels to the US to share what terrible secrets he has unearthed.  Meanwhile Katherine who was rumoured to have died has now decided to help her new husband with scientific experiments that will keep them busy at night and they refuse all friends and relatives, warning them to stay away and let them continue to work on their “research”. 

Lazlo’s arrives and speaks of a terrible scenario about to unfold in the vicinity unless Alucard is thwarted.  Meanwhile Alucard continues to lord it over as master of the plantation estate and keeps on speaking about the stale, dead and rotten people of his homeland as opposed to the fresh and fervent souls who need his attention in the new land of America.  He is keen to sink his fangs into his new enterprise quite literally with his lady love egging him on. 

There are some minor twists and turns along the way as the story unravels leading to its conclusion.  Lon Chaney Jr as Alucard doesn’t exude the evil menace that Dracula usually carries and makes a quite one dimensional and flat villain.  The rest of the cast perform their roles admirably but only Madame Zimba shines in her brief cameo.  There are no particularly creepy scenes and nothing that causes the heart to beat faster.  It is all rather tame and lacking any sinister element of dread.  There are one or two nifty scenes especially as Alucard’s coffin rises from the depths of the swamp but nothing else on display that creates any sense of horror.  The film is rather tame for a horror film and fails to deliver any chills or thrills of the macabre or sinister kind.  There is little element of dread nor does the film build to any sort of dreadful climax to elevate the film to a memorable conclusion. 

It’s all really rather underwhelming alas and Son of Dracula falls short of delivering the chills and thrills that a good horror film needs to contain to make it memorable to any extent.   Its competent but unexceptional and not in the least bit frightening.  The film lacks a sinister edge and lacks the atmosphere or the undertones that creates a sense of dread.  That the film manages to hold the attention despite these shortcomings are a credit to the director even if he fails to inject the menace or the horror that would elevate the film to something memorable.  It’s all terribly average and a letdown to those who were expecting something more steeped in horror or the macabre.  This Son of Dracula is rather pedestrian and fails to do justice as a sequel to the standards of horror set by its predecessor.  On the whole a bit drab and flat.