14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dracula visits Mayberry, January 1, 2001
This review is from: The Return of Dracula [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This United Artists release stars Francis Lederer as the Count coming to the United States using the identity of an artist he killed en route to visit his aunt. The setting is a small, folksy town with good people. The aunt, his female cousin and all around are fooled by the Count, whom while thought to be eccentric due to odd sleeping habits, maintains an aura of fascination due to his artistic temperment. Problems begin when the young son in the family comes home with the news that his pet cat has been killed. Then a female family friend is mysteriously anemic and proceeds to die. The Count has begun his rampage. Next, an investigator is killed by a dog (the Count). Suspicions grow as the female cousin discovers horrible paintings done by the Count showing her in a coffin. The female friend is staked (a brief color shot in a b/w movie-quite shocking for a 50's movie) and the Count is finally cornered in his cave when he tries for the last time to victimize the niece. Her boyfriend arrives to save her and drives the Count back with a cross, the latter loses his footing and well, you know, falls into a pit with a you know what at the bottom. I highly recommend this 50's flick with a good cast and excellent creepy atmosphere. Fangs for the memories.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vampirism cures blindness..., May 1, 2000
This review is from: The Return of Dracula [VHS] (VHS Tape)
That's one of the lessons to be learned from this underrated Fifties cult favorite. Produced in 1957, just before Hammer's classic Horror of Dracula made the Count a major draw again. Actually, this was the first Dracula film not made by Universal, and it followed his longest layoff (about 10 years) since his first appearance in 1931. Francis Lederer, in the title role, is the most human of Draculas, cold, calculating, and cruel. The supporting cast (filled with faces recognizable to serial and b-movie fans) is uniformly excellent, and the bland small town setting adds immeasurably to the film's eerie atmosphere. By placing the vampire into an immediately recognizable setting (at the time, anyway), the film manages to avoid many of the cliches commonly associated with its genre and therefore makes Dracula a much more unsettling menace. Excellent moody photography adds to the film's creepiness, as does a simply amazing score, easily one of the most foreboding of its time. Seldom does the film's obviously low budget interfere with its effectiveness. There's a few (surprisingly bloody) shocks along the way, but mostly this film relies on its menacing mood, making it one of the few American horror films in the classic supernatural mode from its time. It's also one of the best.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quite good, recommended, but where's the DVD?, June 26, 2004
This review is from: The Return of Dracula [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The previous reviews hit the nail on the head, so I will avoid repeating the plot here.
What I can say is that as a small kid in the late 60's this often played on New York TV as the "Curse Of Dracula" (often on WNEW's "Creature Features" on Saturday night), and I never missed it.
The slow motion scenes of Francis Lederer rising from his fog enveloped coffin are quite eerie and effective.
Unlike the early Universal series and the later Hammer color series (actually started back in 1959 just 2 years after this one), this film stands alone without any sequels. Too bad in a way, as Lederer really is a good Dracula. Though recently on a cable station I caught an episode of the Rod Serling early 1970's TV series "Night Gallery" where Lederer once again played Dracula, this time rising as a kind of hero against the Nazis who storm his castle. Interesting twist there. I recommend trying to catch that if you (like me) are nostalgic for this old black and white film.
I remember once reading from a horror film critic that this film was a breath of freash air when it came out in the late 50's because at that point nearly all horror had become sci-fi movies, or giant morphed radioactive invading bug films, and the more gothic style horror was out of fashion. Seems to be accurate as a list of the movies that came out at this time will bear out.
So, if you saw this as a kid, or are nostalgic for the time period, this certainly would have made a fun Saturday night after hanging out at the soda shop type of movie.
Now where's the DVD? My 1993 video copy is kind of grainy and i'm a bit surprised that, with all of the obscure films out there on DVD already, that this hasn't yet made in into the digital age.
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