This is not the greatest sequel to Dracula, but it is an interesting one. Horror veteran Lon Chaney took over as the Count and they moved the setting to a Louisiana plantation. I think they could probably remake this since I haven't seen another vampire film tackle its particular arc before. Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton) has invited a very special guest to the Dark Oaks plantation. Count Alucard --yes, really-- (Lon Chaney) is tall, dark and forbidding. Katherine is committed, however, and immediately breaks her engagement to Frank Stanley (Robert Paige) to marry the Count. Longtime family friend Dr. Brewster (Frank Craven) notices the Count's name on his luggage and begins to wonder if the accent-less European noble could have anything to do with the 19th Century Count Dracula who supposedly terrorized London. He calls up a professor (J. Edward Bromberg) and is told that Katherine is in grave danger and it may even be too late to save her.
This was made when Universal was still taking horror properties seriously. The movie could have benefited from a little more light-heartedness, I think. It verges dangerously into camp because it takes itself so seriously. I mean, Alucard? Really? Who were they kidding? Unless it was meant to be a criticism of how the European elite thought of Americans as stupid, which ultimately contributed to their loss of power on a world scale. In which case, it was still not subtle. Regardless, this movie was interesting, as I said, because it took steps away from the source material and tried to branch out. Maybe not successfully, but it paved the way for other entries to be declared canon.
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