Dracula's Blood Night
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dracula's Blood Night |
| Original title | The Return of Dracula |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1958 |
| length | 77 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Paul Landres |
| script | Pat Fielder |
| production |
Arthur Gardner Jules B. Levy |
| music | Gerald Fried |
| camera | Jack MacKenzie |
| cut | Sherman Rose |
| occupation | |
| |
Draculas Blutnacht (Originally: The Return of Dracula ) is an American horror film from 1958 by Paul Landres with Francis Lederer in the title role.
action
The communist takeover in Eastern Europe also affected the Transylvanian homeland of Count Dracula. During a train ride, the blood-sucking vampire decides to leave his old home as quickly as possible. He kills fellow traveler Bellac Gordal and takes on his papers and with it his entire identity. Gordal, aka Dracula, manages to travel to the USA and settles in the Californian town of Carleton, where Gordal's American relatives live. There the undead is quickly introduced into the community and everyone seems to like him. Only Tim Hanson, the friend of Bellac's niece Rachel Mayberry, remains extremely suspicious. That may have something to do with the fact that "Uncle Bellac", with his continental European charm, wraps his girlfriend around his finger. How can he know that Dracula chose young Rachel as his vampire bride!
During the day, Count Dracula found shelter in an abandoned mine shaft. He plans to bite "niece" Rachel soon in order to introduce her to his shadowy realm of the undead. But not her, but Jennie Blake becomes his first victim. After sucking her out, Jennie is buried and soon gets up again at night to serve her new lord and master Dracula. Jennie even turns into a rabid dog beast who attacks Mack Bryant, an immigration officer who has come here to see if Bellac Gordal is actually Rachel's uncle. Because the news arrived from Romania in distant California that a severely mutilated corpse had been found there, which closely resembles Bellac Gordal's description. Bryant did not survive this attack.
In the period that followed, the remains of corpses increased in Carleton. All dead have one thing in common: their bodies are largely bloodless. A certain John Meierman appears, a kind of American Prof. van Helsing and by trade a close confidante of the dead immigration officer. Meierman is firmly convinced that the ominous visitor from Romania is none other than Count Dracula and tries to convince the incredulous police officers of his theory. Meierman tries to set a trap for the wrong Gordal, but the police only catch Dracula's accomplice Jennie. Without further ado, the new vampire is promoted from life to final death with a wooden stake. The head vampire has meanwhile taken “niece” Rachel with him to his dark hiding place, the mine, using hypnosis. But her friend Tim is already on his trail. With a consecrated cross in hand, he can represent Count Dracula. He pushes the cross in the face of the vampire count, whereupon the latter falls deep into the shaft and is impaled by sharp wooden stakes.
Production notes
Dracula's Blood Night first appeared in the United States in April 1958. The film was never shown in Germany, but was released on DVD in 2009.
Reviews
The Movie & Video Guide found that Lederer had been "slowed down by the mediocre script".
Halliwell's Film Guide said the film was "a nicely done low-budget horror with a good balance between the supernatural and the ordinary."
Individual evidence
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1084
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 849
Web links
- Dracula's blood Eight in the Internet Movie Database (English)