Son of Dracula is a 1943 American horror film directed by Robert Siodmak with a screenplay based on an original story by his brother Curt Siodmak.
The Universal production stars Lon Chaney, Jr. and his frequent co-star Evelyn Ankers. It is the third in Universal Studios’ Dracula trilogy, beginning with Dracula and Dracula’s Daughter.
Plot:
Hungarian Count Alucard (Lon Chaney Jr.), a mysterious stranger, arrives in the U.S. invited by Katherine Caldwell (Louise Allbritton), one of the daughters of New Orleans plantation owner Colonel Caldwell (George Irving).
Shortly after his arrival, the Colonel dies of apparent heart failure and leaves his wealth to his two daughters, with Claire receiving all the money and Katherine his estate “Dark Oaks.” Katherine, a woman with a taste for the morbid, has been secretly dating Alucard and eventually marries him, shunning her long-time boyfriend Frank Stanley.
Frank confronts the couple and tries to shoot Alucard but the bullets pass through the Count’s body and hit Katherine, seemingly killing her…
Reviews:
“We don’t wish to sound as if we’re picking on Lon Chaney here, who’s actually not bad in his Dracula role. With his silver-touched hair and elegant clothes, he looks the very image of European nobility—that is, until he opens his mouth. Then any illusion of Continental sophistication fades like the darkness at dawn.” Grand Old Movies
“Still, it has some good moments, and of course, the effects are pretty impressive for back in the day (this was the first to show Drac transforming into a bat). I particularly liked the mist effects, such as when a real puff of smoke slowly becomes an animated one, which in turn becomes Dracula (this moment is a bit botched due to the fact that the other characters in the scene somehow don’t even notice it).” Horror Movie a Day
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