The first must-see film of the year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Very well done vampire film with a strong performance by Francis Lederer as the undead nobleman and Norma Eberhardt as the object of his carnal desire.The Count has become not just a blood thirsty monster but a political enemy of the state in his native Romania and has to flee for his...er ..ah .. "life" so to speak. He kills and assume he identity of an artist traveling to America to connect with a cousin. The Count finds the small northern California town she lives in much to his liking. The woman's daughter is both attracted and suspicious of her new"cousin". and he is very attracted to her. His usual living habits and almost hypnotic charm raise some red flags, however, particularly with the young lady's jealous boyfriend. A vampire hunter arrives in the town to investigate the strange circumstances of the artists immigration to the United States. It becomes a taunt and tense race against time. As other review's have pointed out, this basically a remake of Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" and there is nothing wrong with that. Giving the story a supernatural element gives a different slant and makes it very watchable. Lederer has said was not happy playing Dracula but he was certainly effective .His characterization is spot on. It came out about the same time as Horror of Dracula and somehow got lost in the shuffle. Perhaps because it was shot in black and white. Return of Dracula is and entertaining and effective vampire thriller.

The xenophobic invasion plot of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" has proved quite versatile in movie adaptations. In the "Nosferatu" films (1922 and 1979 versions), it was related to the plague. In "The Return of the Vampire" (1943), the Dracula-esque vamp was an allegory for the Nazis. For "Drakula Istanbul'da" (1953), it was a historical repetition of Vlad the Impaler's raids on Turkey. "Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary" (2002) updated it to reflect economic fears from East Asia. For most adaptations, it's tied in with religion and sex, as it was in the book. So, it seems appropriate to read an allusion to American paranoia of a communist invasion, as others have done for other 1950s horror films, as well as space-alien-invasion sci-fi, into this updated reworking of "Dracula" set in suburbia USA.Otherwise, this is a trashy, if fun, poverty-row production. In it, a vampire, who the title and characters in the film refer to as "Dracula," assumes the identity of man, who he kills on a train and who also happened to be an immigrant from somewhere in the Eastern Bloc. Especially with a red-paranoia reading, it's similar to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). Dracula, then, takes up residence in his (that is, the dead man's) relatives' home, where the teenage daughter goes from adoring him to suspecting him of horrendous acts, a la Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943). With the train arrival, alias, adoring female and the American resetting, it's also akin to "Son of Dracula" (1943). The daughter, who is essentially the Mina-type Stoker character, has a teenage boyfriend, who stands in for Stoker's Jonathan Harker. There's also a Van Helsing-like character leading the vampire hunters, and Jennie, the blind girl, replays Lucy's ordeal from the novel."The Return of Dracula" begins with a failed vampire hunt, as did its contemporary Stoker adaptation, Hammer's "Dracula," renamed "Horror of Dracula" in the US. Additionally, whereas the Hammer film is entirely in color, the otherwise black-and-white "The Return of Dracula" features one brief color shot of blood splatter.Some moments make this film worthy of being categorized, at best, as so-bad-it's-good, and left me scratching my head or chuckling. For instance, I doubted Dracula was even Dracula, let alone the identity he assumed, when he claims that the family's new, cookie-cutter home has "a feeling of the old world." A "snow job," indeed, as the all- American teenage boyfriend quips—while standing beside his convertible, lest we forget they're in 1950s California. In another scene, Rachel is in a hurry to see her dying friend Jennie, but she has the time to wait stubbornly for her boyfriend to reluctantly open the car door for her! Or, reacting to an investigator's questioning whether they were close to the late Jennie, Rachel's mother replies, "No, a little girl we all knew and loved…." Well, which is it? Later, there's the feeblest Halloween costume competition ever filmed. And the script skips entirely over the confirmation and evidentiary stages in the Van Helsing stand-in convincing a priest, a couple cross-bearing policemen and others to open Jennie's coffin for the purposes of hammering a stake into her heart—all the while she's awake and, thus, would appear alive to anyone who hadn't had vampirism proved to them. Indeed, the priest cries out that they made a mistake and had buried her alive. Never mind, they put a stake in her chest, anyways.Rising above this stuff, Francis Lederer is a rather good Dracula. Czech-born, he has the best accent for the role since Bela Lugosi, and he suits the pattern of the non-Stoker-type suave Count, which most movie adaptations have followed. Otherwise, this Dracula is a somewhat interesting immigrant. He praises America for the freedom it offers him, and he criticizes its society for requiring conformity to be accepted. Of course, this is part of his defending his blood-sucking habits. Ironically, he also offers to the blind Jennie, to free her from darkness and, as a vampire, into the light. In another politically-charged moment, an immigration detective lectures Dracula on the lack of rights in his communist country. The climax takes place in a fallout-shelter-like abandoned mine, where Dracula offers the Mina and Jonathan types survival from the "dying world" outside—which can be read as alluding to the nuclear threat of the Cold War.Another interesting part of this "Dracula" is the updated technology. The new tech of Stoker's late-nineteenth century—such as blood transfusions, the phonograph, shorthand and the typewriter— was an important tool in humanity's defeat of the ancient vampire in the novel. Here, the car, telephone and, most intriguingly, a cigarette-lighter spy camera play a comparable role. The spy camera reveals that Dracula's image cannot be photographed. This is something that Stoker didn't include in the novel, but researchers have found in his notes that he considered including it. Thus, like the inability of mirrors to capture his reflection, neither could his likeness be portrayed in portraiture—photographic or otherwise. Too bad this movie, which portrays Dracula as an artist and the Mina type an aspiring designer, doesn't include an attempt to draw the Count.(Mirror Note: There's a nice mirror shot of Dracula's non- reflection, with the camera turning and appropriately dramatic score to reveal him behind Rachel. This mirror appears throughout earlier scenes, too, foreshadowing this pivotal moment.)

One of the best horror movie sequels ever. The Return of Dracula is a must see. Almost as scary has Dracula (1931). The movie has great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. If you like scary movies then you should see this movie. Francis Lederer was a great actor. He is great a Count Dracula. Norma ELberhardt was great actress. Ray Stricklyn was a great actor. Dracula (1992) is better. But still this a great movie. John Wengraf was a great actor. This is movie about Dracula in Modern time. It is one of the best horror movie from the 50's. It is very intense. Do not watch this movie alone a night.

Dracula did indeed return in 1958, twice. The iconic vampire's reemergence was a cause for celebration, when Hammer Films released their Technicolor version of the famous tale with Christopher Lee's star-making role as the Count in "Horror of Dracula" . Vampires hadn't been very busy in the 40s and early 50s, so the revival of interest in the Undead came as a shock to moviegoers who had forgotten about Dracula and his progeny.The real "Return of Dracula" appeared on drive-in screens across the USA as either the top or bottom double bill fright feature with the sci-fi snoozer "The Flame Barrier". Those who paid any attention or were tired from making out in the back seat saw something unique in 58'. An authentic chiller about everyone's favorite vampire, Dracula. The Hammer version was killing at the box office due to Technicolor, sex, violence, enormous fangs, and blood. The understated ROD was ignored and forgotten, despite it's famous color insert showing the staking of a female vampire, the only real "shock" in the entire 77 minute running time. Ostensibly an odd remake of Hitchcock's "Shadow of A Doubt", this small fang-less film manages to invoke major creepiness from the opening titles. Francis Lederer, playing Dracula playing Cousin Bellac is one of the screen's most interesting interpreters of the character. He kills to leave his native soil and emigrate to America, for purposes all his own. His immersion into a squeaky- clean family goes without a ripple; the family simply believes he's a long lost cousin "from Europe". This notion goes a long way to dismiss Cousin Bellac's strange behavior.Lederer underplays his vampiric nature while pretending to be an artist. All artists are weird, right? The scene where his young "cousin" discovers his artistic efforts is still very, very unsettling, especially the portrait of the young girl in a coffin. Does he want her for her blood, or to be his bride? Probably both. Meanwhile, Drac is getting busy with a blind woman who cannot really tell anyone anything about her midnight lover. Virginia Vincent gives a terrific performance here, ending in her submission to vampirism and eventual destruction.Clean teens finally find out about Drac and end his reign of terror in Smalltown, USA. Didn't all 50s horror and sci-fi end this way? Still, this odd and unjustly forgotten vampire flick deserves a place in the pantheon of really great bloodsucker movies. Crisp cinematography, a really chilling performance by Lederer, and a very sullen soundtrack increase the tension here. Give it a chance, it's hard to shake off once seen.