Thursday, October 6, 2016

31 Days of Dracula- Day 6: Son of Dracula

Well, after the weird melodrama of Dracula's Daughter, the Count's other offpring showed up in Son of Dracula.
Lon Chaney Jr. was Count Alucard, road tripping it to Lousiana, invited there by Katherine Caldwell, a morbidly inclined young lady who encountered Alucard on a trip to Europe.
Alucard kills Katherine's father and she inherits the family estate, Dark Oaks.

She marries Alucard to become a vampire, but she's playing a long game, hoping her fiancée can destroy Alucard and join her in vampirism, so they could live together, forever.

These things never work out, though, do they?

Of the six Universal Dracula films, this one actually seems more in line with contemporary Gothic sensiblilites, it's almost bingo.  New Orleans.  Vampire. Swamps. "Dark Oaks".  Gypsies.

Considering the director Robert Sidomark's noir filmography, Katherine is practically a goth noir femme fatale, playing her boyfriend against her husband, treachery and betrayal all part of her plans.

When talking with friends, Son of Dracula doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves, not the classic of the original, or as "controversial" as Daughter.... Son seems to be best know for the Alucard anagram rather for the story.



No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...