SON OF DRACULA (1943)
Blogtober Qualifications: Vampires, death, madness, 40 minutes of runtime left when you're ready for it to be over
Okay, so normally I would write a synopsis here, but I honestly couldn't tell you very much about what happened. I do know that Count Alucard has decided to come to the town(?) where the movie takes place, and he's very obviously suspicious, and pretty soon people start dying.
First let me just say that I love the classic Universal horror movies. I haven't seen all of them, but I've severely enjoyed most of the ones I have. My absolute favorite of the whole cycle (and one of my favorite horror movies period) is Son of Frankenstein. I won't say much about it because I plan to review it in full someday, but let me just say this:
Son of Dracula is not Son of Frankenstein. Hell, Son of Dracula isn't even Dracula's Daughter.
Dude, this movie is so dull. Like really, genuinely boring. It's not bad, but I almost wish it were, because at least then I could reap some enjoyment from the badness. But no, this one's just nothing. But why?
Well, for starters, I have no idea who the main character is supposed to be. Characters flit in and out with almost no regularity, and by the end of it I'm pretty sure the main protagonist is the one character that's featured the least throughout the picture. And there's way more characters than there need to be, which is clear because some of them are just there to be killed. At least two people die immediately, but there's no tension or mystery about what's causing it. It's painfully obvious that there's a vampire, and that vampire is Dracula, er, Alucard.
Speaking of Alucard, he's played by Lon Chaney Jr.. Now, I like Lon Chaney Jr., he's one of the titans of this era of horror cinema. He's also the only actor who can claim to have played all four of Universal's most classic monsters (wolf man, vampire, mummy, and Frankenstein's monster). But here he's essentially being asked to replace Bela Lugosi in his most famous role. It's a character that demands gravitas and a commanding presence, and he just can't pull it off.
Don't get me wrong, no one can replace Bela Lugosi, but Chaney Jr. seems like he's not even trying. At least, I choose to believe that he isn't trying, because I don't want to accept that he could fail that badly.
The other characters are all there, and they're all dull. At least one of them serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. George Bailey's dad makes a small appearance, though, which is pretty cool.
The story is bland too. It's a vampire story, and it does almost nothing new with the idea of a vampire story. This is a spoiler, but it turns out that the female "victim" of Count Alucard has actually been playing him all along, and is planning to turn on him. That's an interesting idea, but it lands like a sack of wet sand. And yet, ironically for something with so little actually going on, the story is needlessly convoluted. New random details are added here and there (why did we need the scene with the reading of the will?) and new characters pop up to fill a role that could have easily been filled with the characters we started with. The movie doesn't even quite hit 90 minutes, and yet I feel like you could excise half an hour and ultimately be left with a better product.
I'm sorry if I'm coming across as overly negative, but I really don't know what else to say. It isn't fair to compare this movie to Son of Frankenstein, but I can't help but do so. As I mentioned before, I also can't help but compare it to the earlier Dracula's Daughter. Sure, that movie was dull too, but at least the principle characters were interesting, and seeing their interactions was half the enjoyment. This movie does not have that going for it.
If you're a Universal horror completist, you're going to see this no matter what I say. Otherwise, it's not worth your time.
Tomorrow we stick with our theme of vampires, but we land a lot closer to modern day. It's a movie I don't know all that much about, so it'll be interesting to see how I feel.
Until next time!
Current interests:
Listening - Lazer Ryderz Soundtrack (2017)
Playing - Sentinels of the Multiverse: The Video Game (2014)
Reading - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Exorcist (2016)
Watching - Unsolved Mysteries (1987)
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