if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Blistering performances.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Top billed in this horror fest is Lionel Barrymore who plays a Van Helsing like expert in the occult, specialty being vampires. Lionel is well versed in all the folklore on the undead. But he's only one of many character players in this MGM production. Mark Of The Vampire is a great film for those of us who love those familiar character faces of studio era Hollywood.Holmes Herbert a local nobleman is murdered, some say by vampires who are rumored to reside in an ancient castle. A year after that his daughter Elizabeth Allan is similarly attacked with those two telltale neck punctures and behaving real strangely.It's then that Barrymore is called in and he does solve the mystery of the local vampires. The solution almost at the last second is quite a surprise.Lionel Atwill is almost in dress rehearsal for his famous role as the police inspector in Son Of Frankenstein. But Bela Lugosi is the real surprise. That familiar voice of Count Dracula is absent up to the last minute of the film though he looks as menacing as Dracula ever did as Count Yorga. But his voice closes out Mark Of The Vampire and it's on the order of what Joe E. Brown did in Some Like It Hot.Definitely worth the wait.

It seems that after the controversy of FREAKS, Tod Browning decided to play it safe with this film, unfortunately. What could have been an interesting little shocker is marred by a seen-it-all-before feel which comes from the fact that most of the action and events occurring are very similar to ones already portrayed in Dracula. Let's face it, this film offers up little in the way of originality, apart from a twist ending. However, if you're a fan of classic '30s horror then this film is still worth watching for some spooky moments where characters stumble through a misty graveyard and are pursued by those big, flapping rubber bats of which Universal were so fond. Otherwise it's a simple drawing room melodrama with lots of people arguing and not exactly doing much. The same old vampire folklore is gone over again adding to the sense of déjà vu.One of the film's big pluses is the excellent cast. Not one, not two, but three notable actors team up for this little flick and give it their all in over the top performances. Lionel Barrymore really gets his teeth into the role of Professor Zelen, an excitable fellow who rants about vampires non-stop until you think he's going to have a heart attack. Lionel Atwill also turns up as a gruff police inspector, essentially playing his powerful, brooding role which he always played - great! And one of the biggest names of all, Bela Lugosi, turns up in a cameo role as a mock-vampire who walks about occasionally but spends most of the time off screen! At least we get a classic Lugosi one-liner at the end of the film which almost made it all worth it. Also check out Carroll Borland's turn as a well spooky vampire girl who spouts giant bat wings in one hallucinogenic scene.Okay, so MARK OF THE VAMPIRE's real strength lies in its cast, but some real atmosphere and a sense of foreboding evil is built up with the vampires lurking about outside in the darkness. Added to this the classic cobwebby sets (which have all manner of creatures, from cockroaches to spiders to rodents running about) and lots of melodrama and you have a nice little '30s filler which doesn't amount to much but remains enjoyable throughout its short running time.

This starts out looking like a conventional horror film. Baron Otto (Jean Hersholt) comes downstairs to inform the servants that their beloved master, Sir Karell, has been murdered.Upstairs, in Sir Karell's office, the slumped body of the nobleman is examined. Dr. Doskil (Donald Meeks) is the superstitious and nervous one. He notes the two marks on Sir Karell's neck (not that big of a deal, maybe there before the murder), and that the body has been completely drained of blood (a very big deal, impossible to explain). His explanation - vampires. Inspector Neumann from Prague (Lionel Atwill) basically says poppycock, and goes around doing a methodical investigation, but comes up empty handed.Nearly a year later, shortly after the marriage of Sir Karell's daughter, Irena, to a young man with no real station in life or money of his own, odd things begin to happen. A local legendary vampire father/daughter team - Count Mora and daughter Luna - are spotted wandering near the old castle where the baron was murdered. Apparently the trauma of living in the same place where her father was killed was too much for Irena, so that castle was abandoned and now she is living in equally luxurious digs nearby. First Irena's husband is attacked near the old castle, but escapes with his life, then the vampires Luna and Mora start showing up and repeatedly attack Irena, and it is found that Sir Karell's grave is empty. Professor Zelin (Lionel Barrymore) - obviously a clone of Dracula's Van Helsing, shows up and assures everyone that this is the work of vampires, that Sir Karell is now one himself, and Sir Karell's daughter is next.Unlike Dracula, there turns out to be a logical explanation for everything. Or at least there is supposed to be - I'll let you watch and find out. Just suffice it to say that this evidence of vampirism is a huge ruse backed by the police that includes just about everybody being in on the plan EXCEPT the person that the police believe is guilty. If they are wrong, they have probably tipped off the actual murderer! Now let me go through the rest of the plot holes. Sir Karell's castle that the vampires haunt was a beautiful home just a year before at the time of the murder. In just one year's time the windows are broken, the masonry is crumbling, there are spider webs everywhere, and rats and huge spiders rummage through what one can only call ruins? The actual murderer gained nothing by committing the murder - the murderer never got what the murderer wanted, and apparently didn't even try to get it after Sir Karell died. So what was the point? Plus the film clearly shows one of the "vampires" turning into a bat - with no logical explanation. Finally, there is no satisfactory answer as to how the killer removed and disposed of all of Sir Karell's blood.Why do I like it? The performances and the pace mainly. Everybody is perfect at their roles. Atwill as the stiff police inspector, Elizabeth Allan as the distraught daughter, Donald Meeks as the nervous physician, but most of all Lionel Barrymore as the vampire hunter was a delight. He took what could have been a hammy role and made it work. He would have been a great Van Helsing in the original Dracula.There were tons of scenes deleted from this film that might have caused it to make more sense, including the description of an incestuous relationship that existed in life between legendary vampires Luna and Count Mora that explains the bullet wound clearly visible in Mora's forehead that left me scratching my head UNTIL I heard the commentary on the DVD. For MGM to mainly be a studio for churning out dramas not horror in the 1930's, I think they did a good job with this one considering the limitations the production code put on them at the time.

"Count" Bela (as I call him) is as good in this film as any of his other vampire films. Carroll Borland is outstanding - her trance-like state in the film is hypnotizing for the viewer to watch.The overall look and feel to the movie is dark and creepy while the story is suspenseful. Very good older horror film.If you have never watched this particular film I won't ruin it for you but I can tell you it's not what you would expect in the end - there is a twist and a mystery solved.Great late night movie if you want a different kind of vampire story.8.5/10