disgusting, overrated, pointless

A Brilliant Conflict

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

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

I liked it! This film is a late 1950s take on the Dracula tale, involving teenagers, a local parish house and its denizen, including the reverend in charge. Dracula, as portrayed by Francis Lederer, is handsome and menacing. The story moves along quickly and kept me interested throughout. The finale is a horror story classic.

Count Dracula murders a man and poses as him: Bellac Gordal. Bellac/Dracula moves in with his American cousins and begins to wreak havoc in his new home. -- A simple but effective story.This film was released in 1958 not long before Christopher Lee's portrayal of Dracula in 'Horror of Dracula (1958)'. Lee's movie over shadowed this film with it's vivid color and a towering, menacing Dracula (Lee). BUT that is not to say that 'The Return of Dracula (1958)' is a bad film - it's actually a good vampire movie.If you like vampire movies then I do recommend 'Return of Dracula ('58)'. It's not like the Universal Dracula ('31) nor is it like the Dracula Hammer Horror film series - it's a Dracula film all on it's own.7/10

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.

No, "Square Dance Jubilee" director Paul Landres' "The Return of Dracula" has nothing to do with either the Universal Pictures franchise or the Hammer Film series. Instead, United Artists distributed this Gramercy Pictures theatrical release, and "The Return of Dracula" qualifies as an imaginative but minor chiller on a low budget. Landres and scenarist Pat Fielder, who collaborated earlier on the lackluster movie "The Vampire," have taken liberties with the formulaic Bram Stoker story while channeling the Alfred Hitchcock serial killer thriller "Shadow of a Doubt" as an American family opens their doors to the infamous Count who is masquerading as their immigrant cousin. Surprisingly, the filmmakers do not acknowledge Stoker during the opening credits, though the name of Stoker's memorable vampire is mentioned three times. Dracula rides in a contemporary train at one point and later crosses the Atlantic Ocean on a luxury liner. This is the kind of vampire movie where the undead one can freely enter any rooms without an invitation. Some vampire lore dictates that the vampire cannot enter a room without the permission of its host. One of the neatest things about this micro-budget effort is the use of dry ice inside the coffins when we gaze upon the vampires. "The Return of Dracula" opens with the following narration as two cars cruise through the countryside in route to a cemetery: "It is a known fact that there existed in Central Europe a Count Dracula. Though human in appearance and cultured in manner, he was, in truth, a thing undead, a force of evil, a vampire feeding on the blood of innocent people, he turned them into his own kind, thus spreading his evil domination even wider. The attempts to find and destroy this evil were never proved completely successful. And so the search continues to this very day." Like Bram Stoker's novel, "The Return of Dracula" finds our undead protagonist looking for somewhere different to stalk his prey. Several men led by John Merriman (John Wengraf of "The Pride and the Passion") climb out of the two cars, drape pedants with crosses at their throats, and enter Dracula's tomb to kill him. Imagine their surprise when they find an empty coffin! The action shifts to a railway station as Bellac Gordal (Norbert Schiller of "Sign of the Pagan") explains that living in the Balkans stifles his artistic freedom, so he bids his immediate family farewell to board a train to America. Bellac plans to stay with his cousin, Cora Mayberry (Greta Granstedt of "Nocturne"), and her family in Carleton, California. Fortunately for Dracula, Cora hasn't laid eyes on her Bellac since he was a little boy. When Bellac enters his coach, the artist meets a mysterious gentleman perusing a Berlin newspaper. Not long after he puts his luggage in an upper berth, Bellac turns to the other passenger. A look of horror suffuses Bellac's face the man assaults him. Director Paul Landres edits Bellac's death scene so when Bellac screams, the action cuts to an exterior shot of the locomotive as its eldritch whistle pierces the night with a hair-raising shriek, the perfect visual and aural metaphor for Bellac's terror. What makes this set-up so interesting is that Dracula later confides to Cora's daughter Rachel (Norma Eberhardt of "Live Fast, Die Young") that he left Central Europe because he felt that "My life has been confined. That's why I came here . . . for freedom. I must have it." These lines of dialogue make "The Return of Dracula" a Cold War era vampire chiller. Unmistakably, the Count is bailing out of the Balkans because of Communism. Of course, the Mayberry family is anxious to welcome cousin Bellac and make him as comfortable as possible. Nobody is more excited to see her cousin than Rachel. Rachel wants to be an artist like Bellac, but she fears that she will end up working as a nurse. She spends time already in a nearby religious facility that takes care of sick people. She tends a blind girl, Jennie Blake (Virginia Vincent of "Tony Rome"), at the parish house. Initially, the Mayberry's aren't sure about their cousin. He rarely comes out of his room during the day, and he loathes mirrors. Dracula goes after Jennie and makes her his bride. Before she goes to school the next day, Rachel is summoned to parish house and watches in horror as Jennie dies. Jennie slips Rachel the crucifix before she dies. A U.S. Department of Immigration official, Mack Bryant (Charles Tannen of "The Rack"), shows up at the Mayberry house. He makes inquiries about Bellac. Bryant is cooperating with Merriman, and Dracula suspects as much so he kills Bryant.Francis Lederer makes an effectively villainous Dracula with a conspicuous foreign accent, but he cannot bare his fangs any more than his predecessors could. Indeed, nobody ever addresses him as Dracula to his face, and he has no crazy mad assistant. He hails from the Balkans area of eastern Europe. He doesn't dress as fashionably as either Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee, but he is not a derelict. He likes to materialize out of a cloud of mist and the same is true of the poor girl that he transforms into his vampire bride. This Dracula is also shape-shifter, and he appears as a white wolf but there is no transformation scene. Although "Isle of the Dead" lenser Jack Mackenzie photographed the film predominantly in black and white, Landres inserts an interesting shot that is in color when our heroes stake Jennie. The last-minute ending is quite ironic, too! The cool thing about this Dracula movie is that nobody actually kills the evil Count. He lures Rachel to the cave where he has concealed his coffin, while Merriman has mobilized the town authorities and they kill Jennie. Dracula falls into pit in the cave and lands on a stake that kills him.