The Return of Dracula

This 1958 low-budget vampire movie, starring one-time continental leading man Frances Lederer as Count Dracula, is a rather pedestrian effort with a curious twist. This Dracula has fled Europe for America and he takes the identity of one of his victims, Bellac Gordal, a long-lost European relative of an American family. Dracula hides out in their suburban California home and asks for their indulgence of his eccentricities (namely, sleeping by day and disappearing without a word at night). Rachel (Norma Eberhardt), the teenage daughter of the family, finds him interesting and mysterious (much to the frustration of her jealous all-American boyfriend) and the plot carries echoes of Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, with this beloved uncle turning out to be a Merry Widow killer of sorts who preys on lonely suburban women. Meanwhile, a modern team of vampire hunters works together with the American immigration service to track the bloodsucker. The direction by journeyman Paul Landres is largely flat and functional with a couple of effective touches (including a skip-frame slow-motion effect as Dracula rises from his casket that is actually kind of eerie, and a single burst of red in this otherwise black-and-white production). Making its Blu-ray debut, this may appeal to hardcore classic horror buffs but is unlikely to generate wider interest. Optional. (S. Axmaker)