The Return of Dracula/The Vampire (1958)

The Return of Dracula:Count Dracula (Lederer) assumes a false identity and heads for California on a chilling murder spree that a once quiet town will never forget.The Vampire:A scientist ingests some strange pills made by a recently deceased colleague and turns into a scaly-looking bloodsucker.System Requirements:Running Time: 153 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/VAMPIRES Rating: PG UPC: 027616086433 Manufacturer No: M108643 Product Description

The Return of Dracula/The Vampire

I bought this set primarily for The Return of the Dracula. As a child, I remember watching this on the late night horror show, still a great piece of work to me. It is still keeps you on your toes, acting is not bad and the special effects aren't too shabby for the time period. I still find this an enjoyable movie to watch and even my daughter thought it was good movie to watch, not hokey. I liked it then and still like it now. The Vampire is so/so. Not too credible but ok to watch. July 28, 2008

Forgotten Classics that are perfect for a stormy night.

I recall watching these two classic horror films on either Saturday night's Creature Feature or Saturday morning's equivalent and I enjoyed them every time I viewed them.

"The Return of Dracula" is by far the better film as a whole. The story of Dracula arriving in the states as a long lost European relative with "unusual" mannerisms is atmospherically filmed and solidly directed. Frances Lederer to sublimely perfect as Dracula and the supporting cast is terrific too. The film deals with surprisingly interesting themes outside of vampirism, such as longing to see and experience the outside world, what would be willing to exchange to overcome a handicap (blindness in this tale), ethnocentric conduct, and family loyality. For a 1950's film it is also surprisingly graphic with a staking in the heart that shifts the film from black and white to color with blood splashing on the camera lens to the terrific death of Dracula at the end which is my favorite of all Dracula slayings. Those two scenes are not for the faint of heart, even by today's standards.

Now, "The Vampire" is the weaker of the two overall, but better acted and a bizarre twist on vampire folklore. John Beal plays a local family doctor who is accidentally poisoned by his own young daughter when she mixes up the pills he asks for when he has a headache. Unfortunately, she gives him the pills he picked up from a dead patient who was experimenting with vampire bats. The story then shifts to more of Jekyll and Hyde horror tale than a vampire one as he becomes a monster periodically while addicted to the pills. Even when no longer on the pills he becomes a monster. I sense a subplot about chemical dependency in this tight little tale that is short on thrills, but long on story and acting.

This film relies much more on the actors and the scenes with John Beal and his nurse and with his daughter as they are very sensitively done. I was truly touched by a number of scenes. I think you will be very surprised at just how well acted this film is by all participants. Sadly, the make up is rather silly and takes away from the potential shock value the story could have had if the make up was done better.

No matter how you slice it, either film still holds up very well today and if you are a horror fan, you won't regret finding a place on your shelf for these oldies, but goodies.

06/08
Steve Hedge June 6, 2008

LITTLE GEM CALLED THE RETURN OF DRACULA COMES TO DVD AS A DOUBLE FEATURE!

This little known gem 'The Return Of Dracula is making it's debut on DVD! It's about time and as a bonus it's on this double feature disc with 'The Vampire'! The Return Of Dracula is a very solid Vampire movie with good pacing and decent atmosphere. The acting is above average for this sort of movie and it has one of the most memorable endings in vampire movie history. Francis Lederer is menacing as the count with his black eyes and his deep facial lines. I did notice in one instance that when one of Dracula's wives got staked the picture turned to color to show the blood......Something I missed as a kid growing up with B&W TV and watching these on Creature Feature. I didn't remember that much about either of these films until I watched them on an HD Channel and then checked the quality on the DVD. Both prints seem to be in very good condition, but unfortunately the disc has no extras. 'The Return Of Dracula' is a much better film than other, but 'The Vampire' is hard to hate and it's a "Hoot Ta Boot"! This is an excellent double feature disc for old horror buffs.

1) The Return Of Dracula 4 Stars
2) The Vampires 2 1/2 Stars May 28, 2008

Never let your child get your medicine for you!

It's a warning that might probably, in todays society, have been put on the label of this DVD, such is the case in THE VAMPIRE, the first of two movies included on this DVD brought to you by Midnight Madness Starring John Beal as the unfortunate victim of his child's inability to distinguish between her right and her left, giving her dad not migraine medication but pills which turn into a raving lunatic (I'd hardly call him a vampire but what do I know?, I didn't make the darn movie), he roams the town at night biting victims, who die of cellular destruction but don't come back as vampires so I have problems with the whole vampire plot but like I said, I didn't make the movie but it was fun to watch anyway.

The second film on the DVD is RETURN OF DRACULA, while it is kinda creepy, you don't see any fangs from Drac himself and the one victim he turns into a vampire is staked in color no less, the rest of the film is in B&W...I dunno, THE VAMPIRE is my favorite of the two, I purchased this disc for that particular movie, had it been sold seperately, I never would have brought THE RETURN OF DRACULA. May 6, 2008

Great Horror Fun.

If You are a Classic Horror Monsters Fan or like old films then this your ticket. Mgm Really did a nice job mastering these B Classics of fun, too bad they didn't include the trailers along with films on the DVD.

The Return of Dracula: is a film years after the Bela Lugosi Universal one , but just as deserving the story is that drac decides to come to the U.S. and poses as a long family member while reeking havoc in the town where he is staying . Quite Excellent Creepy Story.

The Vampire: A Good family doctor gets sick and people start dying around him poor guy . it's a wolfman /Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde look.

Both are Great Pictures and Fun to watch with the family. But the only beef i have with this DVD is that the information isn't correct. it states on the back that both films are in color, they aren't . they're both black and white with exception that The Return of Dracula has a couple seconds of color but that's about it. the people in charge of the information on the labeling need to correct that small error.

Oh the DVD is Double Sided.

Highly Recommended For Fun Scares.


February 10, 2008

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