Dracula's Daughter

What a film!

I will severely go on record here and say Dracula's Daughter is an excellent film, beyond worthy to be part of the classic Universal Monsters lineup, and I absolutely loved it. For a movie that is again just a bit over an hour long, the pacing couldn't be better as we pick up right after Dracula as the plot involves Professor Van Helsing having to deal with the aftermath of killing Dracula as he is charged with murder, and the drama of Countess Marya Zaleska seeking to be rid of the vampire's curse. Where do I start praising this film? Gloria Holden is amazing, absolutely wonderful in the main role, she has such a needless to say gorgeous physique and her acting shines throughout. Even though her first appearance isn't as classic and memorable as Bela she still pulls off this powerful, creepy, striking visage and I absolutely adore her. In fact all of the cast is on incredible form here, Edward Van Sloane returns and it's just great to see him add on to an already memorable performance, Otto Krueger plays a great leading man and for someone who was 50 years old at the time of filming he doesn't look it and has such an interesting realtionship with the Countess, Marguerite Churchill is amazing and has such a fantastic bickering married couple type relationship with Otto and was genuinely one of the only romances in a horror film that I fully wanted to blossom, and I just have to say Irving Pitchel is perfect, there's just no other way to say it, he's perfect as the Countess' servant Sandor like oh my God this man is a treasure. There are comedic moments in it throughout but never does it detract from the film, it made me laugh and broadly smile quite a bit and increased my enjoyment of the film. The sets are spectacular, from London streets, to foggy forests, to a phenomenal return to Castle Dracula, in fact everything in the production is great. The lighting works wonders and adds to the creepy factor, the camera work is very nice, the music is a lot more present than most Universal horror films. It just really shows what a 5 year leap in cinema can do, cause this ended the first classic Universal Monsters phase before it kickstarted again with Son Of Frankenstein, and the level of filmmaking has only improved since 1931. It is a crime in my eyes this movie is not talked about enough or appreciated enough in the horror community. It is just as great as Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Bride Of Frankenstein, all of them. Like, this film without a shadow of a doubt reminded me why I love these movies so dearly, why I regard the classic monsters as highly as I do, hell I think you could introduce someone to these movies with a double bill of Dracula and Dracula's Daughter and get them interested. I really think it's that good. It's nothing but 4 stars, 9/10, this put me in such a great mood and grounded me that much deeper into the most wonderful time of the year.