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Gloria Holden, Otto Kruger, Marguerite Churchill, Irving Pichel, Edward Van Sloan ... see more see more... , Nan Grey , Hedda Hopper , Gilbert Emery , Claud Allister , E.E. Clive , Halliwell Hobbes , Billy Bevan , Gordon Hart , Douglas Wood , Joseph R. Tozer , Eily Malyon , Fred Walton , Christian Rub , Edgar Norton , Agnes Anderson , John Blood , David Dunbar , Owen Gorin , Elsa Janssen , Guy Kingsford , Bela Lugosi , Clive Morgan , Hedwig Reicher , George Sorel , Bert Sprotte , William Von Brincken , Paul Weigel , Eric Wilton , Douglas Gordon , John Power , Barry Norton , Carlos Villarías , Carmen Guerrero , Eduardo Arozamena , Lupita Tovar , Manuel Arbo , Pablo Álvarez Rubio

It may be sacrilege to say so, but Dracula's Daughter is an immense improvement over the original 1931 Dracula, despite the absence of Bela Lugosi in the cast. Gloria Holden is first-rate as the title... read more read more... character, alias "Countess Marya Zaleska," who after stealing her father's body from the authorities with the help of her faithful hunchbacked assistant Sandor (Irving Pichel), sets fire to the corpse in hopes of obliterating the family curse of vampirism. Try as she might, though, the "Countess" is unable to resist the temptation to go for the jugular vein; in one of the kinkier plot developments, she seems to favor the blood of female victims. Lest anyone read anything into this, however, it is established that she is hopelessly in love with handsome scientist Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger), and by film's end she has kidnapped Garth's sweetheart Janet Blake (Marguerite Churchill), hoping to lure him to Transylvania where he will be forced to become her mate throughout Eternity. Edward Van Sloan returns in his Dracula role as tireless vampire hunter Van Helsing, who once again comes to the rescue with a generous supply of garlic necklaces, crucifixes and wooden stakes. Full of clever and often surprising little touches (few other films of the mid-1930s would kill off a comedy-relief character in the second reel!), Dracula's Daughter is among the best of the vintage Universal horror films. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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11 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 11 min.

Directed by: Lambert Hillyer, Enrique Tovar Ávalos, George Melford

Release Date: January 1, 1936

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DVD Release Date: September 10, 1992

Stats: 166 reviews

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Dracula's Daughter Gloria Holden as Dracula's daughter Gloria Holden Dracula's Daughter Dracula's Daughter Dracula's Daughter
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Flixster Reviews (166)

  • ajv2688
    September 15, 2010
    ajv2688
    An average horror movie, not very scary at all, I mean she isn't even really Dracula's daughter. It does have a couple of good scenes, but other than that it's just okay.
  • sononothing
    November 5, 2008
    sononothing
    Dracula's Daughter is a blatant cash in on the success of the original Dracula film. Dracula's Daughter learns of her father's death and seems to seek a way out of the vampire's curse, yet doesn't really try that hard. The film will keep your interest, but that's about it.
  • 366weirdmovies
    September 4, 2008
    366weirdmovies
    Picking up exactly where DRACULA (1931) left off, this sequel has Drac's "daughter" seeking to liberate herself from the curse of vampirism by seeking the help of a psychotherapist. Some interesting twists (Countess Zaleska is both the first tragic vampire and the first openly b... read moreisexual vampire), but matter-of-fact vampiress Gloria Holden has none of the sinister charisma of Lugosi.
  • newvogueravyn
    August 17, 2008
    newvogueravyn
    I was expecting this to be a lot better than I found it to be. Maybe I just couldn't ignore the patriarchal bias which really dates the film.
  • matertenebraum
    August 12, 2007
    matertenebraum
    Being intimately familiar with modern day horror sequels, I expected this granddaddy (Grandmomma?) of horror sequels to follow the same routine: complete and total retread of the original's material with a significant drop in quality (a la Chainsaw Massacre). But to my surprise, ... read morethese early horror sequels while not as good as the originals had admirable ambition and originality especially compared to today's horror sequels.

    While Dracula was the tale of a man cursed to immortality fueled by a blood-lust, and ultimately ignoring any moral convictions in his continued survival; Dracula's Daughter follows a more tragic tale of his vampyric offspring afraid of both ending her existence and of continuing that existence.

    Bela Lugosi's Dracula, while the villain, had a high level of sympathy due to his otherwordly charisma, and the charm of that film was the duality of wanting him to be stopped . . . and wanting to see him succeed. Immortality proved a curse. He's not necessarily evil, he's not exactly on the hero's path either, but you can't help but like the count.

    Dracula's Daughter admirably draws a sharp contrast to that film, giving the title character a genuine desire to overcome her cursed heritage. She's not evil. She's not the protagonist . . . but she wants to be and is trying to be.

    This sets up an interesting game as the fates play for Marya's future. On one hand, a servant seeking the infamous curse constantly pushes towards giving up these pure pursuits and taking the path of her father, while another character does genuinely try helping her with, sadly, an insufficient understanding of her real problem.

    It does provoke a number of questions worth exploring. I wondered if Von Helsing would try to destroy Marya before learning her intentions, if the characters would try to help her, and if they couldn't help her find a way to tolerate her blood lust?

    I guess it's appropriate that Dracula's Daughter can never escape the shadow of her father. Lugosi and Browning will forever come first in the minds of audiences before Holden and Hillyer. Even with that said, I still like Dracula's Daughter for finding its own identity and not retreading the film that came before it.

    Modern horror sequels have neither a thought nor a question. Modern horror sequels are nothing more than empty shadows of their predecessors. I find it interesting that this was not always the case.
  • hypathio7
    November 3, 2010
    hypathio7
    Van Helsing is putting a stake through Dracula's heart again and Renfield is laying dead in what is obviously a different set, but intended to suggest this is happening immediately following the first movie. Van Helsing admits to murder, but he must convince someone it was a mor... read moreally acceptable murder to clear the world of the evil vampire. He seeks Dr. Garth (Otto Kruger) as the only man who may be able to help him. Garth is initially sought for legal counsel, but is also a doctor who can examine victims as they start piling up, and also acts as a private detective of sorts in chasing down Dracula's daughter. Dracula's daughter, though it isn't clear if she is literally the Count's daughter, is Gloria Holden, a mysterious Countess. She finds and burns Dracula's coffin and body because she wants to be released from the nocturnal life of a vampire. Her servant talks her into realizing it is not so easy to live the life of a normal lady. Dr. Garth is a doctor in the field of psychology and thinks her condition, which she won't fully open up about, could be cured with hypnosis and the power of her mind. Of course vampires have their own powers of hypnosis. In one surprising scene the Countess's servant propositions a young woman walking the night streets to come and pose for a painting. The Countess even uses her seductive qualities on the young woman instead of young men to satisfy her taste for blood. When the Countess, out of jealousy, steals away Dr. Garth's assistant who he has a love/hate relationship with, he finally believes how dangerous she can be. The Countess wants to give the doctor the gift of immortality, but will her servant let her have her way?

    Wait! The Van Helsing portion of the story never came to a conclusion.
  • Dracula787
    October 31, 2007
    Dracula787
    Bad sequel, but it has its charms. The Van Helsing story works better than the monster story which is kind of lame.
  • kenscheck
    May 2, 2012
    kenscheck
    Dracula's Duaghter is okay. It has some atmosphere, and it moves at a swifter pace than the Bela Lugosi film, but there is still something about these Universal Vampire movies I can't get behind. They are just too tame or something. If you want to see some fascinating lesbian ... read moreundertones in a film from the 1930s, or you just happen to enjoy anything in the Universal Monster canon, then this might be for you.
  • theSwitchbladeSister
    May 21, 2011
    theSwitchbladeSister
    Gloria Holden keeps with the eerie, mysterious atmosphere of the first film in her role as Dracula's daughter. Not near as good as the original, of course, but still well worth a watch. I rather liked Sloan's reprisal of Dr. Von Helsing not only to keep continuity between the two... read more films, but also simply because he's a pretty great performer.
  • TheBogMan1031
    August 20, 2010
    TheBogMan1031
    Amusing as a period piece, and the lesbian undertones are quite interesting, but the follow-up to Dracula should have been so much more.

View All Dracula's Daughter Reviews

Critic Reviews

Fernando F. Croce
February 5, 2010
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

The shift from Stoker to Le Fanu remains unmistakable Full Review

Tim Brayton
October 18, 2009
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

Dracula's daughter herself is strange and memorable,far better than the tawdry B-movie in which she made her first and last appearance. Full Review

Steve Biodrowski
November 24, 2008
Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

Wildly over-rated. Full Review

Steve Crum
March 22, 2008
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Atmospheric, early Universal horror starring Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden.

David Cornelius
October 12, 2005
David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com

The film is so clumsy and so off the mark that it winds up being a throwaway piece, something for Universal Monster completists only. Full Review

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
May 1, 2005
Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies

Although it is a marked improvement on the original film, it's still a bit of a snooze, relying too much on forced comedy and not enough on suspense or fright. Full Review

Bob Bloom
March 6, 2003
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

A mournful and somber sequel that is more atmosphere than horror.

Ken Hanke
July 30, 2002
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

A fine fadeout on the best period the horror genre ever had. That things would never be quite this way again, however, makes it a slightly bittersweet experience. Full Review

Frank S. Nugent
March 25, 2006
Frank S. Nugent, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
August 16, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

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