B Movie Nation

Foundational Cinema

B Movie News

Dracula’s Daughter (1936)


In London, two policemen find the body of a man, Renfield, with neck broken and Dracula with a stake through his heart. They arrest Prof. Von Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) that tells that he did it and take him to the Scotland Yard. The inspector Sir Basil Humphrey (Gilbert Emery) asks Von Helsing who might defend him and the professor asks for the psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger). Meanwhile, the mysterious Countess Marya Zeleska (Gloria Holden), who is Dracula’s daughter, compels the policeman that is in charge to take care of the bodies and takes Dracula’s body with her to bury him with her assistant Sandor (Irving Pichel) before dawn, expecting to be released from the family’s curse.

In Edinburgh, Jeffrey is hunting with friends and his assistant Janet Blake (Marguerite Churchill) comes to tell him that he has an appointment with the Scotland Yard to help his friend Von Helsing. When Von Helsing tells him about Dracula, Jeffrey believes that he is obsessed with the vampire and promises to help him. During the night, he goes to a party where he meets the Hungarian Countess and he tells his theories about the vampire blood thirsty that he believes is an obsession. Now, Countess Zeleska believes that Jeffrey can heal her and release her from her blood thirsty and she wants to bring him to her castle to spend the eternal life with her in Transylvania.

“Dracula’s Daughter” is a great vampire movie, with the dramatic story of a vampire woman that wishes to be free from the curse of her father, Dracula. The plot is naive and funny, and the relationship between the annoying Jeffrey and the witty Janet is amusing. This is one of the best movies of Universal Studios in this genre.