In central Europe Count Dracula (Francis Lederer) is being hunted. One step ahead of the vampire slayers he boards a train. At another stop the train is boarded by Bellack Gordal (Norbert Schiller). Dracula kills Bellack and assumes his identity. Like Dracula, Bellack was an artist. He was heading to the United States to stay with his cousin Cora (Greta Grandstedt) and her family so he could paint in freedom. Dracula continues on with Bellack’s itinerary.
Cora lives in Carlton, California with her teenage daughter Rachel (Norma Eberhardt) and her younger son Mickey (Jimmy Baird). Rachel’s boyfriend Tim Hansen (Ray Stricklyn) lives next door. The family is excited about Ballack’s arrival. Since Cora hasn’t seen her cousin since they were kids she is unaware that Bellack is really Dracula. She welcomes him into her home. Right away Bellack seems a little mysterious and unusual. Cora chalks it up to his Eastern European artistic ways and tells Rachel to be patient with his eccentricities.
Rachel tells Bellack about a woman named Jenny Blake (Virginia Vincent) who is blind. Jenny hasn’t been feeling well so Rachel has been visiting her and reading to her. Bellack is intrigued with blindness. Bellack visits Jenny and she soon dies. After she is buried Bellack raises her from her crypt. Quickly losing interest in Jenny, Bellack begins to look at Rachel as his next conquest.
Eventually the real Bellack’s body is found. Since no one knows who he is, the vampire slayers have to find out by process of elimination. The head slayer is John Merriman (John Wengraf). Tracing a group of immigrants that came to the United States he and Mack Bryant (Charles Tannen), from the Department of Immigration, question all the immigrants looking for Dracula. When Mack talks to Bellack his “spidey-sense” kicks up but Bellack is quick on the defense and Mack is soon dispensed with. Bellack doesn’t know that Merriman is also in the picture and ready with a nasty looking wooden stake.
“The Return of Dracula” was released in 1958 and was directed by Paul Landres. It is a low budget horror film. The film was done in black and white, however, there is one scene where Jenny is being staked and the blood is a vivid red. The unexpected color adds the only really gross thing in the film.
For the most part the movie is your regular guy running away and assuming someone else’s identity to avoid authorities. The only difference here is that the guy running away is a vampire. It also follows the basic Dracula theme except it’s updated and in America. Francis Lederer as Dracula is not as sexy as Christopher Lee but he does have a sinister intensity and a Czech accent that adds to his character. The film was released the same year as “Horror of Dracula” 1958 so the movie really didn’t stand a chance against Hammer Studios in the gothic department nor did Francis Lederer against Sir Lee in the sex appeal department.
Another aspect that makes this film more interesting than it normally would is the music. The music score was done by Gerald Fried. It is reminiscent to the score he did for “I Bury the Living” 1958. Fried’s music has an intensity that adds a lot to the horror and science fiction genres. What you see in the beginning of the film is a man’s head in silhouette. The only thing lit is two piercing eyes staring at you. Accompanying that is the deep resonating notes of Fried’s score. There are also some noir-ish aspects to the movie as well. The average parts of the movie are punctuated with some very interesting parts. When you put it all together it ends up being a pretty good vampire movie.