[HorrorScience] Son of Dracula (1943)

Today I am going to talk about Son of Dracula (Dracula's son) the third part of the classic Dracula trilogy created by Universal Studios, released 7 years after Dracula's Daughter and 12 years after Dracula.

This film is also the last of the vampire before Universal Studios decided to mix it with their other classic monsters, giving films like House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein, creating what today would be called "shared universe."

Katherine, a woman interested in the supernatural and daughter of an American businessman, has decided to invite a friend of hers that she met during a trip to Europe, Count Alucard, to her house.

Alucard's journey is somewhat particular, since Their suitcases arrive but there is no trace of the Count, which will appear at Katherine's house shortly after the death of her father, who will leave his inheritance divided between his two daughters in a somewhat particular will that only Katerhine seems to know. This picturesque situation will cause some suspicions in people close to the family about the girl's actions.

Despite the warnings of an old healer who dies under strange circumstances, Katherine seems to be interested in the Count, to the point of breaking off her relationship with Frank, her lifelong boyfriend. In a fit of jealousy, Frank tries to kill the Count by shooting him, but the bullets pass through him and kill Katherine.

After arriving at Dr Harry's house in a sorry state, Frank confesses his crime to the doctor, who will decide to go to the house that Katherine and Alucard share to verify the veracity of the event. Apparently Katherine is alive and Frank has lost his mind, but everything will get complicated the next day, when in broad daylight the sheriff finds Katherine's body and locks Frank up.

Dr Harry receives a visit from Professor Lazlo (a European scientist expert in the history of Transvilania) who he asked to help him discover by chance that Alucard backwards is Dracula, and both will try to shed some light on the matter of Katherine's death and Alucard's presence.

Dracula's son It is a somewhat particular film, because unlike what happened in the previous ones, The human characters seem to have much more weight and time on screen than the vampire protagonist, who despite appearing in quite a few scenes, does nothing really significant.

The story is a bit strange, but it's not all bad. Furthermore, it makes sense that after leaving Europe devastated, an immortal vampire travels the world trying to start over in more prosperous areas, and to do so he uses a woman interested in supernatural things and the occult, as well as her lands and possessions.

I have to admit that Lon Chaney Jr as Alucard doesn't convince me too much, despite being much more aggressive and less exaggerated than Lugosi's Dracula and constantly using his transformations into a bat and fog (the latter being quite interesting). Maybe it's not about Chaney's performance (who is much more suited to being the freewheeling Larry Talbot of The Wolf Man than a decadent vampire), perhaps it is that the vampire never has the reins of the film at any time and therefore cannot shine.

In that sense, I consider that Katherine is a much deeper and more interesting character than the Count himself, since she shows us a person not only interested in the occult and forbidden, but is even capable of seeing the advantages of vampirism and accepting it as an improvement and not as a curse. I can't help but think that if that really existed, more than one would join the Count's legacy in order not to die and to have special abilities.

Visually this film is less beautiful and sinister than the previous ones. Despite having some pretty good scenes, the majority of the footage takes place in the homes of the human protagonists, nothing to do with Dracula's imposing castle or its surroundings.

The terror also remains in the background (even in its time I doubt it scared anyone) so all interest is focused on Katherine's plans, his relationship with Frank and as Dracula is the main danger, but also a tool in their plan, something that at least guarantees us an interesting ending.

Curiosities about the film:

• Despite the film's title, Count Alucard is not Dracula's son, he is the real Count.
• After this film, the name Alucard has been used on more than one occasion as the name of descendants of Dracula or a pseudonym of the Count.
• Several of the dialogues describe America as a strong, virile and lively land and Europe as something old and withered. This was due to this film's proximity to the outcome of World War 2.