House of Dracula (1945). ***
Directed by Erle C. Kenton, House of Dracula contains an acting performance by Onslow Stevens (as Dr. Edelmann) which approaches the sublimity of Ernest Thesiger's in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), possibly the best horror film ever made. Edelmann discovers the Frankenstein monster and is prompted to revive it, but is convinced by his beautiful, yet hunchbacked laboratory assistant (played by Jane Adams) to forsake his attempt to revive the monster. Eventually, Edelmann, who has become infected by a vampire's blood, chooses to revive the monster. The material, however, is never quite under control by director Kenton; the film stumbles and plods along at its own unique pace, while the preposterousness of the action proves to be the very reason why the film works. Despite its B-movie status and its illogical plotting, the film is ultimately both humane and moral.
Isle of the Dead (1945). *
This RKO-Radio production, directed by Mark Robson and produced by the phenomenal "boy wonder" producer Val Lewton, promises much and produces almost nothing. The story centers around a group of people stranded on an island and menaced by a malevolent force, and the situation seems insolvable. In other words, the plot is as banal as an exhausted horror genre can make it. When plague breaks out among the group, an old peasant woman suspects the presence of "vorvolakas," demons which "drain all the life and joy from those who want to live." Isle of the Dead is essentially a poorly done "stalk and slash" movie and has no vampire per se.
The Vampire's Ghost (1945). ***
A film notable for the script and story by Leigh Brackett (1915-78), one of the best of the American screenwriters (she wrote the script for Howard Hawks's The Big Sleep (1946) along with William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, as well as the screenplay for Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), among others). The film has a disturbingly oppressive atmosphere and concerns a vampire terrorizing a small African village.
