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Countess Marya Zaleska, the daughter of Count Dracula and herself a vampire. Following Dracula's death, she believes that by destroying his body she will be free of his influence and can live as a human.

With the aid of her manservant, Sandor (Irving Pichel), she steals Dracula's body from Scotland Yard and ritualistically burns it, hoping to break her curse of vampirism. However, Sandor soon makes her realize that her thirst for blood has not been quenched and that all that is in her eyes is "Death".

Dracula's Daughter is a a unique sequel to Lugosi's Dracula by not bringing back Lugosi and instead his daughter takes his place, but unlike him, she's a reluctant vampire - she wants to be free of this vampiric curse, and seeks a help of a shrink who is the friend of an imprisoned Van Helsing; Gloria Holden as the Countess is a tragic figure, and she's superb in her role, balancing sinister and melancholy brilliantly. Holden's mysterious face and tall, willowy body makes her a striking vampire.

Done in the same moody style as the original, Dracula's Daughter is quite striking with its eerie atmosphere - it's quite a gem. The humour wasn't too heavy and was a relief to the moodiness and sadness of this tale of redemption. Just don't expect an action-packed plethora of neck biting and chases. It's more of a psychological horror than the usual bite and stake affair.

Mysterious and sinister Count arrives in Louisiana, America (with luggage labelled ALUCARD). Katherine Caldwell, is one of the daughters of New Orleans plantation owner Colonel Caldwell and the owner of the estate, is obsessed with thoughts of eternal life, and she invites Count Alucard to visit her.

They secretly marry, but Katherine's jealous boyfriend Frank tries to murder Count Alucard, and in trying to shoot him, accidentally kills Katherine. BUT she's not dead after all! Or - maybe she is?

Lon Chaney .Jr takes a break from getting all hairy scary as the wolf-man and puts in a fang and cloak, causing consternation in the New World by turning into a bat at night, and disappearing by day ... however, this isn't just horror or the usual stake and bite fare, but shades of noir/melodrama comes to mind. It's quite intelligent, the plot is complex and there's enough menace to please horror fans. Good atmosphere and an absorbing story, though a little slow moving.

Chaney is really good as the Count and is suitably creepy. Loved the scene where the doctor and the professor are talking, figuring out a way how to destroy the neck nibbler. Midway through the conversation he turns up from thin air to tell them that their plans are futile. The ending is quite tragic and effective. Remember seeing this as a kid back in 1983 on BBC2 and felt the chills especially with the lights off.

Larry Forbes arrives in a small French town to visit his fiancee Madeline Renault. While he is staying at the inn, another American is murdered in the room he was originally to be sleeping in.

Suspicion is placed on Renault's gardener, the giant ex-con Rogell (Mike Mazurki) and then Noel, the strange, melancholic and child-like manservant of Madeline's anthropologist father Dr Robert Renault. He seems to be besotted by Madeline.

Larry then discovers that Dr Renault has actually surgically altered Noel from an ape into a human.

Dr Renault's Secret is a well-produced and photographed little horror-mystery which has terrific pace and enough twists and things happening to keep you interested, and that in fifty-eight minutes! That's a feat in itself! Nothing is wasted, each scene and dialogue just pushes things forward. It starts off like a mystery with the question mark hanging over who wanted to kill the leading man (instead the wrong man was knocked off) and the horror part comes later on.

J. Carroll Naish is unrecognisable as Noel, the strange manservant, and he's superb in his role as is George Zucco as the mad scientist (no surprise there) and Mike Mazurki as the main villain. The lead hero is rather stiff, but eyes are on the aformentioned players. It's a solid film that ends with a bang. You do feel sorry for Noel as after all he didn't ask to be an experiment.