John Chard
October 3, 2015
5
The cure for your ills?
House Of Dracula is out of Universal Pictures and is directed by Erle C. Kenton. It's written by Edward T. Lowe Jr and stars Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine, Martha O'Driscol, Glenn Strange, Lionel Atwill, Jane Adams & Onslow Stevens.
It's a sequel to House Of Frankenstein that was released the previous year and again sees the three principal Universal monsters (Frankenstein's Monster, Count Dracula & The Wolf Man) thrust together. Plot basically involves Dracula (Carradine) & Larry Talbot/Wolf Man (Chaney Jr) turning up at Dr. Edelmann's (Stevens) mansion seeking a cure for their respective creature afflictions. Murder, blood and the unearthing of Frankenstein's monster ensues.
It's not even better than House Of Frankenstein, which is fun but disposable, for this is sadly tired and weary. A commercial success at the box office, it marks the last hurrah for Universal's monster pictures before the creatures went off lampooning with comedy duos. The film clocks in at just 67 minutes so with that it doesn't out stay its welcome. While the additions of Adams as a " beautiful" hunchback assistant, and Edelmann going through a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde like crisis prove to be entertaining ingredients in the bonkers monster stew.
Packed with flaws (both narratively and technically) that smacks of a rushed cash cow job, and unintentionally funny, House Of Dracula is watchable for Universal Monsters purists only. 5/10
