EDITOR’S NOTE: Son of Dracula was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, March 5, 1966 at 1:00 a.m.; October 31, 1966 at 1:00 a.m.; Saturday, May 10, 1969 at 11:30 p.m.; Saturday, No vember 4, 1972 at 11:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 17, 1973 at 1:00 a.m.; Saturday, February 22, 1975 at 3:00 a.m.; Saturday, November 15, 1975 at 11:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 7, 1977 at 1:00 a.m.; Saturday, July 22, 1978 at 11:30 p.m. and Saturday, October 8, 1983 at 2:00 a.m.
The film is the third in Universal’s Dracula film series and the first in seven years since Dracula’s Daughter. In this installment, Lon Chaney Jr. takes over the role of Dracula, or, as he’s called here, Count Alucard. Curt Siodmak initially wrote it, but his brother Robert asked him to leave when he was chosen as director. Curt said that the two had “…a sibling rivalry. When we were in Germany, Robert had a magazine, and when I wrote for it, I had to change my name. He only wanted one Siodmak around. This lasted 71 years, until he died.” Eric Taylor took over as writer.
Count Alucard is invited to New Orleans just in time for wealthy Colonel Caldwell to die and leave his money to his daughter Claire (Evelyn Ankers) and his estate, Dark Oaks, to his daughter Katherine (Louise Allbritton), who soon marries Alucard. This upsets her fiancé, Frank Stanley (Robert Paige), who shoots Alucard, and the bullets pass through him, killing Katherine. Or maybe not, because she only shows up at night, claiming that she and her husband conduct experiments throughout the day. When the cops investigate — Frank has turned himself in — they find her dead body. As you can guess, she’s one of Dracula’s brides now.
Professor Lazlo (J. Edward Bromberg) arrives and does the common-sense thing of telling everyone that Alucard means Dracula, something no one ever gets. But Katherine still loves Frank and turns him into a vampire while also telling him how to kill Alucard. Man, it’s like Dracula noir!
Frank, however, doesn’t want to be a vampire, so he does what any of us would. He sets her on fire.
But who is Dracula’s son? I guess Alucard is supposed to be.
While filming, Allbritton and co-star Paige were constantly playing jokes on the cast. One day, Pat Moriarity, who played the sheriff, and Paige filmed a scene where they opened Katherine’s coffin. Imagine their shock at finding Allbritton inside, completely naked.
