in an attempt to cash in on the success of universal horror film majestic picture hire several popular actor from the current genre and put them in this effort that ( realistically speak ) be nowhere near a good . with that and this be still worth everyone time and it a heck of a lot of fun to view and in my opinion it good than most of what be suppose to pass nowadays a horror . story take place in the small german town of klineschloss where the body have be pile up completely drain of blood and with suspicious puncture mark . burgermister gustave schoen ( lionel belmore ) shout it vampires but the local police chief karl brettschneider ( melvyn douglas ) think it a madman who responsible and he vow to catch him . spoiler alert the burgermeister and most of the town folk think that the local kook herman glieb ( dwight frye ) who love bat and frequently talk to them be the one they be look for and they chase him until he fall to his death in a cave . the one who be responsible for the killing be dr. otto von niemann ( lionel atwill ) who have create a new form of tissue mass that feed on blood and he accomplish this by have some sort of mind control over his servant emil ( robert frazer ) who go out at night to collect the blood . dr. otto have a pretty assistant name ruth bertin ( fay wray ) and an annoying aunt name gussie ( maude eburne ) but they have no clue what he up to but karl eventually become suspicious when one of the murder take place after herman death . frank r. strayer be never confuse with be james whale but he be a pretty competent director who end up direct most of the blondie film in that series and with this film he use the same set from the old dark house which be also film at universal . i be the first to admit that this film be downright clumsy at time but it practically impossible to resist a film that have a cast like this include frye who be pretty much do his renfield role only this time he befriend bat and stroke them and keep them in his pocket for safe keep . one thing that just doesn not make sense be the mind control that dr. otto have over emil a the film never explain this and i have a strong sense that this be some sort of nod to the cabinet of dr. caligari but on the other hand it probably just the weak part of the script . there be a few other tidbit that i notice include the chase of frye to the big cave which be obviously an early shot of the infamous bronson canyon where numerous other film have be make and also wray brown hair which be her true color . true horror film fan will appreciate this more than others but i think this be a fun film to view for everyone and with a cast as attractive a this it well worth a look .