producer carl laemmle jr change history of horror cinema when he hire director tod brown to make the first official adaptation to bram stoker classic novel dracula . this be the beginning of universal studio tradition of gothic horror that reign triumphant through the 30 and early 40 . robert siodmak son of dracula and an alternative sequel ( it doesn not make any reference to the early dracula daughter ) to brown classic and be probably the last classic in the long line of film universal produce about the monster they give life in the 30 . son of dracula take place decade after the first film and when the dracula story be now consider a mere myth . the story begin with the arrival of count alucard ( lon chaney jr. ) to america and a the mysterious carpathian noble have be invite to the country by katherine kay caldwell ( louise allbritton ) and a young rich woman with a morbid interest for the supernatural . soon kay find herself in love with the strange count and something that worry her boyfriend frank ( robert paige ) and family friend prof. brewster ( frank craven ) and a they suspect that there something wrong with the strange foreigner . director of many b movie before this job and robert siodmak would become universal most important exponent of the noir style and son of dracula definitely forecast his brilliant future in the genre . the film show his great talent to combine haunting and atmospheric visuals with a great screenplay ( by his brother and curt siodmak ) and and it move away from the series root in german expressionism to what would be call film noir and create what seem to be the miss link between universal horror film and their subsequent noir movie . while robert siodmak talent be almost unquestionable and the film owe a lot of it success to curt siodmak cleverly write script . just like in his previous the wolf man and the story be charge with a dark pessimistic feeling of dread that give the film a unique feeling ( contrary to most universal horror and there almost no comedy ) that rather than make the film dull or bore it enhance it captivating charm . with clever plot twist and a good dose of suspense and siodmak plot also feel like horror theme hard boil fiction . many have be write about siodmak choice of lon chaney jr. to play the count descendant and but while there no doubt that he be not the best choice for the role and he wasn not really too bad in it . sure and chaney appearance suit better the bulkier monster but he get the job do and his sad face suit the dark theme of deception the movie have . robert paige a the film hero ( for lack of a good word ) be very effective and his usual co star louise allbritton make a great femme fatal . frank craven and j. edward bromberg be brilliant a the vampire hunter and it could be say that despite the miscast of chaney the whole cast make a great job . son of dracula be a top notch film consider it be conceive a a b movie . robert siodmak make great use of his resource and the film rival the first film in quality and overall composition . one of the good sequel of the universal studio film and it main flaw may be that those expect a typical universal horror may be disappoint by it dark noir theme and it pessimistic tone . often forget among the many other film in the series ( not unusual consider that the first two frankenstein sequel be masterpiece ) and son of dracula be a worthy sequel to brown classic and definitely superior to the previous dracula daughter . a must see for fan of robert siodmak who will find the root of his style deep in this film . positive .