The Return of the Vampire

1944

1 hr. 9 min.

Horror

List

75%

8 Reviews

Tomatometer

36%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1918 London, Hungarian vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) uses his servant, werewolf Andreas Obry (Matt Willis), to assist in procuring victims. When a friend of Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) becomes Tesla's next victim, Jane and an acquaintance stalk the vampire and kill him by driving a stake through his heart. But 23 years later, a German bomb disturbs Tesla's grave, and cemetery workers restoring the site pull the stake from his corpse, bringing him back to life to seek revenge.

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Ted B

3.0 stars; Probably a 2 star movie.. Butch, I gave it extra credit for being original and creative in a 1944 movie environment. Imagine, using Germany bombing London às a means to open the vampires grave for a second chance at terrorizing the countryside. And then having his sidekick being a werewolf.. Who thinks up this stuff?. Somebody must put in some overtime to come up with these plot twists... Well. I do bring a little bias to these things, as I was such a midnight Shock Theater back when I was a kid.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/26/23

Full Review

CodyZamboni

Solid, old school horror, that was not produced by Universal. Bela Lugosi plays Armand Telsa, who could be Dracula's twin brother. Effective use of eeire shadows and fog to enhance the spooky mood. Props to the filmmakers to feature a strong woman in the lead role. Supporting cast standout, Nina Foch, is so attractive, especially in the many scenes where she is clad only in nightgowns,

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This isn't an official sequel to the 1931 Universal Studios film Dracula but it really feels like it, except that Lugosi's name is Armand Tesla and this is made by Columbia. This would be the actor's last major studio movie. Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) is stalked by Tesla twice, once during the first World War and again during the second. The first time they crossed paths, she ended up staking him and freeing Andréas, a werewolf, from his curse. He becomes her assistant and his makeup would go on to be used again in 1956's The Werewolf. Twenty four years later, during the blitz, some cemetery workers find the body of Tesla and remove the stake from his heart, thinking that it's shrapnel. Now Tesla walks the Earth again, with Andréas back in thrall, taking the name of Hugo Bruckner, a scientist who has escaped from a concentration camp and is coming to work with Ainsley. Meanwhile, Sir Fredrick Fleet of Scotland Yard believes that Ainsley is a murderer and that there's no way there can be a vampire. Director Lew Landers also made 175 other movies, with probably The Raven being his best-known film. It's pretty wild that Columbia did everything they could to make their own Dracula movie. Universal did threaten to sue, as they had the Lon Chaney Jr.-starring Son of Dracula coming out. If you think you may have seen this before, it is the movie playing in Iron Maiden's video for "Number of the Beast."

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

joe m

Passable, but not the best of the vampire genre.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

dave j

WWII used as backdrop

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

When a vampire's body is unearthed by a bombing raid on London during WWII, his stake is removed and he rises from the dead. With the help of his werewolf henchman, seeks revenge on the woman who staked him two decades earlier. Since Universal owned the rights to the Dracula franchise, Columbia had to make several changes to the story. The fact that the movie takes place in contemporary England, and that the vampire's assistant is a werewolf, are the only new twists in this movie, which in all other respects is a typical vampire movie from the golden age of monsters. Bela Lugosi delivers his lines with his usual flair. Althought he only played a vampire two other times on film - in the original Dracula and in the Abbott and Costello movie - he slips smoothly into the role he made famous. Nina Foch, cast as the requisite damsel in distress, is the only other actor of note and she does a credible job. The rest of the cast was nondescript, at best. Though I wouldn't call it a great movie it features a strong performance by Bela Lugosi and plenty of gothic atmosphere in the form of foggy graveyards and decaying crypts to make the film a more than passable example of the genre.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

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Lew Landers

Director

Kurt Neumann

Director

Bela Lugosi

Armand Tesla

Frieda Inescort

Lady Jane Ainsley

Nina Foch

Nicki Saunders

Roland Varno

John Ainsley

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The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - The Vampire's Victim

1:54

The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - The Vampire Reborn

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The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - The Power of Faith

2:04

The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - Vampire Slayers

1:54

The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - Nazi Bombing

2:12

The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - The Wolf-Man's Revenge

3:02

The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - Werewolf Murderer

2:41

The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - Werewolf Slave

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The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - Mind Control

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The Return of the Vampire: Official Clip - Burning the Vampire

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

But Legosi is the primary reason to give the film a look, and his playfully lithe performance is an utter delight.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 14, 2019

Full Review

Don Q.

Cine-Mundial

[Bela Lugosi] marvelously embodies the sinister character. [Full review in Spanish]

Sep 13, 2019

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Lugosi's fine tackling a variation of his signature role -- even if he was already starting to look frail at this point in his career -- and the wartime setting adds some interesting elements.

Rated: 2.5/4

Feb 24, 2019

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Set during WWII, the film tries to combine wartime propaganda and horror.

Jan 3, 2008

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

One of Bela Lugosi's better later day roles since he played Dracula in the 1930s for Universal.

Rated: B-

Sep 20, 2006

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jun 25, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1918 London, Hungarian vampire Armand Tesla (Bela Lugosi) uses his servant, werewolf Andreas Obry (Matt Willis), to assist in procuring victims. When a friend of Lady Jane Ainsley (Frieda Inescort) becomes Tesla's next victim, Jane and an acquaintance stalk the vampire and kill him by driving a stake through his heart. But 23 years later, a German bomb disturbs Tesla's grave, and cemetery workers restoring the site pull the stake from his corpse, bringing him back to life to seek revenge.

Director: Lew Landers, Kurt Neumann
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 16, 2012

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