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Powerful

Best movie ever!

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Blistering performances.

"They will give me the blood from their hearts as I destroy them!" That's the return from the grave statement that one of the two brothers which George Zucco plays almost immediately after his funeral. It wasn't a respectful send-off with a woman intruder invading the church to damn the congregation for having a church service for such an evil man. It turns out that the surviving brother was responsible for his own brother's death which he claims was necessary because indeed, his brother was evil. Now back for revenge, he's combination ghost and vampire, appearing and disappearing as well, and not giving his brother a moment of rest. The subject of the back from the dead brother's revenge is their own niece (Mary Carlisle) and in order to stop his brother from his unearthly revenge, the surviving brother utilizes his niece as the method to which he will destroy the undead for good. But Carlisle's fiancée (Nedrick Young) suspects that the surviving brother has his own reasons for keeping such a close eye on Carlisle and accuses him of setting the whole thing up!Zucco gives two completely different performances: one an obvious evil mad man, the other seemingly decent. What makes the tension in this so great is the fact that you don't know for sure if the "good" brother is indeed doing mankind a favor by taking the life of his own sibling. The dead Zucco has an Igor like hunchbacked assistant (Robert Strange) under his control (doesn't every madman?) who does his every bidding, while Fern Emmett plays a character obviously influenced by the screeching harpies played by Una O'Connor and the nosy neighbors played by Eily Malyon and Margaret Hamilton. Emmett, however, brings on an Evangelical theme into the film, first by invading the church during the opening scenes, and later in the near conclusion where she comes across the grave. A moody, atmospheric setting and cleverly slow pacing (which works in this case) sets this above many Z-grade shockers of the 1930's and 40's, although in the case of Zucco, he also scored with the same year's "The Black Raven" as well. When I first took an interest in the classic movies, I used to skip the ones for some reason I considered beneath me (anything which came from Monogram or PRC), but now that I've discovered them, I am fascinating even with the low budgets, cheap sets, sometimes dismal photography and theatrical acting that seems to have gone out with flame burning footlights and putting on melodramas in local barns. But in many cases, they are more entertaining than many of the classics we've come to cherish, and get to their point faster and with more action. Zucco always added an undercurrent of subtlety in his evil characters, and when the seemingly good ones did turn out to be evil, it was both a surprise and a prediction. "We were brothers, and there was a bond of hatred that was there between us for a lifetime", he states here, and you truly feel all the emotions that both men share. I am glad that modern day audiences have taken an interest in these and hopefully film preservation societies will put in the efforts into cleaning up these prints and retaining them for eternity. Even on the cheap, they are true pieces of art.

George Zucco, who was brilliant in The Mad Monster, now ups his game by playing twin brothers, one good, one bad, one still alive, the other one recently deceased. The good brother is a doctor who had to kill his evil brother because he was messing around with the occult. We all know what happens when folks that mess with occult get deaded, right? Before you know it, evil George is back in vampire form, chomping down on the populace, and having his sidekick do his dirty working during the day.Worse still, he's appeared before good George and told him he's gonna slowly turn good George's niece into a vampire. This entails him using her like a human drinks machine every night, which makes her fiancé think that good George is trying to kill her, for some reason. Additionally, there's your usual locals up in arms and a strange woman snooping around.Zucco's great here in both roles, being the concerned Uncle one minute, and then appearing in people's rooms to threaten them as the evil one. While it does have a good set up and ending, the film flags slightly in the middle when Evil George just gets his nightly blood fix from one victim without killing her. When he turns his attention back to other folk, things pick up again for a cool showdown.Not the most exciting film ever, but yet again, it's no slouch either and won't take up a lot of your time. I was impressed by Zucco's menacing features when threatening folk - he was rather good at it.

... and although that was probably not the intended lesson of this film, you've got to wonder why Dr. Lloyd Clayton would burn so much material belonging to his dead brother when he truly didn't understand the power that brother Elwyn had. With the "Dr." in front of his name you think he'd have more of an appreciation for the value of information. Brother Elwyn turns out to be a vampire in the untraditional sense. He dies and rises from the grave a vampire without having been made one by another vampire, and the recipe for this transformation is never made clear. Not to worry, though, because Elwyn has veteran vampire lackey Dwight Frye to serve him faithfully, here as the rather excitable Zolarr.Also unlike other vampires, Elwyn just doesn't bite you and be done with it, he enjoys talking you to death - at least in the case of his brother Lloyd. Instead, at mealtime, Elwyn begins to slowly drain the blood and thus life from Dr. Clayton's ward, Gayle. Soon there are rumors among the townspeople that Dr. Lloyd Clayton is slowly poisoning Gayle so that he can usurp her inheritance. So if Elwyn is successful not only will Lloyd probably be hit with a murder charge, but ward Gayle will become one of the undead too. However can this mess be fixed with all of the answers to Lloyd's questions now in ashes? Watch and find out.This is one of my favorite public domain horror films. The main problem with the film is that the elements survive in a rather washed out state being a bit hard on the eyes and the ears. However, if you can get past that and the low budget, the acting in this one is pretty good and the script is a good one with a bit of a twist on your traditional vampire tale. I recommend it.

Evil occultist Elwyn Clayton (marvelously played to the deliciously diabolical hilt by George Zucco) returns from the grave as a predatory vampire to exact revenge on his kindly physician twin brother Lloyd (a sympathetic portrayal by Zucco) and his family. While the premise certainly has promise and the movie boasts a few effectively creepy moments, overall this picture fails to add up to much due to Fred Myton's talky script, a draggy pace, and a crippling lack of action, energy and excitement. That said, Sam Newfield's competent direction manages to create and sustain a properly spooky and brooding atmosphere throughout. Moreover, the sound acting from the sturdy cast just about holds things together: the always great Zucco excels in his juicy dual role, Dwight Frye gives a lively and inspired performance as Elwyn's crazed loyal servant Zolarr, Al St. John is amusing as a comic relief local yokel, plus there are nice turns by the fetching Mary Carlisle as Lloyd's sweet niece Gayle, Nedrick Young as Gayle's concerned, practical suitor Dr. David Bently, Fern Emmett as paranoid doomsayer Kate, and Hal Price as the earnest, but ineffectual sheriff. Jack Greenhalgh's stark black and white cinematography and Leo Erddody's shuddery score are both up to par. The rousing fiery conclusion likewise hits the stirring spot. But this film is still too static and plodding to amount to anything more than a merely passable time-waster.