Universal Classic Monsters

Dracula's Daughter

Dracula's Daughter begins a few moments after Dracula ends. Count Dracula has just been destroyed by Professor Van Helsing. Van Helsing is taken by police to Scotland Yard, where he explains that he indeed did destroy Count Dracula, but because he had already been dead for over 500 years, it cannot be considered murder. Instead of hiring a lawyer, he enlists the aid of a psychiatrist, Dr. Jeffrey Garth, who was once one of his star students.

Meanwhile, Dracula's daughter, Countess Marya Zaleska, with the aid of her manservant, Sandor, steals Dracula’s body from Scotland Yard and ritualistically burns it, hoping to break her curse of vampirism. However, Sandor soon begins to discourage her telling her that all that is in her eyes is "death". She soon gives into her thirst for blood. The Countess resumes her hunting, mesmerizing her victims with her exotic jeweled ring. After a chance meeting with Dr. Garth at a society party, the Countess asks him to help her overcome the influence she feels from beyond the grave. The doctor advises her to defeat her cravings by confronting them and the Countess becomes hopeful that her will plus Dr. Garth's science will be strong enough to overcome Dracula's malevolence.

The Countess sends Sandor to fetch her a model to paint; he returns with Lili. Countess Zaleska initially resists her urges but succumbs and attacks Lili. Although the girl survives the attack, when Dr. Garth tries to hypnotize her to learn what happened, she suffers heart failure and dies. As the Countess totally gives up fighting her urges and that that a cure is not possible and the doctor discovers the truth about her condition she lures him to Transylvania by kidnapping Janet, the woman he loves. She intends to transform him into a vampire to be her eternal companion. Dr. Garth agrees to exchange his life for Janet's. Before he can be transformed, Countess Zaleska is destroyed when Sandor shoots her through the heart with an arrow as revenge for her breaking her promise to make him immortal. He takes aim at Dr. Garth but is shot dead by a policeman.