Unlike most of the Universal monster sequels, this one actually does deliberately continue the storyline begun by the previous film, beginning with Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) being arrested for murder by a couple of bumbling constables who, as the film progresses, provide increasingly unnecessary comic relief. Things take a weird turn when Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) shows up trying to relieve herself of her father's curse … to no avail, of course, as she finds herself enslaved to the vampiric lifestyle, hunting down nubile young victims throughout. Though the film is much more a "movie" than Dracula (which was essentially a filmed play), it simply doesn't offer enough in either the genuinely creepy or laughably bad directions to make it stand out much in the heap of mostly ill-conceived monster movies Universal pumped out in the 30s and 40s. The gay angles are many, and enjoyable, but for my taste, I'd much rather see this movie re-made as an explicit S&M video starring, say, Eva Amurri.
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