How is it possible that a nearly century-old vampire movie is this gay?
‘Dracula’s Daughter’ is the great grandmother to all sapphic vampire movies to come.
Mark
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” To celebrate “Spooky Season,” this month we’re doing a miniseries focused on horror sequels that are even gayer than the original, and this week’s pick? 1936 horror classic Dracula’s Daughter.
As Halloween grows closer, we continue our month-long deep dive into horror sequels that are gayer than the original one. This week, let’s go all the way back to the 1930s to look at the sequel to a legendary monster movie, examining how this (very loosely connected) follow-up leaned into the lesbian trend in vampire fiction to explore repressed desire.
How about we take this to the next level?
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1931’s Dracula—directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire—has become one of the most iconic monster movies in film history. It was part of the famed Universal Pictures monster series in the ’20s and ’30s, which has its own indelible cinematic legacy, alongside classics like Frankenstein and The Invisible Man. Because of their tremendous success with audiences, most of these films inspired sequels that quickly followed.
The Set-Up
Released in 1936, Dracula’s Daughter follows Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden), the daughter of Count Dracula, as she attempts to rid herself of her vampiric nature following her father’s death at the end of the first movie. Countess Zaleska wants to resist her bloodsucking urges and live life as a normal woman, trying everything from burning her deceased father’s body in an ancient ritual to enlisting the help of local psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Garth (Otto Kruger). However, her attempts are futile and she soon learns that she cannot escape her true identity.
Wanting a companion to spend eternity with, she lures Dr. Garth to Transylvania by seducing and kidnapping his secretary, Janet Blake (Marguerite Churchill), but is ultimately ambushed and killed by her manservant Sandor (Irving Pichel, in this movie’s equivalent of Renfield).
The film was originally envisioned as an adaptation of an excised chapter from Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel titled “Dracula’s Guest”, which had been published as a short story after the author’s death. However, the film bears no resemblance to that plot. In fact, many believe that most of the inspiration from this film actually comes from the 1872 Gothic novella Camilla, by Joseph Sheridan le Fanu, which is considered a seminal entry of vampire fiction—and one of the first literary works to openly deal with lesbian relationships and desire.
A Gothic Delight
Dracula’s’ Daughter is entertaining and compelling, though the story can feel monotonous and a bit bloated at times, even at a brisk 70 minutes. Unlike another famous monster sequel of that era, Bride Of Frankenstein, this film has very loose connections to its predecessor; only one cast member from the original film returned, Edward van Sloan as Professor von Helsing. Apart from the tie-in opening scene, it could work just as effectively as a stand-alone film about a vampire trying to rid herself of her identity until she’s forced to surrender herself.
However, the film is a true aesthetic and thematic accomplishment. With its lush sets, striking, chiaroscuro black-and-white cinematography (there is a colorized version available online that makes for an interesting, though not entirely successful viewing experience), and Gothic costume & makeup designs, it embodies everything that made this era of monster movies so memorable and evocative. Its tonal mix of horror, melancholy, and melodrama feel hypnotizing at times.
A Sapphic Seduction
And it is an extremely thematically rich text, particularly with its allegories of queer identity and portrayals of same-sex desire. It’s one of the most striking examples of the lesbian vampirism trope (which makes sense given its direct inspiration from Camilla), depicting statuesque goth women pining for the touch (and blood) of others that look like her. Gloria Holden embodies this trope perfectly, toeing the line between sex appeal, carnal desire, female frailty, and corrupted morals.
Although Countess Zaleska only uses Janet as a pawn in her game to lure Dr. Garth into her lair to turn him into a vampire forever, the cinematic language tells us that it’s Janet who Zaleska actually desires. From the deliberately erotic hypnosis to keep her under her control, to the longing stares while waiting for Garth to arrive —which many once deemed “the longest kiss never filmed”—there’s an unspoken love story (or at the very least, a desire story) at the heart of this film.
Additionally, Zaleska’s moral dilemma over her own vampirism can easily be read as an allegory for queer identity. She tries so hard to rid herself of the very thing that makes her who she is so she can live a “normal” life. But no matter what she does, she’s unable to change. You can’t have a clearer parallel to the experience so many of us in the community go through.
The Immortal Dracula’s Daughter
Universal was aware of the heavy queer undercurrents of the film and tried to scale it back (some scenes originally had more implied nudity) while also leaning into it through promotional materials and taglines to attract curious audiences. It’s the rare case of a film in the first half of the century whose queer subtext was not only acknowledged, but was—at least in some parts of the production—actively considered.
Dracula’s Daughter may not have retained the cultural cache of the original Dracula, or the rest of the classic Universal monster movies, for that matter. Its loose connection to both the source material and the first movie make it more of a curiosity than an established classic. However, it’s just as stylistically accomplished.
And while the story itself may not provide tons of thrills and chills, the thematic weight should give it an immediate place in our canon, not least of which because it gave way to long line of descendants in the tradition that connects vampires and other misunderstood monsters with the queer community.
Dracula’s Daughter is available or digital rental or purchase via Amazon Prime Video & AppleTV.
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