Mark of the Vampire (1935)

The other night, to cleanse my palate of "The Chaos Experiment" I watched "Mark of the Vampire" which I have had in my possession for some time.  I don't know why I have never watched it, but I am glad I really didn't know much about it other than that Bela Lugosi played a Vampire (Not Count Dracula) and that Tod Browning directed it after "Freaks."  What I did not know is that it is a remake of Browning's 1927 film "London after Midnight," starring Lon Chaney.  That film is the Holy Grail for Horror nuts- only a picture of
Chaney in full make-up remains...the original film is long lost (or is it????)

With Lugosi and Browning in need of hit, they returned to familiar material.  But "Mark of the Vampire" is no "Dracula" retread.  Lugosi plays "Count Mora," a man about whom little is known except he has a bullet hole on the side of his head (weird) and he hangs around with his equally creepy daughter "Luna."  When a prominent member of the village is murdered and drained of blood, suspicion falls upon the mysterious Count and his deathly daughter.  The murder victim's Daughter and her Fiancee might be next unless Professor Zelen (the awesome Lionel Barrymore) can solve the mystery before the sun goes down.......

Awesome dude...

Sounds groovy right?!  I won't say much more because there is a "Twist" that was totally unexpected (to me) and it made me love the movie all the more.  "Mark of the Vampire" has some great set designs, some of which reminded me of "Dracula" although a bit more creepy.  Lugosi is wonderful of course, the women are all hysterical nut jobs (except Luna, who is creepy cool,) and Barrymore, well I could watch him all day...

Now go have a Tod Browning film festival!!  Seriously, if you haven't seen "Freaks" you really must.  Watch it with the family.