Dracula's Daughter

Dracula's Daughter
theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lambert Hillyer
Produced by	E. M. Asher
Screenplay by	Garrett Fort
Based on	Dracula by Bram Stoker
Starring	Otto Kruger Gloria Holden Marguerite Churchill
Music by	Heinz Roemheld
Cinematography	George Robinson
Edited by	Milton Carruth
Production company	Universal Studios
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date	May 11, 1936 (1936-05-11) (US)
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$278,000

Dracula's Daughter is a 1936 American vampire horror film produced by Universal Studios as a sequel to the 1931 film Dracula. Directed by Lambert Hillyer from a screenplay by Garrett Fort, the film stars Otto Kruger, Gloria Holden in the title role, Marguerite Churchill and features, as the only cast member to return from the original, Edward Van Sloan – although his character's name was altered from Van Helsing to Von Helsing.

Dracula's Daughter tells the story of Countess Marya Zaleska, the daughter of Count Dracula and herself a vampire. Following Dracula's death, she believes that by destroying his body she will be free of his influence and can live as a human. When this fails, she turns to psychiatry and Dr. Jeffrey Garth. When his efforts fail, she kidnaps Janet, the woman Jeffrey loves, and flees with her to Transylvania in an attempt to bind Jeffrey to her. She is foiled and destroyed when her jealous manservant shoots her with an arrow.

Ostensibly based on a short story titled "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker, the film bears little or no resemblance to the original source material. David O. Selznick initially purchased the rights to the story for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Selznick, probably knowing he could not legally make the film because of Universal's copyright on the original film, sold the rights to Universal. After first assigning the picture to James Whale, Universal production head Carl Laemmle, Jr. finally put Hillyer in the director's chair.