Friday, October 10, 2014

WOMEN OF HORROR: LOUISE ALLBRITTON

TODAY'S ILLUSTRIOUS WOMAN OF HORROR ENTERS THE PANTHEON ON THE STRENGTH OF ONE SINGLE ROLE:  THAT OF KATHERINE CALDWELL IN UNIVERSAL'S SON OF DRACULA. 

This sequel of a DRACULA sequel seems to chug along just as one would expect it to until suddenly Louise Allbritton comes on the screen . . . and things get ramped up to eleven!  The role of Katherine Caldwell is, for a 1940's Universal monster movie, a surprisingly juicy one and I'm frankly surprised that more horror movie fans don't make a bigger deal of Allbritton's performance here.  Katherine is a morbid young woman; bored with the mundane life of her small town existence.  She is also smarter than just about everybody else around her.  When the mysterious Count Alucard shows up, Katherine is quite aware of who he really is . . . and WHAT he really is.  And she decides that she can use him to her advantage.  That's right, the king of the vampires is hoodwinked by a raven-haired beauty from the suburbs!  Louise Allbritton plays Katherine as gothic as they come; her burning desire to attain immortality for her and her true love through the bite of Dracula is morbidly fascinating . . . and delicious!  Louise Allbritton's Katherine is simply one of my favourite vampires in film history and she single-handedly raises SON OF DRACULA from a mediocre programmer into something really worth watching! 


 
 
TODAY'S "WOMEN OF HALLOWEEN SONG" ON MY AUDIO BLOG "BATHED IN THE LIGHT FROM ANDROMEDA" IS "HERE COMES THE BRIDE (THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) BY ELVIRA.

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