Directors Joseph DeMuro and Thomas E. Rice, with screenwriter Dwight Kemper, hit it out of the Gothic park yet again with the sterling sequel, Tales of Dracula 2: Dracula Meets the Werewolf.
Like its Wolfbain Productions predecessor, the follow-up, which picks up not long after the first left off, makes the best of its titular specimens and in a crafty, sometimes humorous, twofold way. In a broader manner, it acts as an effective nod to Universal's House of Dracula and Columbia's Return of the Vampire.
To instill its eerie splendor, Tales of Dracula 2 is shot in throwback black-and-white by cinematographer Michael J. Rudolph and enhanced further by Thomas Rice's visual effects, Johan Back Monell's suspenseful score and Ron Chamberlain's deluxe, makeup designs. The culmination brims of nothing less than practical, old-school charm.
The plot contains two, prime quests. One deals with the werewolf, Creighton Reed, played by Tom Delillo (who channels Lon Chaney Jr. with a brush of Raymond Burr) as he seeks a cure for his lycanthropy. The other deals with Dracula, played by Wayne W. Johnson (tapping Bela Lugosi with an undercurrent of Zandor Vorkov and Gene Simmons), who seeks the destruction of a powerful cross that could annihilate him once and for all.
Ultimately, the monsters meet and clash, but in the interim, other characters enter, including the late Mickey Rey's Abraham Von Helsing; Samantha Sloma's Jessica Von Helsing; John Carey's Dwight Renfield; Mary Liz Adams' Ingrid, Dracula's bride; Olga N. Bogdanova's gypsy girl and fellow lycanthrope, Marina; and Jon Campbell's Radu, King of the Werewolves and Dracula's competitive brother. (Alonnie Milligan, Dwight Kemper, Joseph DeMuro and Tom Elder comprise the superlative, supplemental cast.)
I've experienced endless elation from the first (cliffhanging) Tales of Dracula, and this sequel does an excellent job extending the ambitious foundation, while leaving its dungeon door open for a third. For those of us who love golden-age, monster movies, this one is built to please, as it disinters the nostalgic chills of those Saturday, UHF matinees that made our childhoods so special. Check it out and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Tales of Dracula 2 is available for purchase on Alpha DVD at
https://www.oldies.com/product-view/72674F.html
and
https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Dracula-Meets-Werewolf-DVD/dp/B0FBKMS1MD
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