The Return of Dracula

In the Balkans, investigator John Meierman and his assistants try to trap Count Dracula inside his tomb in a cemetery. They open the casket to find it empty, signaling Dracula's escape. The scene sets up Dracula's ability to evade containment and begin a new plan.

Dracula boards a passenger train bound for the United States and murders Bellac Gordal, a Czech artist traveling with his family. With Bellac dead, Dracula assumes Gordal's identity to travel unseen. This swap takes Dracula toward California under a new disguise.

Arriving in California, Dracula, now posing as Bellac, is welcomed by Bellac's widowed cousin Cora and her children, Mickey and Rachel. The family quickly senses Bellac's eccentric and detached behavior. Dracula's impersonation begins in earnest in the new town.

The day after Bellac's arrival, Mickey's beloved cat goes missing and is later found mutilated in an abandoned mineshaft. The incident casts a shadow over the family and hints at something sinister nearby. Tension rises as the community senses danger close at hand.

Bellac creates a secret resting place in the abandoned mine, complete with a coffin, and begins sleeping there away from the family. The hidden lair becomes Dracula's primary refuge and a staging ground for nocturnal activities. This concealment highlights his predatory nature.

At dusk, Rachel finally meets Bellac. He explains he spent the day painting, while she had hoped to show him the town. The exchange emphasizes Bellac's disengagement from the family and foreshadows the growing distance between them.

That night, Rachel finishes a shift at the local parish house and tends to the elderly, including a blind woman named Jennie. Bellac awakens Jennie and offers to grant her sight before biting her neck. Jennie is transformed into a vampire, extending Dracula's reach.

In the morning, Rachel is summoned to the parish house. Jennie is feverish and hysterical, claiming a man entered her room through the window. Jennie collapses and dies soon after, and her funeral marks the town's first grave consequence of the growing threat.

After Jennie's funeral, Mack Bryant, a detective appointed by Meierman, questions Bellac's circle and mentions an unidentified man thrown from a train to his death in Germany. He begins to connect Bellac to a pattern of unusual incidents. Bryant's findings set the stage for deeper investigations.

Bellac visits Jennie's tomb in the mausoleum and awakens her from the dead. Jennie becomes a vampire once more, tightening Dracula's control over the town's night watchers. The undead menace intensifies as Jennie takes on a new role.

Bryant hears Jennie's voice calling him from the woods near the train station and investigates. He is fatally mauled by a white wolf (revealed to be a white German Shepherd), marking the official expansion of Dracula's threat into the town's authorities. The detective's death escalates the danger.

Rachel is invited to a Halloween party at the parish house, but Bellac declines the invitation. The party becomes a focal point where the town's tension and hidden identities will collide, raising the stakes for how the trap will be sprung.

Before the party, Rachel discovers a portrait of herself in Bellac's room, depicting her inside a coffin. When Bellac appears downstairs, Rachel notices his reflection does not appear in a mirror, revealing his vampire nature. The realization deepens her fear and complicates her loyalties.

At the party, Whitfield and Meierman confront Rachel and urge her to help trap Bellac. They note that Jennie's crypt has been emptied, prompting a cemetery stakeout. The authorities witness Jennie returning to her crypt and act to end her threat.

Rachel leaves the party and heads to the abandoned mineshaft to find Bellac. Tim follows and arrives later; Bellac attempts to hypnotize him to join their 'survival' pact. In the climactic end, Tim uses Jennie's crucifix to counter Bellac, who is driven into a shaft, impaled on a wooden post, and disintegrates into a skeleton.