Equally scary revision of the Count Yorga story finds the debonair Count (Quarry) and his henchman Bruder (Walsh) up to no good at a children's orphanage where the lovely Cynthia (Hartley) works as a carer. Enchanted by the impressionable Hartley, the Count offers her eternal life, risking his longevity for the frail human emotion of love. But, Roger Perry returns as the proverbial fly in Yorga's ointment, and another tense stand-off ensues.
Director Kelljan returns for the revision, bringing his highly visual sense of haunting romance, and employing a more experienced cast that includes Walter Brooke in a brief but memorable role as Cynthia's ill-fated dad, and George MacReady as a hard-of-hearing expert in the occult. Film buffs will also relish early performances by Mike Pataki, Jesse Wells and future "Poltergeist" leading man, Craig T. Nelson. Special mention must also go to comedian Rudy DeLuca for his comic timing as the police chief. The dialogue is once again poetically bent with subtle, dry humour, and the sometimes hand-held cinematography adds that element of realism that gets the pulse racing.
While it's essentially much of the same (the scene in which Lampson and Perry postulate the implausibility of vampires is almost identical in both structure and content to Perry and Michael MacReady's discussion in the first film), "Return" doesn't diminish the Count Yorga character or its cult status. Quarry plays his role straight, and with the conviction of a consummate professional, which in spite of its relative obscurity, elevates Count Yorga beyond most of its more commercial peers.
Director Kelljan returns for the revision, bringing his highly visual sense of haunting romance, and employing a more experienced cast that includes Walter Brooke in a brief but memorable role as Cynthia's ill-fated dad, and George MacReady as a hard-of-hearing expert in the occult. Film buffs will also relish early performances by Mike Pataki, Jesse Wells and future "Poltergeist" leading man, Craig T. Nelson. Special mention must also go to comedian Rudy DeLuca for his comic timing as the police chief. The dialogue is once again poetically bent with subtle, dry humour, and the sometimes hand-held cinematography adds that element of realism that gets the pulse racing.
While it's essentially much of the same (the scene in which Lampson and Perry postulate the implausibility of vampires is almost identical in both structure and content to Perry and Michael MacReady's discussion in the first film), "Return" doesn't diminish the Count Yorga character or its cult status. Quarry plays his role straight, and with the conviction of a consummate professional, which in spite of its relative obscurity, elevates Count Yorga beyond most of its more commercial peers.