The onset of the 1940s saw the vampire genre endure a few wicked and amusing escapades (some not intentionally comedic), while also highlighting a few horror heavyweights who took their turn playing Dracula. Lugosi returned to the role in several films including The Devil Bat, Spooks Run Wild, The Return of the Vampire, and even played the bloodsucker in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Of these films, only Return gives Lugosi a role he can chomp into, playing Armand Tesla a vampire who's initially destroyed during the London blitz in 1918, but is uncovered and reanimated during World War II. Significantly, the film marks the first time a vampire meets the Wolf Man.

Also joining the crypt of the distinguished vampyr is Lon Chaney, as the mustached Count Alucard (palindrome anyone?) in Son of Dracula. Chaney had a busy decade, pulling triple monster duty as famed Wolf Man Lawrence Talbot in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, and House of Dracula. It was, in fact, the latter two romps that introduced us to yet another legendary cinematic bloodsucker — John Carradine, who is arguably one of the creepiest of the classic Draculas (see Chapter 15). The dramas and comedy of horrors from the forties include:

The Devil Bat (1940) Bela Lugosi, Suzanne Kaaren, Dave O'Brien, Hal Price

Spooks Run Wild (1941) Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, Dennis Moore

Dead Men Walk aka Creatures of the Devil (1943) George Zucco, Mary Carlisle, Nedrick Young

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1943) Henriette Gérard, Murdock Mac-Quarrie, Paul Wegener

Son of Dracula (1943) Lon Chaney Jr., Robert Paige, Louise Allbritton, Evelyn Ankers

House of Frankenstein (1944) John Carradine, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr., Lionel Atwill

The Return of the Vampire (1944) Bela Lugosi, Matt Willis, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch

House of Dracula (1945) Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Lionel Atwill

Isle of the Dead (1945) Boris Karloff, Ellen Drew, Marc Cramer

Memorias de una Vampiresa (1945, Mexico) Manuel Noriega, Clifford Carr, Adriana Lamar

The Vampire's Ghost (1945) John Abbott, Roy Barcroft, Peggy Stewart

Devil Bat's Daughter (1946) Rosemary La Planche, John James, Michael Hale

The Face of Marble (1946) John Carradine, Claudia Drake, Robert Shayne

The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946) Brenda Joyce, Gale Sonder-gaard, Kirby Grant, Rondo Hatton

Valley of the Zombies (1946) Robert Livingston, Adrian Booth, Ian Keith

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi