The Vampire Doll

After a strong success on European market from Hammer horror pictures, Toho decides to make their own Vampires movies, conceived as trilogy this very first enterprise "Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô" wasn't properly a Hammer production alike, it was adapted on Japanese folklore, the Vampire doesn't bite their victims, actually they living from black birds's blood, a girl from a cursed family, falling in love for a man, however she dies afterwards for an unknown reason, she becomes a vampire, his boyfriend looking for her and disappears without a trace, the his sister worried for his sudden disappearance asking helping for his boyfriend, at this point they find the place where an old and cold woman as a mother of the dead girl, they suspicious that woman didn't say the whole truth and starting making a investigation, too much valuable tale, surprisingly good!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

The first film in Yamamoto Michio's "The Bloodthirsty Trilogy" is usually viewed by fans of macabre cinema as the weakest of the three. Personally I find it stunning. Fully titled "The Fear of the Ghost House : The Vampire Doll" ("Yûrei yashiki no kyôfu: Chi wo sû ningyô") , Michio wasn't expected to turn in anything special for Toho (makers of the Godzilla films). just a simple pot-boiler rip-off of a typical European Horror.

Writers Hiroshi Nagano and Ei Ogawa however delivered a script which relied heavily on traditional Japanese ghost stories, which Michio then shot on Gothic style sets (the house, for example, is straight out of a Hammer, with oil portraits and suits of armour) with nods to western vampire tropes. The mix they created is intoxicating: full of atmosphere, genuinely creepy, and, in places, with unexpected scares of the quality of the earlier "Les Diabolics" or the later original "Ringu" ("Ring"). Highly recommended for anyone who likes classic horror, 1960s Hammer, or Asian Horror.

Fascinating attempt by Toho to capitalize on recent Western vampire movies like the Hammer flicks. This movie has all the gothic trappings one would expect from its Western counterparts, but folds in a dose of the kind of wacky storytelling the characterizes other Japanese horror movies. The Vampire Doll seems pretty conventional (not in a bad way), until out of nowhere we get a bunch of exposition that tells the strangest, out of left field backstory, which,we learn, led up to the events of the movie.

Stylistically, the biggest mistake here is the overuse of day for night shooting, which also happens to be a failing of a lot of the Hammer movies. Nonetheless, between the fog and the excellent soundtrack with very creepy wailings and wind, this one is well worth seeing for fans of Gothic supernatural horror. Lots of fun.

NO SPOILERS

If you like Hammer style Vampire films.Give it a shot.TOHO has three Dracula films.This one, Lake Of Dracula and Evil of Dracula.All three are excellent in their original language versions.Now, don't expect "Victorian Era" vampire horror here, like in the Hammer films.This is Japanese after all.All three films have great atmosphere and some very creepy scenes.I write this review for this particular one because it has no other reviews.And it deserves one. TOHO is better known for its giant monster flicks(Godzilla etc.) I would assume most would shy away from a TOHO "Vampire" flick.Don't!! Its well worth your time.Very much out of character for TOHO and a darn good effort on their part.Its a shame many horror fans don't know of this or the other two titles.Its just one guys opinion that these films belong in any "Vampire" film lover's collection.

Very well shot and creepy tale that seems to be somewhat unoriginal at first, albeit, still able to induce a few jumps by me, which is a bit unusual. Gradually, though, this becomes less familiar and whilst occasionally verging on the silly, still enough solid horror element to hold one pretty spellbound in its grip. The most unusual and intermittent soundtrack helped keep up the unease and indeed, ramp up the scares. The final denouement almost degenerates into farce but once again the direction is so sharp that we are still persuaded. Good performances all round and a particularly energetic one by the guy playing the mute servant. Lovely old western style house too, which, I assume is why we had none of the usual shoe removing. Effects were simple yet effective and the dead girl always very good indeed. Well worth catching and I must watch out for the other two in the series.