Lake of Dracula

A young painter has recurring dreams about an experience she suffered as a child.

Though, she seems to have repressed the memory of it having actually occurred.

Fast forward a number of years later, and this dream is starting to manifest itself in her waking life.

All after of one of her friends receives a mysterious delivery, which just so happens to be a coffin.

Now her dog is dead, her friend tries to attack her, and a farm girl has been found near her house drained of blood.

It's all the work of the Japanese Dracula, who has returned to finish what what he had failed to complete when she was a child...to turn her into a vampire...and make her his bride.

Her best friend, however, doesn't believe her, and convinces her doctor boyfriend that it's all in her head.

But that's probably because Dracula has already turned her.

Interestingly, though, the people he bites don't actually die...or fully turn, it seems...as they can still walk in the daylight.

Rather, they just sort of take on an odd demeanour.

As to their master's bidding, they keep trying to get the young woman alone, so that he can sink his fangs into her.

For he has become obsessed with her, ever since she escaped him as a child.

It's not until one of them tries to kill her boyfriend, that he finally realizes that something is actually up.

Which only acts to confirm that it's not all in her head.

He uses hypnosis to help her bring forth the repressed memory, in order to figure out if her childhood trauma was, in fact, real.

And deduces that because no one believed her as a child, she convinced herself it was all a dream.

Now, they must re-enact the experiences from this dream, in order to find Dracula, so that they can kill him once and for all.

Only then, will her friends (that are still alive) be freed from his curse.

As far as Asian vampire films go, it's no Mr. Vampire, but it's still a pretty decent flick.

It's more of a mystery, than an action film.

But there are a couple instances of cool special effects.

Dracula, here, is more of a pale blue, than the normal off white.

So, he's more intimidating through his strength, than he is his from his slightly comic appearance.

I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending...which seems to have been a bit of a cop out.

But overall, it's an interesting little vampire film, that differs from the norm.

6.5 out of 10.

I had some difficulty with this one. Interesting as a Japanese version of a Hammer horror but although it looked fairly good, with all the expected cobwebs, old house, awkward fangs, multiple shots of bite marks (same every time and repeated?) and sounded okay, creaking doors, thunder and lightening and plenty of screams, this did creak a bit (pardon the pun). A leisurely start is basically followed by a wordy middle and amazingly a rather slow ending, just when things really should have been going bump. Some nice late 60s/early 70s costumes including some pretty English coats and suits plus an extensive use of scarves which were presumably to hide bite marks that weren't there. Colourful but slightly annoying in that the makers had clearly seen many Hammers yet the cast had not because they seemed oblivious to the end, when all had to be spelled out. Nice that it was made clear that these were not Japanese vampires but foreigners. Of course!

As I write, it's 69 years since Godzilla first stomped across our planet, causing the kind of destruction that is, even now, wowing audiences across the world. Toho films were originally (and subsequently) responsible for most of The Big G's attempts to save/destroy humanity. Perhaps less well known, particularly to Western audiences, is that Toho also enjoys a run of horror films. They were behind 1998's seminal Ringu, for example, which spawned a whole host of ghostly dark-haired children in horror films.

They flirted with the Prince of Darkness himself with this trilogy of films. Beginning with 1970's 'The Vampire Doll' and ending with ending with 'Evil of Dracula (1974)', 'Lake of Dracula' stars Shin Kishida as a thin glowing-eyed vampire and is more frightening than you might imagine. Nicely directed by Michio Yamamoto and bathed in abrasive colours, he is a force well up to the standing and style of other Draculas.

Any middle section of a trilogy has the most difficult job. No beginning and no end to speak of, it might ungraciously be regarded as 'filler' to any ongoing story. Happily, the stories are so loosely connected, 'Lake' is free to do as it pleases to a large degree.

There's a note of restrain with the horrors here, which isn't always the way with Toho films, and yet the finale is as horrifying as you could hope for. A triumph of lighting, tension and a generally eerie ambience, my score is 8 out of 10.

On the age of five, Akiko Kashiwagi had a weird dream that has traumatized her life. Eighteen years later, Akiko Kashiwagi (Midori Fujita) is a school teacher that lives with her younger sister Natsuko Kashiwagi (Sanae Emi) and their dog Leo in an isolated house by a lake. Her fiancé Dr. Takashi Saeki (Chôei Takahashi) visits her every now and then when possible. When a coffin is delivered in the boat house of her acquaintance nearby her house, he is subdue by a weird man (Shin Kishida). Soon victims without blood and two holes on the neck arrive in the hospital and Dr. Takashi Saeki is attacking them at the lakeshore where Akiko lives and he decides to investigate.

"Noroi no yakata: Chi o suu me", a.k.a. "Lake of Dracula", is another vampire movie produced by Toho studios. The flawed plot is entertaining and is funny to see Akiko and Takashi going to the vampire house during the night without any weapon. The age of the dog Leo is also intriguing. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Lago de Drácula" ("The Lake of Dracula")

As a child "Akiko Kashiwagi" (Midori Fujita) witnessed a horrible scene involving a vampire and has tried her best to repress it since then. Now in her mid-twenties certain strange events begin occurring which bring those memories front and center. The problem is that when she tries to tell her younger sister "Natsuko Kashiwagi" (Sanae Emi) about them she ends up sounding a little crazy and begins to question her sanity. Fortunately, her boyfriend "Dr. Takashi Saeki" (Choei Takahashi) is a bit more understanding. Even so, he still isn't quite able to make the connection when a patient is admitted to the emergency room totally drained of blood and with two bite marks on her neck. And then things really begin to happen. Now, rather than detail any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that, even though this basic story has been told many times and in many ways, this particular film was somewhat unique due in large part to the Japanese setting. I especially liked the heavy use of makeup on some of the characters along with the fog which helped to create an overall eerie atmosphere. Likewise, having a pretty actress like the aforementioned Sanae Emi certainly didn't hurt either. In any case, while the movie was certainly no blockbuster I think it deserves at least an average rating.