Evil of Dracula

In the secluded halls of "Chi o suu bara" (a.k.a. "Evil of Dracula"), director Michio Yamamoto conjures a uniquely Japanese vampire tale. While Dracula himself remains elusive, the film's cyanotic bloodsuckers and eerie atmosphere cast a hypnotic spell.

Professor Shiraki (Toshio Kurosawa) arrives at the Seimei School for girls, where tragedy lingers like a shadow. The principal's wife lies in the basement, her coffin awaiting the customary seven days. As students vanish, Shiraki grapples with nightmares and inexplicable encounters. The scent of roses-white, then crimson-haunts the bitten.

Toshio Kurosawa's portrayal of Shiraki balances skepticism and dread. His encounter with a vampire-dismissed as a dream-sets the stage for chaos.

Kunie Tanaka's Doctor Shimimura unravels the mystery of tiny needle marks on a fainting student. The symbolism of the white rose turning red adds an intriguing layer.

Omoe Mari's Keiko Nonomiya, the missing student, embodies vulnerability and allure. Her transformation is both tragic and seductive.

Shin Kishida commands the screen as the main bloodsucker. His savage hunger and physical power evoke primal fear.

"Evil of Dracula" dances on the edge of folklore and fever dream. Its flaws-awkward dialogue and shallow emotions-fade against the crimson backdrop. A cult gem for vampire aficionados.

🌑🌹 Sink your teeth into this Japanese nocturne-a haunting symphony of blood and longing. 🌑🌹

The last part of Yamamoto's Vampire Trilogy has been described as the worst, but it's still very entertaining. The main problem is that it obviously tries to copy the Hammer Vampire movies, and the man with the cape always looks a little bit out of place. Otherwise, most 'scary moments' are carried out in the `Kaidan Eiga'- fashion with slow camera movements and impressive lighting. Here, and in some beautiful long shots, it shows that some skill was involved, and that the movie could have become a minor classic if it had stuck to the Japanese tradition of the Horror Film. The sound track sounds too European, too and the dubbing is a total nightmare, but I think, a subtitled version recently got released in the U.K. Recommended viewing for fans of offbeat seventies horror.

Third of the trilogy of Hammer inspired Japanese 70s movies. Not quite as good as the first, this is an improvement on Lake of Dracula, with much better photography helping this become a very good looking film and adding interest to some of those middle sequences. Starts very well indeed and the finale certainly has some vigour, even if you are urging someone to construct a crucifix to bring things to a more urgent ending. Actually, total absence of use of the crucifix to save the day is presumably something to do with the Japanese not wanting to elevate the importance of such alien paraphernalia, but thats just a guess. So, bit more action here, bit more colour and a bit more sexed up too with small amount of nudity here and there.

Professor Shiraki (Toshio Kurosawa) travels from Tokyo to the countryside by train to work as a psychology teacher in the Seimei School for girls. There is a driver waiting for him and he sees a car accident on the road. He learns that the principal´s wife died in the accident. When they arrive at the school, the Principal (Shin Kishida) welcomes him and Shiraki offers his condolences to him. He tells that the coffin of his wife will stay in the basement for seven days as per the local costume. He also tells that Shiraki was chosen to be the next principal of the school. During the night, Shiraki has a dreadful nightmare with the principal´s wife. Soon he befriends three students and learns that a roommate has disappeared and other students are also missing. What is the mystery of the Seimei School for girls?

"Chi o suu bara", a.k.a. "Evil of Dracula", is the third vampire film by Toho Studios. There is no Dracula in the story despite the American title. However it is cult and does not disappoint the fans of a vampire movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Maldição de Drácula" ("The Curse of Dracula")

"Professor Shiraki" (played by Toshio Kurosawa) arrives from Tokyo to a new school for teenage girls in a small Japanese village. Upon checking in he learns that the principle's wife died a couple of days earlier and that a student named "Keiko Nonomiya" (Tomoe Mari) went missing about the same time. That night he has an encounter with a vampire that matches Keiko's description but dismisses the incident as nothing more than a dream. Not long afterward another student named "Kyoko Hayashi" (Keiko Aramaki) faints in his classroom and is taken to the school's doctor, "Doctor Shimimura" (Kunie Tanaka). During Kyoko's examination two small "needle pricks" are discovered but neither Professor Shiraki nor Doctor Shimimura are able to figure out their significance. Since she appears to be tired, they send her back to her dorm room to recover with her two roommates, "Yukiko Mitamura" (Mio Ohta) and "Kumi" (Mariko Mochizuki) promising to take care of her. All hell breaks loose after that. Anyway, having outlined the first part of the story, I'll stop here so I won't spoil everything for any viewers who wish to see the rest. Now, although this is a "standard" vampire story, the fact that it is entirely Japanese results in a few curious details. For example, a white rose is seen by the bedside of each of the females who have been bitten. Once they drink blood the rose turns red. I thought that was an interesting touch. Having said that though, I thought there were a couple of faults as well. First, the dialogue was awful. But the movie I saw was originally in Japanese and dubbed in English and it is quite possible that much had been simplified or even lost in translation. Likewise, the acting was also quite bad. Even so, this film had a different flavor than most other vampire movies and I thought some of it was actually quite good. Obviously, there will be people who might not like this film. Like I said, it has its flaws. But I think fans of this genre might be pleasantly surprised.