Evil of Dracula

Swell filming locations and set design are rounded out with fine detail of decorative elements, giving some great imagery to serve as the setting. Even in building a sense of mystery, the writing is rather direct, and at times a bit over the top, and in this instance composer Riichiro Manabe's score echoes that slant. Still, 'Evil of Dracula' also carries a minor sense of atmosphere that's gratifying, and growing suspense. Though broadly declining genuine fright or thrills, this is pretty entertaining throughout.

The cast do well to embody their roles, embracing every shift in demeanor and doing a fine job of bringing their characters to life. That said, I'm not sure that the screenplay provides a lot of room to explore parts freely; suitable as they are, performances feel relatively straightforward and scripted. Of anyone on hand, Shin Kishida is most notable in his part as the principal - here leaning much further into an exaggerated, overt portrayal of a very particular creature of the night, alternately echoing classic interpretations, and straight-up chewing scenery.

Somewhat unremarkable overall, there's nonetheless some fun cleverness to the narrative that differs from other vampire flicks. Though maintaining the air of the slightly overdone approach, the climax is especially well done, producing the most substantial excitement of the film. It seems quite certain that this is where the most energy and resources were devoted as great care is given to the choreography, stunts, and special effects.

Smart as some plot points are, 'Evil of Dracula' doesn't wholly stand out among the wealth of other vampire movies in the world. Of the trio of features Toho produced in the early 70s, this strikes me as being in the middle of the pack: more carefully considered than the often middling 'Vampire doll,' but also definitely less sharp and stimulating than the superb 'Lake of Dracula.' That said, this is most assuredly far from a bad movie - just not the utter cream of the crop, either.

There's little about this picture that impresses outright, and for whatever it does well, the level of enjoyment to be had doesn't mark this as a film to proverbially write home about. But it's consistent and crafted well, with a measure of greater intelligence around the edges. 'Evil of Dracula' isn't absolutely essential, but it's capably entertaining, and worth watching should you come across it.

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.

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")

So after subscribing to Arrow Video service on Prime (initially started to watch the move Spanish movie REC) I was looking through their Asian movie catalogue. This is where I was introduced to Michio Yamamoto. The concept is great and the acting and pacing is good too. It reminded me of Hammer horror films. There is a lot conveyed in the short runtime of the movie.

While I did enjoy the film, there was a lot of back and forth in the scenes which I personally thought wasn't necessary. I think I would've enjoyed more focus on the back story of the occult, rather than a quick glance over it.

But this has started my exploration into the Yamamoto universe.

"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.